This was once a common medical diagnosis for women. Mesmer did quite a lot of business with women, some of which approximates what some people call "Therapeutic Touch."
female hysteria is from the Greek idea of a "wandering womb seeking its proper place"
symptoms = faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and a "tendency to cause trouble"
is it any wonder that the reproduction rates declined during this era especially as the medical and marital advice = passionless women as ideal????
most of us are more familiar with this whole phenomenon because of the fainting couch and women having "the vapors" ...
when I first heard of fainting couches as a young girl, I remember thinking, "wow ... that is so cool!" ... I love furniture anyway so when I saw my first fainting couch that just cemented my love for furniture even more ... here was a piece of furniture JUST for women (like men had the triangle-shaped stools & chairs to accomodate the swords they wore at their sides)
this issue is a very touch and potentially VERY embarrassing issue for me to present ... so I will not go into great detail ... if you are interested, I would recommend you researching it yourselves when your children and husband are NOT in the room ...
If you opt to research, remember ... women during this era constantly had to go to the doctor for "women troubles" ... you may want to research this area as well as the above
"Why is this timeframe so looked upon and really REVERED in some Christian circles as the " end all be all" of modesty and enlightenment?"
... I simply cannot fathom that ... to me, rightly or wrongly, it is a very wicked and immodest
time frame
~ from the notes of Lady Victorian Historian
