Jezebel: Hysteria

Hysteria Trailer: The History Of The Vibrator

Whitney Jefferson — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:15:00 EDT

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Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, and Rupert Everett star in Hysteria, a movie set in Victorian London. More interestingly, it's about the invention of the vibrator. Dancy plays a young doctor struggling to establish himself in the medical world until he's invited to join a women's practice that specializes in curing "hysteria." More »

Can You Literally Knock Some Sense Into People?

Sadie Stein — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:17:00 EST

We've often wondered: does a smart slap help someone "snap out of it"— or is it just unnecessarily violent? Luckily, someone's answered just that! More »

I-Dosing Is The Dumbest New Drug You've Never Heard Of

Anna North — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:45:00 EDT

In their neverending quest to get high in stupid ways, kids today are apparently turning to I-dosing, in which sounds played over the Internet supposedly function like drugs. Cue the hysteria! More »

Mad, Bad & Sad: History Of Female Mental Illness Turns Into Indictment Of Psychotherapy

Anna North — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:40:00 EDT

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From force-feeding to tooth removal to stomach surgery, mental patients throughout history — many of them women — have endured some pretty horrific therapies. In Mad, Bad & Sad, Lisa Appignanesi questions whether modern treatments are much better. More »

Freudian Slips: The History Of Male Hysteria

Anna North — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Why was hysteria mostly diagnosed in women? According to a new book, Hysterical Men: The Hidden History of Male Nervous Illness, it's because dudes having mental problems was considered totally gay. More »

A Brief History Of The Hysterical Man

Sadie Stein — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST

For generations, "hysteria" was considered a woman's complaint. A new book blows the lid off the myth. More »

Who's Afraid Of The Badly-Dressed Princess?

Jennifer — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:00:48 EDT

Rabblerouser/Celebrity Big Brother contestant Germaine Greer is lashing out at the late Princess Diana for no apparent reason (well, except for all that gratuitous dog and pony show-ing about the 10-year anniversary of her death) calling the royal icon "slow", "devious" and "disturbingly neurotic." Disturbingly neurotic? Seriously? Is the infamous Ms. Greer (she of such pseudo-feminist tomes such as The Female Eunuch) really going to use one of those "bad" words that feminists (not to mention the most recent edition of the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual) hate to hear directed other women? Why yes she is, and in fact, she's got another barb to throw Diana's way: She was a bad dresser! More »