The Wandering Womb : A Cultural History of Outrageous Beliefs About Woman [Hardcover]

Lana Thompson (Author), Vern L. Bullough (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

Female anatomy, especially the womb, has for centuries been shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding, defining the social place of women in male dominated cultures. Even with advances in medicine, some in today's society believe they can control women's sexual identity. "The Wandering Womb" is a provocative tour through religious, medical, and social histories, pinpointing humorous, outrageous, and hair-raising beliefs, practices, and longstanding falsehoods that permeate human cultures. In Egyptian times, it was believed that the womb was an entity unto itself capable of "wandering" in the body, and also into the world beyond in search of nourishment! This idea, and many others were entwined in medical ignorance and religious superstition, which have often labelled women as incomplete, inferior, imperfect, and even inherently evil.Sexual myths have viewed menstruation as dirty, designing outrageous rituals around this natural process, from strange diets and prescriptions to mandated isolation and violent practices. Sexuality and desire in women has been viewed as taboo and dangerous, while child rearing is considered the highest calling. In Western history, women's health problems were often written off simply as an "unsatisfied uterus" or "hysteria" of their weak and demon possessed bodies, while physical characteristics were used to label women as witches. This fascinating, often maddening romp through the bedrooms and birthing rooms of time illustrates why women have been sexually "enslaved," and reminds us that we've come a long way from the mythical virgin birth to women's liberation and beyond.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...informative and amusing." -- Foreword, March 1999

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573922641
• ISBN-13: 978-1573922647
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You must know the past to understand the present, December 7, 2006

By 

VoteForTheLeastWorst (Dayton, OH, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wandering Womb : A Cultural History of Outrageous Beliefs About Woman (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this book to both sexes, especially medical students. There are many doctors today (both men and women) who still treat and diagnose women as overemotional dogs. Our symptoms are sloughed off as being "emotional," "hysterical," or "depressed." Yet we have come a long way, and still have further to go. To learn that female genital mutilation was practiced in the USA within the past 1.5 centuries is shocking, let alone the horrific treatments of women in asylums. The classifications of symptoms were so broad as to allow anyone wishing to dispose of a woman in an asylum, an easy way to do so. These beliefs lie in the Judeo-Christian concepts found in the Bible. Interestingly enough you will find additions to the Bible in King James (hence the King James "translation") time that had to do with the oppression and execution of women. Jesus never taught these things, so they are obviously works by the evil men in the church of that day to subjegate women. Any person reading this book will find it eye-opening and should be outraged that humans were allowed to suffer so much for idiocy, ignorance, fear, and power.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bittersweet, April 2, 2002

By 

Boo Boo (Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wandering Womb : A Cultural History of Outrageous Beliefs About Woman (Hardcover)

This book is a collection of humorous and at times sad examples of the misconceptions about women's bodies throughout antiquity. At times it is a bit heavy on the Feminist jargon, but this is not intolerable at all. Overall this is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone (of any sex) interested in the history of women's issues and gynecology.