or nymphomania which impaired the nervous
system, and the only treatment was the removal of
the clitoris using forceps and a cautery iron or
blade. It wasn't his moral ambiguity or efficacy of
his treatment that eventually brought down Baker
Brown, rather his aggressive desire for public
approval and unwillingness to entertain alternative
methods of treatment suggest ed by his peers
which eventually labeled him as a quack.
Physicians later developed the use of hysterical
paroxysm as a treatment for sexual deprivation
which relied on female genital stimulation in order
to reach orgasm and "relieve" the patient from her
"symptoms."
Medical experts offered an array of selftreatments for patients to reach orgasm, and
included horseback riding, riding in a train or on a
bicycle, sewing (the vibrations from the foot pedal
were believed to achieve this), and finally seeking
relief from the physicians themselves. Ironically
enough, masturbation by the woman was never
mentioned as a method of treatment, and her
sexual satisfaction was again left to male, or at
least external, control. The need to rapidly treat
more patients, and in turn increase medical
revenue as well as efficiency, led to the
development of the vibrator in the late 1800s.
Although mechanical devices were used as therapy
prior to this, the vibrator became the preferred
and ideal method of treating patients. The act of
achieving orgasm in the female patient could take
upwards to an hour, whereas the use of a
mechanical vibrator could reduce patient time to 5
to 10 minutes (Maines 1999).
There is no question that diagnosing a
woman with hysteria could have easily been
abused. A husband could relieve himself of his
marital, and sometimes parental duties by claiming
his wife's mental instability and committing her to
a hospital or asylum. Hysteria was viewed as a
medical pandemic and was sensationalized to the
point of becoming a sideshow act showcasing
women's unabashed sexual nature. In 19th century
France, Jean-Martin Charcot, a leading neurologist
and highly respected among the medical elite,
placed inflicted patients, often scantily clad by
19th century standards, on stage in front of an
audience to act out their hysterical fits (Scull
2009). They were subjected to the scrutiny of the
public and their illnesses were exploited to create
something of a scandalous circus. It wasn't until
1952 that the American Psychiatric Association no
longer used the term "hysteria" to describe these
recurring medical conditions (Maines 1999).
Feminist historians today believe that bouts of
hysterical fits occurred as a way for women to
escape the realities of social responsibilities in
which they had few outlets for self-expression
(Showalter 1997).
Hysteria stands as an historical account of
the institutionalization of sexual domination and
the justification for sexual abuse under the guise
of medical treatment. However, female sexuality
and divergent behavior is still, to this day,
considered deviant and in need of media coverage
and public protection. Although female hysteria as
a diagnosis has all but died out, remnants of
institutionalized medical and social sexism
remains, particularly in a world where the medical
issues of women are still under public scrutiny.
Works Cited
Hustvedt, A. (2011). Medical muses: hysteria in
nineteenth-century Paris. New York, NY: W.W.
Norton & Company, Inc.
Maines, R. (1999). The technology of orgasm: "hysteria,"
the vibrator, and women's sexual satisfaction. Baltimore,
MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Scull, A. (2009). Hysteria: the biography. New York,
NY: Oxford University Press.
Sedaris, D. (2000). Me Talk Pretty One Day. New
York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
An advertisement for vibrators from a Sears catalogue, c. 1918
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