How come women don't have hysterics/fainting fits anymore ?

Question

Or at least, people don't talk about it anymore.

In those old time novels, they used to talk about ladies fainting away, or lying down in bed because of an attack of "hysterics"

Are modern just not as in touch with their emotions anymore ?

Answer 1

Talk about a stereotype. In the old novels, women were far beneath the men, so they were made to look helpless. Now a days they are more "equal."

Answer 2

I think they found out nobody really cares and the only one that is going to help them is themselves.

Answer 3

Anxiety.  Men get anxiety attacks, too.

Answer 4

Women were NOT empowered then as they are now.  It was probably a subtle form of manipulation if you think honestly about it.  Women could not express themselves in any way shape or form for hundreds of years.  They are still held contemptible in some societies today.

To read or watch movies where women fainted are usually comical in nature, however is in my belief, her only act of desperation or weakness under certain circumstances.  Not real...manipulation.

On the other hand, there are some instances in life where the mind cannot render the information and the emotions force them to faint.  Think an officer knocking at your door to tell you your son/daughter has died in a war.  Real and natural.

Answer 5

Probably always was faked, it is no longer in fashion. They still cry a lot though.

Answer 6

Because we no longer wear corsets that cut off circulation and breathing.

Answer 7

No, actually its because of fashion. Women in those days had to wear corsets which squeezed their midsections and they were more prone to fainting because of breathing difficulties caused by these corsets.

Answer 8

Some of the old timey fainting spells were from tight corsets. Others were faked by women who wanted attention or sympathy. Today, tight women's underwear is out of style, and (most) men are wise enough today to spot a female who is trying to fake a spell. Unless she's in church giving her best impression of being "possessed" by the Holy Spirit. "Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo..." Heh heh. Yeah, that's fake too.

Answer 9

in this day and age, nothing surprises them except maybe losing their son or daughter to some ignorant president's solitary decision to send our youth to war.

Answer 10

Well, given that mine was a generation bred for conflict I guess we have sterner stuff in our psyche...

Violent TV shows and cartoons, toy guns, video games.. movies... music.. I mean have you played one of these first person shooter games on the later systems? You can watch someone's head explode. My friend just pointed this out to me the other day. He said "I think I could be a sniper, and it wouldn't bother me. I mean, it doesn't seem like a real thing, a real murder, a real death. I see this **** on TV and videogames like DAILY."

He's right.

Answer 11

As some have already said, clothing was ONE of the factors, the foolish wearing of tight whalebone corsets

But there was also the issue of hygiene, which is not widely known

There were some strange practices by ‘MEN’ and Women before the dawn of the 20th century

I must say, NOT as much in America and Canada, but in Europe

Such things as the wearing of certain ‘intimate bags’, under the clothes, a truly stupid practice!!

Answer 12

Histrionic Personality Disorder is a real and destructive disorder. It is destructive to the person suffering from it (usually female) and the destructive to the people around them. It is a part of the cluster B personality disorders which includes Borderline personality, Narcissistic personality, and of course Histrionic personality.

Fainting in the HPD was more common in the past because it was not acceptable for women to get attention other ways. But that is only one symptom of Hystrionic Personality Disorder which is called 'somatization.' The HPD who somatizes experiences psychological stress through physical symptoms because she lacks emotional depth, or capacity for depth. This is sometimes experienced as fainting, headaches and stomach pains.

The Histrionic Personality craves attention. In this narcissistic-friendly society, women no longer need to somatize, or "faint." Women with HPD are commonly referred to as the "attention-w***e." She is usually the loudest one at a party or social event. She is the drama queen. You can identify the HPD by a pattern of seductive, irresponsible behavior and broken relationships.

Depending on the culture she was raised in, the more conservative the culture, the more likely to somatize. The HPD in, let's say, Iran, will not go about getting her supply of attention by putting on tight jeans and flirting with everyone in the room. No, she might faint instead. The word Histrionic doesn't mean hysteria. It comes from the latin Histrion a word meaning Actor. The HPD always seems to be acting.

Answer 13

Those are both Victorian Era ideals of "femininity." You see very little of fainting before or after that time period. Women DID have a great deal more fainting spells back then, and it was for a very REAL, practical reason. The corsets that they wore were so tight and constricting, that they pushed the woman's intestines up into their rib cage, and made adequate breathing very difficult. Also, fashion and social expectations of the time dictated that women wear many layers of heavy clothing, even in the hottest of weather, and of course, there was no air conditioning. Think about it, if you had to wear a bone corset that pinched your 26 inch waist down to 17 inches, and had to wear five layers of clothing in 90 degree weather, wouldn't YOU faint on a regular basis?

As for the "hysterics," I don't know statistics, but generally any mental illness, from mild depression, to full blown psychosis, was labeled "hysterics" in women, and treated by having them confined to their room for "bed rest." And it was believed that only women suffered from "hysteria," and that it was a direct result of having a uterus. No joke. There was very little real knowledge regarding mental illness at the time, but because women were MUCH more socially scrutinized, and expected to behave within extremely narrow parameters, they were more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness..or "Hysteria" (in a woman's case).

Also, it's important to note that this was considered the epitome of femininity at the time. Being so physically constricted that one faints regularly, showed how "delicate" and "feminine" one was. And if you did NOT manage to faint on a regular basis, you were considered too "robust" and "healthy." The LESS HEALTHY you were, the MORE ATTRACTIVE you were. Even TUBERCULOSIS sufferers were romanticized as being "the ideal" of female beauty...the pale skin, the extreme weakness. THIS is an example of gender, and gender norms, as a social construct, people.

Answer 14

This makes me think of Pirates of the Caribbean when Norrington asks Elizabeth to marry him, and she says "I can't breathe." And then he says "Yes, I am nervous too." She then faints and falls off the cliff. He thought it was because he asked her to marry him, it was really because it was an extremely hot day and her corset was too tight.

Answer 15

OLD TIME NOVELS is the important point in this question.

Answer 16

i imagine that words have different meanings than they used to. fainting away meant feeling shock or disgust. and i doubt that there were any more hysterics than any teen ager displays almost hourly. remember when g*y meant happy?

Answer 17

They haven't had hysterics/fainting spells since they got the right to vote.  I think it was pent up voting rage that caused those.

Answer 18

Because women today don't wear ridiculously restrictive whalebone corsets that hamper their breathing.

Answer 19

It was because women used to ware really tight dresses and it caused breathing problems.

Answer 20

I don't think so . We studied this in english and decided it had to do with sexism , how writers can reduce the credibility and increase the vulnerability of their female characters by giving them these character traits ,

Or mabey it's just gone out of fashion :P

Answer 21

I am a twenty year old female. I have a particular (male) housemate who I am disguisted with in the degrading way he talks about women (and he probably does not even notice it). I am intelligent, if i were not writing anynonmously I would not admit it. We have had some disputes and upon the lynch of making a point that is so very valid on my behallf he will accuse me of being irrational or something along that vibe (just because he must win because of ego) Idiot! so frustrating. I never have hysterics or fainting spells. I think the women who probably did suffer them (and I suspect that they were not just the myth of fiction or the conquence of fashion) were really suffering. There are all the norms that women were supposed to conform to to retain there femininity. And the power of being a female was in being charming to men.  Yeah, and maybe it was a bit more pragmatic to have a bit of a cry.

Answer 22

I don't think it is common occurrence now days because women aren't cinched by corsets .Women of the nineteenth century suffered from  symptoms that were a result of the compressing effects of tight waisted corsets.  Corsets  have a very significant effect on blood flow which produces a tendency to faint. This fainting was generally regarded as the features of hysteria and were also attributed to psychological factors.

Edit:  Dj King...You are correct.   There were many other practices that led to these fainting spells.  I believe another factor could be  that it was common practice for women to ingest small amounts of arsenic to achieve a certain  pallor, which was considered a standard of beauty at the time.

Answer 23

You're kidding, right?  They may not have "feinting spells,"  but they still demonstratively display histrionics.

Answer 24

These were written before anti-anxiety meds were invented, silly!

PS - Translating hysterics to modern language would make it "drama".

Answer 25

Now us women can vent like men. So instead of keeping stuff in, cuz we weren't aloud to express our selves, we now let people have it.

Answer 26

We never did. That was in the movies are in theater, those movies were directed normally by a man who was brainwashed into thinking women were weak.

Answer 27

women used to faint a lot because they wore laced up corsets to make them thinner. Look at the way they used to dress, you see that rich women had their waists tied in by these tight undergarments. They would be so tight that the woman could hardly breath, so when she would get excited, or startled she would often faint due to lack of oxygen.

People can still faint under a lot of excitement but it takes a lot more to cause that to happen when the person has full lung capacity to breath.