Airswimming and Daniel Deronda

In ancient times a woman’s uterus, if left unmoistened, might wander freely about her body poking curiously at her other organs. Left uncorrected it could climb up inside her chest and strangle her. Or a woman’s problems might stem from devils, or thinking too much. Reading. Wearing trousers. Science is tricky. Over the centuries, as male physicians got better at diagnosing “female troubles” like hysteria or… well, hysteria pretty much covered everything, it was decided women just needed to start having more sex with men. Otherwise, patients incarcerated in mental hospitals for durations as arbitrary as everything else might have their genitals massaged using high-powered water hoses until they attained Hysterical Paroxysm.