How American Doctors Got Anne Frank Killed: Eugenics Continued
Hysterical Medicine
Seriously. An American Dr looked across the Atlantic to Germany just before WW2 and said "they're beating us at our own game". He was referring to removing imperfect people from the general population. We talked about how eugenics got going in the US last week. This week, we talk about how it was pushed on us by "emerging science" and kept around ever since (in one form or another) by governments. If you think that being a human is enough reason to be a part of society and no condition of your birth should change that, you disagree with eugenics. In the US, in the early 20th...
info_outline
Removing Normal Ovaries? Why? Oh...Eugenics
Hysterical Medicine
Some of these episode descriptions are more challenging to scribble out than others. For example, this episode talks about why doctors thought it was a good idea to remove healthy ovaries. Yeah. Seriously. Spoiler alert - they did NOT have good reasons. We draw the obvious line to eugenics in this episode and it's just sort of dark. But we also do spend a few seconds whispering about our puppy's birthday. So there is that. Try not to let it make you too Hysterical.
info_outline
The Episode That Will Get Us Sued - Contagious Disease Acts of the US
Hysterical Medicine
What's the best way to keep the good, chaste, young Doughboys of WW1 American Military Forces safe from harm? Why, that's easy - imprison women!! This episode really hits close to home in 2025 America. We dive into how the US government decided, a little over 100 years ago, that the only way to protect soldiers from the scourge of venereal disease was to remand ladies, without cause, warning, due process, or habeas corpus, into custody for "treatment", and then put them on trial, after they had been "cured". Sound fair? Sound...familiar - vaguely? When we don't learn history, we are...
info_outline
J. Marion Sims - Cruelty Personified
Hysterical Medicine
He was called "the father of gynecology" but really he was just a small man who loved to hurt women. Welcome back to Hysterical Medicine as we hop in to Season 2 with a bang! This guy is a real problem. He has had statues erected in his honor, only to have them later pulled down in shame. Head into this episode with us and find out why a boy from a humble background sought fame for all the wrong reasons and acheived it at a great cost to women. I hope this episode doesn't leave you too hysterical. Welcome back!
info_outline
Modern Comstockery
Hysterical Medicine
Zombies are dangerous. I don't mean the ones on The Last of Us or The Walking Dead. Sure, they are scary, but they are fiction. Comstock and his law are very real, and - somehow - that law with the sole purpose of governing the behavior of adults acting on their own and hurting nobody - is still on the books. For our final episode of the season we discuss legal scholarship and why it is so critical for the next 3 1/2 years as rights to healthcare and access to safe procedures and prescriptions are being stripped from women at an alarming rate. Listen and find out why we absolutely must...
info_outline
Anthony Comstock: America's Busiest Body?
Hysterical Medicine
Anthony Comstock was very invested in policing the activities of others. He was obsessed with it, really. The United States was a wild place around the time of The Civil War and old Tony just wanted to be the best dry goods merchant he could be - after he tried his hardest to single-handedly eradicate "vice" that he saw as the scourge of all humanity. Come along this week for part 1 of 2 in our double episode that wraps up season 1. We will tell you all about Comstock, his absolutely bonkers obsession with other people's lives and activities, and begin to discuss why it is critically important...
info_outline
Freud, Princess Bonaparte, and The Big "O"
Hysterical Medicine
Napoleon (yeah, that one) had a great grand-niece who was REALLY into the female orgasm. She did a whole lot of research, writing, and even surgery to try to "fix" it. Of course she enlisted the help of Dr Sigmund Freud in her quest, but he couldn't figure out how to fix it either. Join us this week as we explore this distant relative of the Emperor and how she managed to care so deeply about such a personal subject, that she was willing to go under the knife so she could experience something that almost no woman does, because men called it "normal". Have you had your orgasm...
info_outline
Sarah Baartman: The "Hottentot" Venus
Hysterical Medicine
Sarah was born in Southern Africa and had her life turned completely upside down for the sole reason that she did not look like white, European women. She was very intelligent, speaking several languages. She was also stolen from her home and put on display as if she were no more than a sub-human side show. Join us this week to find out what it took for her to be considered so supremely exotic that she had to be taken from her home and put on display for europeans to gawk at - primarily due to a dire lack of understanding, education, and willingness to see other people from other parts...
info_outline
Cut it Out! How to Deal With a Pesky Clitoris
Hysterical Medicine
It's the final episode in Clitoris month and MAN is it a doozy! Men tend to be doozies when it comes to the female body and the clitoris has really stuck in their craw since they decided that it does exist and it's not the Devil's mark on a witch (go back a couple episodes for that). This week we tackle all the horrible things that men have done, in the name of medicine, health, and "care" to maim women and misunderstand a very important part of their bodies. We promise, it gets a tiny bit hopeful at the end, so you should stick around until then to hear the "Salad Bowl" theory from...
info_outline
The Cult of the Clitoris
Hysterical Medicine
There were days in the Western World - not so long ago - that just knowing the word "clitoris" was enough to get you labeled as a criminal. In this episode we talk about some scantily clad dancing, some war, some politicians, and, as usual, rich, white guys who don't know the meaning of much at all. Join us to find out if you would have been labeled as a pervert or reprobate by the acceptable society types of the 20th Century or beyond. Would you try to kiss dead lips or perform the dance of Salome? Hmm...would you rub a person? Either way, you may be at risk of being in a cult. Come on in and...
info_outlineIn episode 2 we talk about the basis of modern medicine through the eyes of ancient Egypt. A lot of people think that Hippocrates is the "father of modern medicine" but he borrowed a great deal from a culture that beat him to the punch.
Find out why the Egyptian's were SOOOOO CLOSE to getting gender identity right but then EVEN MORE WRONG with how they solved that "mystery".
Egyptian culture had a long history and contributed a great deal to how we live today. A tiny bit of it could even be considered good. Now, how was our pronounciation?