The Hysterical Herstory

Of Hysteria
And How It Was Cured
From Ancient Times Until Now

GUERRILLA GIRLS
www.guerrillagirls.com

BY THE GUERRILLA GIRLS

26
Q4

The
Hysterical
Herstory
Of
Hysteria
And How
It Was
Cured

From Ancient Times

Until Now

BY THE GUERRILLA GIRLS

STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Once upon a time, women in Europe and America

suffered from a terrible disease called hysteria.
Its symptoms were nervousness, fatigue, anxiety,
insomnia, faintness, muscle spasms, shortness
of breath, irritability, headaches, heaviness of the
abdomen, fluid retention, lack of concentration,
depression, loss of appetite for food or sex, ticklishness, and making trouble. Doctors claimed two
out of every three women suffered from this awful
affliction.
No one knew what caused hysteria, so great men
of science decided it had to be women's mysterious sexual organs.

SOMETHING IN THE WAY SHE MOVES

In Ancient Greece, Plato believed the uterus

wandered around a womans body, choking
and strangling all normal functions as it went.

Greek doctor searching for wandering uterus

NO SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Starting in the Middle Ages, many people thought

women who displayed extreme hysteria were possessed by the devil ... they were witches! Among
the cures: burning at the stake and hanging.

Hanging witches

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

In the Renaissance, special instruments were

developed to purge women of hysteria. Lots
of Dutch houses had a wooden syringe in the
outhouse. It was hollow and shot medicinal fluids
into a womans vagina to flush out the unsavory
stuff deep inside her that caused her illness ...
including old sperm. In Italy, a device was used to
fumigate womens innards with hot vapors.

Top: wooden syringe; Bottom: subfumigator

DR. FEELGOOD

Another treatment for hysteria, if a woman could

afford it, involved a physician massaging the inside edges of her vagina with aromatic oils. She
would then fall into a frenzied state of groaning
and moaning, sometimes over and over again. It
was not unusual for the patient to lose consciousness or fall asleep. When revived, she was in a
state of calm relaxation. Cured! Until her next
episode of hysteria.
Some women had the procedure as often as once
a week. It was especially effective on virgins, widows and nuns. The treatment could take minutes,
or even hours. What a lot of work for doctors!
Men of medicine gave women orgasms and got
paid for it. Should we call that healthcare ... or
prostitution?

Doctor massaging patient

RIDE SALLY RIDE

Many women who suffered from hysteria were

instructed to bounce in hammocks or ride horses.

Bouncing and riding

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

In the 19th century, along with dams, pumps,

sewers and other wonders of hydraulics, came
a new idea for making women healthy: the high
pressure pelvic douche. Vacation spas got into
the action too, with devices like the Saratoga
chair at left.

Top: French Pelvic Douche, 1860; Bottom: Ascending Douche at Saratoga, 1900

GOOD VIBRATIONS

After the electric motor was invented in the 1820s,

doctors came up with exciting new ways to treat
the ever present problem of female hysteria.
Scientific-minded physicians had machines like the
ones at left that they used directly on patients
genitals. These early pioneers discovered that the
vibration created by these instruments also cured
sore muscles, headaches and aching feet. Modern
wonder tools!

Left: Physicians Vibragenitrant with attachments

Right, top: Excitateur Vulvo-uterin, Paris, 1883; Right, bottom: Hanging Carpenter Vibrator, 1904

HOME SWEET HOME

Once electricity was more readily available in

the US, women could administer their own cure
for hysteria in the privacy of their homes. Portable home vibrators appeared ten years before
vacuums and irons. Ads for them could be found
in magazines like Modern Priscilla, Womans
Home Companion, Good Housekeeping and Popular Mechanics. White Cross vibrators were named
after a 19th century sexual purity organization.
Sears Roebuck had its own version, with special
attachments. Once a woman felt better, she could
clean the house with the same machine.

Top: French Pelvic Douche, 1860

Bottom: Ascending douche at Saratoga, 1900

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN

The porn industry discovered the vibrator in the

1920s. In one film a woman dumps her date at the
door, then runs to her bedroom and enjoys her
little machine. Psychiatrists were horrified to see,
right there on the screen, a medical device used
for sexual pleasure. And with no penis in the room!
Experts declared vibrators lascivious and immoral.
Stores like Sears stopped selling them. As late as
1999 it was still illegal to sell vibrators in 14 states,
including Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Kansas, Alabama and Colorado.

1920s flapper with a secret

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

By the second half of the 20th century, womens

sexuality was no longer a big mystery. Female
orgasm was identified, described and encouraged
for good mental and physical health. Vibrators
became the best friend of many a girl. They are
still at the core of a thriving sex toy industry.
Around 1952 the medical profession stopped
regarding hysteria as a serious, widespread
female disease. That was the same year Simone
de Beauvoirs manifesto, The Second Sex, was
published, jump-starting the Womens Liberation
Movement. Coincidence?
Maybe feminism was the cure for hysteria ... It
helped women and men understand how society
constrained, misunderstood and mistreated female bodies. Plus, it brought female sexual pleasure out of the closet.

A selection of Womens Lib books

Copyright 2009 by Guerrilla Girls, Inc.

Thanks to the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, 2006,
Pathology Full Circle, and to Rachel P. Maines, whose
book, The Technology of Orgasm, inspired us and provided
a lot of the info in this storybook.
Wed love to hear from you.
Guerrilla Girls email: gg@guerrillagirls.com