Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events

Stories

  • Article

Female masturbation and the perils of pleasure

Dr Kate Lister exposes the brutal 19th-century ‘cures’ for women who indulged in masturbation.

  • Article

Diagnosing the past

Historical texts rarely supply enough detail for a definitive diagnosis, so medical historians need to proceed with caution.

  • Article

What is hysteria?

Hysteria has long been associated with fanciful myths, but its history reveals how it has been used to control women’s behaviour and bodies

  • Article

Hysteria

Mental health and emotional symptoms are common during menopause, but a long history of dismissing sufferers as 'hysterical women', at the mercy of their emotions has made it much harder to discuss these issues and to get support.

All stories (9)

Images

  • Le speculum de la matrice a travers les ages / par V. Deneffe.
All images (1)

Catalogue

All works (139)