A Case of HysteriaMain MenuThe Altogether Shocking History of Women’s Mental HealthThe Anatomy of InsanityTheater Of The HystericsFather Freud Knows BestThis Place Will Make You CrazyThe Water CureHysterical ParoxysmThis Lobotomy Won't Hurt A BitShe Must Be MadShock The Pain AwayJust A Touch Of ElectricityA Home For Inebriates And The InsaneThe Inmates Aren't Running The AsylumStories From The SanatoriumAgnes RichardsThe Ladies of RockhavenBaby BluesMaybe She's Born With ItStay Subservient!The Cost of Going Crazy in CaliforniaTill Commitment Do We PartAdditional Artifacts from Patton State Hospital, ca. 1930-1950Anne-Marie Maxwell
The Wandering Womb
1media/Header Image - The Wandering Womb.jpgmedia/Header Image - The Wandering Womb.jpg2020-03-27T13:49:13-07:00Anne-Marie Maxwell326ac6eff123bb3f77fb517c66299be8b435b4793698023image_header9752952020-04-22T14:35:50-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673eIn premodern times, the physiology of the female reproductive system was viewed with a mixture of mysticism and unscientific conjecture. The womb, or uterus, where babies gestate, was a source of particular awe and misinformation. It was often linked to notions of mental fragility as well as the cause of an array of women’s health complaints. One theory was that the womb roamed the body, draining life from other organs like a biological parasite. In the sixteenth century, French surgeon Ambroise Paré published a medical tome that described how a vaginal pessary and fumigator made of precious metals could strangulate or suffocate the womb, forcing it to return to its proper location. Terri Kapsalis’s The Hysterical Alphabet artfully condenses the history of hysteria with playful and critical insight. With imagery drawn from medical writings ranging from ancient Egypt to the present, the Alphabet tracks centuries of women’s sexuality and health, unmasking myths and poking fun at the “wandering womb” theory.
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1media/Hysteria_Intro panel_Final Art.jpgmedia/Hscan.jpg2020-03-26T15:03:06-07:00Anne-Marie Maxwell326ac6eff123bb3f77fb517c66299be8b435b479The Altogether Shocking History of Women’s Mental HealthCurtis Fletcher69image_header9823052020-04-28T14:36:00-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e
1media/Splash Hysteria.jpg2020-04-10T15:45:06-07:00Anne-Marie Maxwell326ac6eff123bb3f77fb517c66299be8b435b479A Case of Hysteria?Curtis Fletcher10book_splash2020-04-28T14:43:04-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e
1media/The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus Exhibited in Figures_thumb.jpg2020-04-02T14:14:55-07:00Anne-Marie Maxwell326ac6eff123bb3f77fb517c66299be8b435b479Ambroise Paré, Les Oeuvres (Lyon, 1652)3Norris Medical Library Rare Books Collectionmedia/The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus Exhibited in Figures.jpgplain2020-04-28T14:14:39-07:0020191024160344-0700Tyson Gaskill93cb401bee8f73160b4c4378060de7643c42eee9
1media/The Wandering Womb Lana Thompson_thumb.jpg2020-04-02T14:35:29-07:00Anne-Marie Maxwell326ac6eff123bb3f77fb517c66299be8b435b479Lana Thompson, The Wandering Womb (Amherst: Prometheus, 1999)2media/The Wandering Womb Lana Thompson.jpgplain2020-04-28T14:14:56-07:00Tyson Gaskill93cb401bee8f73160b4c4378060de7643c42eee9
