Because I was trapped into watching the tellie, I caught the tail end of an advert for a new TV show or series or some such, "Hysteria," coming soon. In the early years of family medicine, nearly every "female" medical problem was blamed on hysteria. The medical treatment for hysteria in women during the late Victorian era was what prompted my research, then the writing, of my erotic Victorian romance, In Her Lover's Arms. If only I'd known it could have been a screenplay for a made-for-TV-movie [grin].
If you think woman are misunderstood now, being a woman in 1889 England was an even larger study in frustration (as well as humiliation).
In Her Lover's Arms is available at www.NobleRomance.com, Amazon.com (in both e-book and paperback), and all major booksellers.
Danica
www.DanicaStComo.com
www.SophiaRoslyn.com
There's an article about the movie in Wikipedia. Seems the doctor who perform this task in the film injures his hand (carpal tunnel syndrome?) and later invents a vibrator! LOL! Danica, you really know how to do your research!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysteria_(2011_film)
An interesting aside, the medical term hysteria was not eliminated by the American Psychiatric Association until 1952!
That's what happened, basically. Women were seeking relief from hysteria by being masturbated by their physicians, into what was known as paroxysms (orgasms). The procedure was so time consuming (less patients, less income), that mechanical devices were developed. Some of them were so barbaric they defied description. During the early years of catalogue sales in the US, one could still order such devices -- mother's little helpers.
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