Medical science can help!
Wikipedia just delights me to no end.
Lindy West was born an unremarkable female baby in Seattle, Washington. The former Stranger writer covered movies, movie stars, exclamation points, lady stuff, large frightening fish, and much, much more.... More by Lindy West
When she was younger, a friend of mine used to think that “the vapors” just meant “the farts.” So, she basically thought that all those Southern ladies in movies who said “Oh my, I have the vapors…”, were saying they were gassy. I actually prefer her interpretation of that phrase…
Amazing. Also, I got all excited that you were on Twitter. This is decidedly not you: http://twitter.com/lindywest
Tom Swift and His Orgasmatron!
I do believe that thanks to this “problem” the vibrator was invented to allieviate the doctor from manualy stimulating women who came in for treatment. Come to think of it, my wife has been acting a little funny lately. Time for therapy!
Omg, a pelvic douche! That picture is hysterical!
This reminds me of when WIkipedia first launched, one of the first things I found was a page on the “female orgasm.” God, I wish I had a screen shot of that original page. It was a full page of detailed “information,” that began and concluded with the “alleged” female orgasm, that, according to Wiki, was a “theory” that had been around since the early 20th century but never proven. Every single reference was from the 1950s or prior. I forwarded it to all my female friends who like me were outraged. This was supposedly the future, a new, credible online source of information and it denied the existence female orgasm. Within a few weeks the page was updated by someone living in the 21st century, but I always wondered how many people read what we did and took it for fact.
America has a unbelievably strange history when it comes to sex.
America’s current relationship with sex isn’t much better either.
@5 – Sounds like it was a joke page… a funny one, at that.
My dear friend Mrs. Violetta Pinkhurst suffered terribly from the vapours for years, until I introduced her to my patented Soothing Syrup, guaranteed to be phlogiston-free for ultimate digestibility. Also available in cherry-flavored aspic!
On a more sober note: even after the virtual disappearance of hysteria as a diagnosis in the early decades of the 1900s, the male-dominated medical and psychiatric professions continued to wreak violence on women. All through the 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond, women who today might be diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorders were pressured into hysterectomies and pumped full of Valium.
How will we view current treatment regimes in 50 years?
and if not… would you LIKE to have the vapors?
Finally, a use for my old leaf blower!
@11: You just gave me a hysterical paroxysm right there!
Woah… flashbacks. Heh.
@1, “the vapors” have an interesting historical origin. During the Yellow Fever epidemics it became clear that those residing near swamps, e.g., in New Orleans, were more likely to become ill. Because the mosquito-as-carrier concept was not yet understood, the swamps were posited to have toxic “miasmas” or “vapors” that caused disease. Of course this was over 150 years ago, but Southern women have been making “vapors” an all-purpose excuse for whatever every since.
@1, “the vapors” have an interesting historical origin. During the Yellow Fever epidemics it became clear that those residing near swamps, e.g., in New Orleans, were more likely to become ill. Because the mosquito-as-carrier concept was not yet understood, the swamps were posited to have toxic “miasmas” or “vapors” that caused disease. Of course this was over 150 years ago, but Southern women have been making “vapors” an all-purpose excuse for whatever every since.
“Women considered to be suffering from it exhibited a wide array of symptoms including faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex…”
Every single symptom from the article can be attributed to the restrictive corsets women had to wear. In some cases there were even incidents of interior organs becoming compressed so badly that they stopped functioning, or of cracking ribs and not allowing for time to heal.
Still, a hysterical paroxysm sounds mighty good about now…
A friend of mine was just cleared of having a ‘conversion disorder’ after three years when it was found she had a wicked-crazy case of restless leg. This shit is still with us.
So why didn’t these genius Victoria doctors realize they could give a woman “hysterical paroxysms” by stimulating the clitoris instead of the labor intensive “pelvic massage?”
@5 You may be able to find the page here:
or here: