05/08/2026
In 1850, if you were a woman experiencing pelvic pain, mood swings, or burnout, doctors gave you one label: Hysteria.
And the “treatments” were terrifying 👇
⚬ Forced Isolation („Rest Cure“): Women were forbidden from working, reading, or talking to anyone for months. Charlotte Perkins Gilman documented how it nearly drove her to su***de (The Yellow Wallpaper, 1892).
⚬ Surgical Control: Between 1870 and 1890, thousands of healthy women had their ovaries surgically removed to control their „rebelliousness“ or period pain (Barker-Benfield, 1975).
⚬ Shock Therapy: By 1898, medical texts recommended electrical shocks and forced isolation to keep women „docile.“
⚬ 1980: The year the American Psychiatric Association finally removed „Hysteria“ as a mental disorder. That was just 46 years ago.
For centuries, women were taught that their bodies were defective. Pain was suppressed with pills and control. No room for creation. No room for self-determination.
That collective conditioning didn’t vanish. When you feel disconnected from your body today, it’s not because you are broken—it’s because society taught us to suppress our center.
Your cycle is not a flaw. It’s your source of power.
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Sources: Gilman (1892); Mitchell (1877); Barker-Benfield (1975); APA DSM-III (1980).