The Deeply Misogynistic History of the Word ‘Hysteria’

In an eye-opening TED-Ed lesson, written by Dr. Marc S. Micale and brilliantly directed by Laura Jayne Hodkin, narrator Bethany Cutmore-Scott explains the incredibly misogynistic origins and history of “hysteria”, noting that the word was specifically developed and applied to women throughout the ages.

The catch-all term “hysteria” was used by physicians, who were mostly men, to describe just about any unexplainable medical condition suffered by female patients. ..Throughout its long history, hysteria was used as a cultural signifier for what men with authority found contemptible and incomprehensible in the behavior of women who lacked, or tried to exercise, power.

While the word was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980, it still casts a heavy shadow over current society.

Today, most scholars argue that the blanket disease hysteria was always a figment of doctors’ imaginations.As outright medical sexism declined, so did its diagnosis. Nevertheless, its legacy reflects Western medicine’s long, storied, and ongoing history of misattributing and trivializing women’s pain.