Go offline with the Player FM app!
Pinkham's Cure for 'Female Complaints' and Other Remedies for Women
Manage episode 430370581 series 3371629
In the Victorian era, the menstrual cycle was considered a disease. A Victorian era woman going through menopause was considered to be emotionally unstable, and a physician would likely have prescribed bloodletting to treat its symptoms. He also would have advised her against reading novels, going to parties, and dancing. If you were a 45- to 50-year-old woman in the 19th century, developing this “madness” was considered inevitable. The lucky underwent bloodletting; the unlucky were confined to what were then-called ‘insane asylums’. Where conventional medicine failed the so-called weaker sex, the Victorian view of females as weak, fragile, and childlike actually served as both cause and effect when it came to .., that's right: patent medicines.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
226 episodes
Manage episode 430370581 series 3371629
In the Victorian era, the menstrual cycle was considered a disease. A Victorian era woman going through menopause was considered to be emotionally unstable, and a physician would likely have prescribed bloodletting to treat its symptoms. He also would have advised her against reading novels, going to parties, and dancing. If you were a 45- to 50-year-old woman in the 19th century, developing this “madness” was considered inevitable. The lucky underwent bloodletting; the unlucky were confined to what were then-called ‘insane asylums’. Where conventional medicine failed the so-called weaker sex, the Victorian view of females as weak, fragile, and childlike actually served as both cause and effect when it came to .., that's right: patent medicines.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
226 episodes
All episodes
×Welcome to Player FM!
Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.