Desexualization Of Ragasm

orgasm and how its “supposed” to occur is another way that this disease was socially

The term “hysteria” doesn’t quite mean the same thing today as it did 150 years ago. In western culture today we know the term to mean: “exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people”. (Webster’s International Dictionary, 2009) However, in the Victorian era it was used as a diagnostic blanket term by physicians and psychologists to label women’s mental symptoms. During this time period the diagnosis and prevalence of hysteria/women’s neurosis was extremely high second only to fever. Any emotional outbursts outside of the norm, nervousness, sexual urges and fantasies, (all things which we have names for today; depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, sexual frustration etc.) which were considered improper mental behavior of a lady, were labelled as such. One such famous victim of this

Women have been accused of being “hysterical’ for centuries. Hysteria is defined as “ a psychoneurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks, disturbances of sensory and motor functions, and various abnormal effects due to autosuggestion.” Hysteria is not a condition that is specific to only females (Hysteria). Although it is more common among women, men can also become “hysterical” in their lifetime. This idea was proposed in the 1800s by a French neurologists named Jean- Martin Charcot. Charcot believed that hysteria was not a sexual disease that was only in women, he concluded that it was in fact an “inherited nervous disorder” that affected both sexes (Hysteria). Hysteria is a legitimate issue that exists today through

It is clear to see how social values have influenced research on sexuality in the past. Not only did society dictate what was right and proper for a scientist to study, but it condemned those who sought answers for the “improper” areas of study to career damnation. Even more discouraging is the way in which modern day society still puts limits on the research done in sexual physiology. In an era so tolerant and open-minded, one would assume that any researcher in honest quest for truth would be welcomed (and funded) with open arms. Unfortunately, this is not the case. In an article titled Long After Kinsey, Only the Brave Study Sex, Benedict Carey describes such limits on a study attempted in 2003, “In July 2003, for instance, Congress threatened to shut down several highly-regarded sex studies, including one of emotion and arousal, and another of massage parlor workers. And last summer health officials refused to finance a widely anticipated

Until the medical breakthroughs that we have made in the modern day, psychology as a science was not fully understood. Modern technology has given us a clearer idea of psychology, but in the past there was less known about the science. This alongside a predominantly male medical discourse led to a medical diagnosis in many women called hysteria. Female hysteria was a medical diagnosis given to specifically women as far back as the ancient Greek civilization. Hysteria started as a supernatural phenomena, but as medicine evolved it would be described as a mental disorder, (Tasca). Hysteria. in actuality, is an absurd and fabricated diagnosis that institutionalized and discriminated countless women. The way it makes a women feel, and the fact that it strips a woman of any sort of free will is a sickening display of blatant misogyny. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman perfectly displays not only the misogyny, but the torture a woman must face trapped under a hysteria diagnosis. Hysteria as a diagnoses fails to effectively treat many women, instead leading to the mistreatment and wrongful institutionalization of women.

It may be hard to imagine how this ridiculous scrutiny of women used to be commonplace. The development and diagnosis of hysteria certainly goes against to the modernistic beliefs of humanistic psychology &

The first manifestation that will be examined in this chapter is hysteria. While there existed different forms of hysteria, this section of the chapter will focus on the aspect that it was considered a disease that affected women more than men due to their weakness and susceptibility to emotions. Several publications were written about women and hysteria, or they were written geared toward women about dealing with hysteria. Women were viewed as unable to control their bodies, being described as the “feebler sex” and meek. Inasmuch, when struck with a hysterical paroxysm – a medical term for an attack or episode – they were rendered helpless. As stated by Robert Brudenell Carter, a nineteenth-century physician and ophthalmic surgeon, based on the research conducted during this time, it was decided that there were ‘satisfactory reason[s] for the greater proclivity of the female sex to hysteria, and also for the absolute rarity of its occurrence in man.’ Furthermore, even though hysteria affected both males and females, in the nineteenth century it was seen as an illness that was prone to the female sex. This view flooded into society and thus created the many public debates on the discourse of the illness, along with the literary responses such as Jane Eyre.

This is because of the Pre-Programed nature to respond to sexual imagery; it is so powerful that advertisers have been using it for almost 100 years.

People do not like to accept fact that women have sexual desires and experience sexual pleasure as men do. In the book, Steven, a high school junior said “his male friends always hang out with the freshman girls known as ‘sluts,’ not because they like those girls, but because they can ‘get some” (p. 77). These boys dehumanize the girls that are experiencing the same sexual feelings they are. Instead of females with natural desires, they are reduced to being called sluts and being used for sex. While the girls and boys had equal sexual desires, only the girls’ desires were considered deviant of expectations of their gender expectations while the boys lived up to theirs. By not living up to the expectations of femininity, girls who are sexually active lose their identity as females and are treated first as sluts- as sexual objects with lesser value than a feminine cisgender female who remains abstinent and a good girl in the eyes of

This calls back to both the prevalence of hysteria itself as a diagnosis of women, and

In her article, Jane Gerhard, describes the trends, conversations, and controversies among doctors, psychologists, and feminists in 20th century America, surrounding women’s orgasms. The titular ‘Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm’ was a 1968 treatise written by Anne Koedt. It argued against the common assertion that women received pleasure exclusively through intercourse, and explored women’s sexuality. She discusses the beliefs about the orgasm that existed in the first half of the 20th century. At this time, a “companion marriage” where a heterosexual couple would love and care for one another, and have sex, was considered the proper and “normal” thing to do (451).

In the nineteenth century, women often suffered a disease called hysteria and were given treatment plans. Stemming from the Greek word for “uterus,” hysteria was presented as a solely feminine ailment. Any activity of the uterus, such as: menstruation, childbirth, or sexual intercourse, accentuated a woman’s vulnerability to hysteria. Hysterical fits were recognized by

Sexualization has occurred in the past, is occurring today, and will, more than likely, continue to occur in the future. The society we live in today characterizes women as sexual objects. It’s everywhere you look. For example, look at the media. Reality TV, romance movies, fashion magazines, and advertising all portray women to look a certain way; slim, young, and attractive. These images of women are etched into our brains, and it’s normal to look at these media and think that those women are what society calls “beautiful.” A contributor to

The role of the orgasm in heterosexual relationships is significant in having a satisfying malefemale relationship according to society’s expectations. By using the malefemale binary, as well as exploring the social construction of sex, we can see just how significant the role the orgasm plays in heterosexual relationships. First off, we must understand that orgasms are achieved differently for both males and females.

Human sexuality is a common phrase for all, and anything, pertaining to the feelings and behaviors of sex for the human race. Sexuality has been a topic that has been discussed and studied for as far back as 1000 years B.C. and is still being studied today. As the discussion of sexuality has progressed through history, theories have been created based on research and experiments that scholars have implemented, based on their own perceptions of human behavior. Out of the many theories that pose to explain sexual behavior, Sexuality Now explained ten that are seemed to be the most overlapped, and built off of theories. Of these theories, two that were discussed in the text were the behavioral and sociological theory. These two theories cover some of the basic ideas of what could possibly influence a person’s sexuality.