Hysterical Medicine

Dr. Joe-la DeWitt
  • 5.0 (4)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Hysterical Medicine explores the occasionally funny, often strange, and outrageously misogynistic history of women's healthcare. Hosted by Board Certified Ob/Gyn and amateur historian, Dr. Joe-la DeWitt, and her husband, regular guy, Matt. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to be considered medical advice.

  1. 08/26/2025

    How American Doctors Got Anne Frank Killed: Eugenics Continued

    Seriously. An American Dr looked across the Atlantic to Germany just before WW2 and said "they're beating us at our own game". He was referring to removing imperfect people from the general population.  We talked about how eugenics got going in the US last week. This week, we talk about how it was pushed on us by "emerging science" and kept around ever since (in one form or another) by governments.  If you think that being a human is enough reason to be a part of society and no condition of your birth should change that, you disagree with eugenics. In the US, in the early 20th century, it was more popular than The Charleston and Ragtime music. Science has since left it behind as uninformed and draconian. When will the world's politicians catch up? It won't be soon with education being squashed to death. This one is making us truly Hysterical. Come on in and get pissed off with us.

    49 min

  2. 08/19/2025

    Removing Normal Ovaries? Why? Oh...Eugenics

    Some of these episode descriptions are more challenging to scribble out than others. For example, this episode talks about why doctors thought it was a good idea to remove healthy ovaries. Yeah. Seriously. Spoiler alert - they did NOT have good reasons. We draw the obvious line to eugenics in this episode and it's just sort of dark. But we also do spend a few seconds whispering about our puppy's birthday. So there is that. Try not to let it make you too Hysterical.

    1h 4m

  3. 08/12/2025

    The Episode That Will Get Us Sued - Contagious Disease Acts of the US

    What's the best way to keep the good, chaste, young Doughboys of WW1 American Military Forces safe from harm? Why, that's easy - imprison women!! This episode really hits close to home in 2025 America. We dive into how the US government decided, a little over 100 years ago, that the only way to protect soldiers from the scourge of venereal disease was to remand ladies, without cause, warning, due process, or habeas corpus, into custody for "treatment", and then put them on trial, after they had been "cured". Sound fair? Sound...familiar - vaguely?  When we don't learn history, we are doomed to repeat it, and this tidbid from our nation's past rarely even makes it into the university books. So, let's learn something so we don't do it again, and maybe we won't get sued in the process?

    51 min
  4. J. Marion Sims - Cruelty Personified

    08/05/2025

    J. Marion Sims - Cruelty Personified

    He was called "the father of gynecology" but really he was just a small man who loved to hurt women. Welcome back to Hysterical Medicine as we hop in to Season 2 with a bang!  This guy is a real problem. He has had statues erected in his honor, only to have them later pulled down in shame. Head into this episode with us and find out why a boy from a humble background sought fame  for all the wrong reasons and acheived it at a great cost to women. I hope this episode doesn't leave you too hysterical. Welcome back!

    1h 11m
  5. Modern Comstockery

    04/22/2025

    Modern Comstockery

    Zombies are dangerous. I don't mean the ones on The Last of Us or The Walking Dead. Sure, they are scary, but they are fiction. Comstock and his law are very real, and - somehow - that law with the sole purpose of governing the behavior of adults acting on their own and hurting nobody - is still on the books.  For our final episode of the season we discuss legal scholarship and why it is so critical for the next 3 1/2 years as rights to healthcare and access to safe procedures and prescriptions are being stripped from women at an alarming rate. Listen and find out why we absolutely must Kill the Comstock Zombie or risk a massive list of much bigger problems.    Thank you for staying with us for season 1! Please spread the word and let others who feel like we do know about this information - especially this last episode - as it's so important for all of us to stay educated while we are being dragged into a new dark age. See you in Season 2 starting in August! Feel free to find us on TikTok between now and then or shoot us an email at HMedPod@gmail.com - especially if you want a sticker!

    1h 27m
  6. Anthony Comstock: America's Busiest Body?

    04/15/2025

    Anthony Comstock: America's Busiest Body?

    Anthony Comstock was very invested in policing the activities of others. He was obsessed with it, really. The United States was a wild place around the time of The Civil War and old Tony just wanted to be the best dry goods merchant he could be - after he tried his hardest to single-handedly eradicate "vice" that he saw as the scourge of all humanity. Come along this week for part 1 of 2 in our double episode that wraps up season 1. We will tell you all about Comstock, his absolutely bonkers obsession with other people's lives and activities, and begin to discuss why it is critically important this very day that we learn about him, so we don't let people like him do what he did to try to suppress EVERYTHING he thought was amoral - which was a lot.

    1h 16m

  7. 04/08/2025

    Freud, Princess Bonaparte, and The Big "O"

    Napoleon (yeah, that one) had a great grand-niece who was REALLY into the female orgasm. She did a whole lot of research, writing, and even surgery to try to "fix" it.  Of course she enlisted the help of Dr Sigmund Freud in her quest, but he couldn't figure out how to fix it either.  Join us this week as we explore this distant relative of the Emperor and how she managed to care so deeply about such a personal subject, that she was willing to go under the knife so she could experience something that almost no woman does, because men called it "normal".  Have you had your orgasm today?

    1h 18m

  8. 04/01/2025

    Sarah Baartman: The "Hottentot" Venus

    Sarah was born in Southern Africa and had her life turned completely upside down for the sole reason that she did not look like white, European women. She was very intelligent, speaking several languages. She was also stolen from her home and put on display as if she were no more than a sub-human side show.  Join us this week to find out what it took for her to be considered so supremely exotic that she had to be taken from her home and put on display for europeans to gawk at - primarily due to a dire lack of understanding, education, and willingness to see other people from other parts of the world as human - just like them. It's not like any episode is particularly light-hearted or "fun", but this one really is a rage-inducer for many reasons. These stories need to be shared and understood if we want history to stop repeating itself, so let's dive in.

    1h 23m
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5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Hysterical Medicine explores the occasionally funny, often strange, and outrageously misogynistic history of women's healthcare. Hosted by Board Certified Ob/Gyn and amateur historian, Dr. Joe-la DeWitt, and her husband, regular guy, Matt. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to be considered medical advice.

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. Joe-la DeWitt
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Hysterical Medicine