The "bizarre" notions about the female body

In the past, science and technology had not yet developed, spiritual factors were still more trusted by people, which led to misconceptions about women’s health.

During the period of ancient Rome, the philosopher and naturalist Pliny the Elder compiled an encyclopedia titled Natural History, which recorded “allegations” about women’s menstruation. .

At that time, people believed that a woman’s menstrual period was very scary, wherever she went, it would spread disaster, rusted steel, rabies dogs and killed a whole swarm of bees. Even the ancients believed that a woman’s menstrual blood could repel a storm.

The "bizarre" notions about the female body
According to the old view, only men can enjoy the feeling of desire and women do not.

According to the old view, sex was a taboo and only men could enjoy the feeling of desire and women did not.

So any woman who has thoughts about this “sensitive matter” or has a lot of vaginal discharge will assume that she has a disease and go to the doctor for treatment.

Another misconception about women’s sexuality put forward by the sage Galen has also existed for a very long time that women will produce “seeds” during orgasm before being able to receive them. pregnancy and childbirth. Therefore, if a woman is forced, she will not be able to produce this seed and will not be able to have children.

The "bizarre" notions about the female body
There was a time when it was thought that women who read too much would be infertile.

There was a time when it was thought that women who read too much would be infertile. This theory was popularized by a professor named Edward H. Clarke, who argued that women who study or read too much will have a hard time having children.

Clarke advised young girls not to attend school to avoid damaging their health and making them infertile.

Fortunately, well-educated women later disproved Clarke’s theory on their own and proved that schooling and women’s fertility were not related.

For a long time, many people believed that sleeping with a virgin girl would cure many diseases.

In the twentieth century, people in England and America thought that sleeping with a young virgin would cure syphilis and other venereal diseases. They assumed that the virgin’s purity somehow had restorative properties and would transfer disease from them to the girl.

Even men with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of India and Thailand believe in the miraculous healing powers of young virgins.

In the Bible, there is also a story about King David because he was so worried about his old age that he slept with a beautiful virgin girl named Abishag. Based on this story, the concept of shunamitism was born, referring to old men sleeping with young and virgin girls with the desire to “revitalize”.

Shunamitism has since gradually become popular in quite a few cultures. In the fourth century, a doctor even believed that virgins had the ability to heal stomach disorders.

There have been rumors that Asian women – typically Korean, Chinese, Japanese, have vaginas … horizontal.

The "bizarre" notions about the female body
Asian women are not alone in suffering from this misconception.

In a note in 1816, the French naturalist, George Cuvier argued that the genitals of women differ from place to place in the world, and especially the vagina of Chinese women is still horizontal.

By the 1880s, JW Buel, an author who had spent many years studying Chinese women concluded, Chinese women had the same normal anatomy as everyone else in the world.

However, during World War II and the Korean War, the myth of the “horizontal vagina” was once again re-emerged by the American soldiers “slashing” when returning home.

Asian women are not alone in suffering from this misconception. During anti-Semitism in Europe, it was believed that Jewish women had a horizontal vagina and pregnancy lasted only 6 months.

The "bizarre" notions about the female body
The old notion was that women were an “incomplete” version of a man, and had even fewer teeth than men.

The ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, although very famous and had a significant influence on Western philosophy, his views on women were not immune to mistakes.

Aristotle believed that women were an “incomplete” version of a man, and had even fewer teeth than men.

According to Aristotle’s social hierarchy, women were ranked above slaves, but below men. In politics, the philosopher has argued that men are superior because they have “complete wisdom” and women must serve men because they are physically and intellectually inferior.