who are these people, anyway?
Think of us as your Mini-Menoposse. We’re part of the peri/menopause community, just like you. We are also fanatical researchers, desperate for information and answers to this bonkers rollercoaster of a “life stage.” After compiling and sharing our findings with grateful friends and family, we thought there might be a wider audience hungry for curated information but who don’t have the time to do the digging themselves.
what’s with the name?
hys·ter·a
/həˈstera/
Greek for womb or uterus. Root word of hysteria. Which brings us to…
hys·ter·i·cal
/həˈsterək(ə)l/
Derived from the Greek notion that hysteria was specific to women and caused by disturbances of the uterus. Literally, a ‘displaced uterus’ was blamed for many symptoms in women… but a lack of orgasms and “uterine melancholy” was nothing a little sexual submission wouldn’t cure, according to the ancient Greek physician Melampus, a notion reinforced by many an ancient Greek and Roman philosopher, followed by European religious and medical figures throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and beyond.
Freud further popularized the diagnosis of hysteria, and widened the definition to include male patients, but the symptoms continued to be associated with women (thank you Victorians). The American Psychiatric Association didn’t retire use of the word as an official diagnosis until 1980. So much baggage in one little word. (You can do a deeper dive in this article published on the NIH website.)