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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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The Devil's Teat and Aristotle's Masterpiece
Hysterical Medicine
Did you know that a woman who is found to have "The Devil's Teat" is known to be a witch? Did you know that Aristotle's Masterpiece was an exceptionally popular book that was just smut for its day and was neither written by Aristotle, nor a masterpiece. On this episode - the second of Clit Month - we dive into anatomy, history, and some of the batshit crazy things men have declared about womens' bodies through the years. Strap in, everyone, and don't forget your fly knobs!
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Lost, Found, Lost, and Found Again: The Clitoris
Hysterical Medicine
This pesky little devil has been there since the beginning of humans, but for some reason has been "discovered", lost, found, and so on through history. This is the first episode of Clitoris Month on Hysterical Medicine, where we talk about who thinks they found it, what it was thought to do, and what other mammals have one. Stick around all month long as we deep dive on the "man in the canoe".
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It's All Greek To Me
Hysterical Medicine
They call the Greeks "The Fathers of Medicine", but just how much did the "fathers" bother to figure out about their mothers, wives, sisters, or any woman who needed medical attention at that time? These men - these "Fathers of Medicine" - assumed A LOT about how women's bodies and men's bodies were both similar and different. Spoiler alert: they made a lot of bad assumtions. Join us on this journey into how wrong the learned men of any day can be, when they don't bother doing any research and guess at every turn.
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The Triple Obstetric Tragedy
Hysterical Medicine
In this episode, we discuss The tragic short life of Princess Charlotte, her 50 hour labor and subsequent death at the hands of…you guessed it: incompetent man midwives. Her death in 1817 and its consequences were far reaching, probably still having an effect on your life at a wedding or around the holidays. It's truly amazing and tragic how the Princess met her end, as a woman of royalty, whose health was put in the hands of the absolutley wrong people. This episode also features the bonus of one of our cats who will not shut up during an hour where it would have been awful nice for her...
info_outlineDid you know that a woman who is found to have "The Devil's Teat" is known to be a witch? Did you know that Aristotle's Masterpiece was an exceptionally popular book that was just smut for its day and was neither written by Aristotle, nor a masterpiece.
On this episode - the second of Clit Month - we dive into anatomy, history, and some of the batshit crazy things men have declared about womens' bodies through the years. Strap in, everyone, and don't forget your fly knobs!