Hysteria

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Greek word for uterus, for womb, is hysteria. They used that word because it meant uterus. And so the symptoms of the uterus were hysteric symptoms. Pass forward to about the seventeenth century, and hysteria, as it wasn't ever a disease,. It was a diagnostic category invented by male physicians to explain women's inexplicable symptoms. The term 'hysteria' has three different meanings: one very medical, one pseudo medical, and one just purely emotional riht.

A deeply embedded idea in our culture is the sexist notion that men are the “default” human, and women the unknowable “other". Nowhere is this more visible than in the history of medicine, with disastrous consequences for women’s’ health. On the show this week to discuss her new book is Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World. You can check out her book at factuallypod.com/books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.