Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - Sawbones: The Intimate Side of a Woman’s Life

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

What was some of the outdated (though subtly subversive) medical advice given to cisgendered women of the 1930s? Dr. Sydnee and Justin aim to answer that with The Intimate Side of a Woman’s Life by Leona W. Chalmers, with all sorts of tips about douching, period cramps, and sex energy. Thanks to Olivia for sending in the book! Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Saw bones is a show about medical history, and nothing the hosts say should be taken as medical advice or opinion. It's for fun. Can't you just have fun for an hour and not try to diagnose your mystery boil? We think you've earned it. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a moment of distraction from that weird growth. You're worth it. that weird growth. You're worth it. Alright, time is about to books! One, two, one, two, three, four! Hello everybody and welcome to Saul Bones, a marital tour of Miscite and Medicine. for the mouth. Wow. Hello everybody and welcome to Saubone's a marital tour of Miscite and Medicine.

I'm your co-host Justin McElroy. And I'm Sydney McElroy. Sydney, I'm surprised by your lack of a computer because usually that is an iconic image for me personally, is sitting across from the table and you got the computer up in your area to just podcast your but all. I know, and I have all my stickers on it.

I feel like that's like, I have all my statements right there. Got it all. No, well, we're doing something a little different. I mean, not really that different. It's the same old, like I'm talking about old medicine stuff. But as I've talked about on the show before, our listeners are very kind to send me books occasionally,

especially old medical books, which I really love, because one, they make great material for research and everything for the show we do, but two, sometimes it's so of a time, that it what is in it tells you more about the time. You know what I mean? Yeah. Then the information itself.

And we received this book recently from one of our listeners, Olivia. Thank you, Olivia. Thank you. I was very excited to receive the intimate side of a woman's life by Leona W. Cholmers. This is an older medical, text medical medical medical medical. It is it was first printed in 1937. Okay, so last printed in 1942. And just try it up after that presumably. Well, what I think, I think that it represents, okay, I want to go through some of the greatest hits from this book. I think it's an interesting intersection of like, it's kind of feminist for the time.

In the sense that there's very much a message from this author, Lyona, that we don't teach women about sex. They don't know enough about their bodies, they don't know enough about like, what might be expected of them. And I mean, this is very much framed as like, first of all, when she says women, Lyona means cis women.

That is who she is aiming this book at. Yes. And secondly, she is writing to them in anticipation of what they may go through once they're married to a cis man and what those marital relations were look at. So this is all very much through a... It is over time. Yes, right. Like all these words, it is a very heteronormative kind of experience that Leona is assuming for women. And she is informing them, here is what you will expect, because your moms might not tell you. Which is, or they may just, they may just slide this book to you across the table and then sprint out of the room. It's, you know, it's trying to avoid a Bridgerton situation.

Hey, y'all, the best comedy of that year was that one episode of Bridgerton with a lady to realize how it all works. I know. Well, if only some of us had been there. It's like sad because, I mean, we have to assume that for some period of time, that was true that people didn't, we're not properly informed. Not privy to the secret of this, if you will. Okay. Okay. Anyway, Leona does not want that to happen.

Good for her. She wants. I mean, she starts off saying, like, ignorance isn't bliss. You need to know about this stuff. And like, dudes know, why don't you? Now, the problem though is that like, as much as I appreciate that message, it is very much filtered through a lens of the 1930s. Yes. So, one, some of the medical advices questionable advice. But we didn't understand a lot of it then, so you can't really blame us for that.

I have little tabs that I have, I read through the whole book, and then I made myself little notes on different pages. Like I didn't write in the book. It's too nice. It's too good. I didn't write in the book. I tore off little sheets of paper and wrote notes on them to tell me what each section was.

This first one I have just says Yikes. Okay. So what I appreciated, so we're getting just into the introduction and let me give you some idea of what this book is about. Like I told you it's about the intimate side of a woman's life. But that could be anything.

And we go through our sections are on female pelvic organs, displacement of the pelvic organs, constipation, menstrual pains, lucaria, vaginal hygiene, women's problems, general body hygiene and conclusion. So, there you go. So, there's all our kind of things. And we have some illustrations in here, which I will get into.

Some of these are medical, like here's a microscope drawing of of trickamanisus. How do you see it? Oh, it's just a drawing. So it's not like you're stuck under a microscope. It's not. Well, it's not. It's somebody looked under a microscope and then drew a picture of what they saw, huh? Got you down there. So it's like a circle with little squiggles in it is what it is. Beautiful. See, there's a circle. It's got squiggles. Okay. I see what you're saying now. It's a it's a it's a Petri dish. And then there are also some diagrams of some positions that women can be in for certain things.

Uh-oh. Not sex. Oh. Brids. Not sex. Euchar, bridge. First chair, second chair of my life. So in the introduction, she launches right into,

this is what I'm telling you, this is a little bit subversive. I think there's a subversive streak that is hidden underneath a lot of kind of, you know, like, very binary, like, this is what a woman is and this is what she must do with her life kind of, like, of the time period. Because in the very beginning, she says, a famous actress once said vitality is personality and then she's like stop to consider the source of vitality. Where do we get vitality? Where's it from? Sex energy, the most powerful force in life. Really it might be

said to be the controlling principle of life. Sex energy. So Leona comes out and she's like, hey ladies, this book is about sex energy. And a woman who possesses abundant sex energy is usually ambitious, vivacious, intellectual, and magnetic. Ooh. So, I mean, I do think there's already an aspect where you read that and you're like,

oh, well, I don't know. I want to be those things. How can I get my sex energy up? There must be ways of increasing it artificially, right? But I think that, well, it's artificially, it's more like maintenance. It's more like Karen maintenance. Karen maintenance is what she is.

You're sex energy. That's exactly what she's about to get into because what she says is basically, you could have more sex energy. That's exactly what she's about to get into because what she says is basically, you could have more sex energy except we have done a bad job of impressing upon women the fact that cleanliness is the fundamental law of health. We've done a bad job of we need to let them. The main canals in the female body, the vagina and the rectum are the two contaminating sources from which spring most of the troubles and diseases known to woman kind. So it's like a it's a quick turn she takes. She's like, hey ladies

you want to get your sex energy up? Yeah. Clean your canals. Clean your canals ladies. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way.

I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. I'm not a fan of the way. have great sex energy, which would make you like, people would like you more, it would make you more successful, like everything would be better in your life. But you got. This is the one size fits all solution, but you gotta clean them canals. Well, because like, and she says things like sex energy,

I mean, this is like in italics, it may be the power that rules the world, but then also in italics, woman's body is constructed to make her a breeder of disease. So you gotta stop that. You gotta stop that, but I can't. So we get into some like diagrams of a, of a, of a, of a, and a uterus and a fallopian tubes and ovaries,

which again, like handing this book out to people in the 1930s would probably be pretty radical. Like here's, like, look, there's a diagram of what's all in there. Nothing graphic. You just get that from the parlor. Read it. And again, this would be very helpful

if you had never, I mean, most people probably lay people probably wouldn't know this stuff, right? So you kind of know what's up in there. This certainly was not being taught in school. No, no. And now I will say from the jump as we're looking at this diagram of a giant any uterus, a lot of what it's being couched in is you need to know this for douching. This is a theme through the whole book. Douching is kind of like that that's where we're going. That's the climax of this is we're

going to do. Douching is kind of like that's where we're going. That's the climax of this is we're going to do. On amazing discoveries, when they've set up, the eggs always stick to the pan. The Douching is the special pan that eggs never stick to. The Douching, that's the one. That's the one. We're going to get to the Douch and we're going to be very excited.

We have an extensive explanation of Douching. I will say, I'll probably say this several more times, please don't do, we don't generally speaking. Generally speaking, the idea, unless you have been especially instructed to- I have been taught to hold you in position. Yes, by a physician. Unless you were in a specific situation where a physician has instructed you to do a certain type of vaginal cleansing routine. Generally speaking, the vagina is a self-cleaning organism. Yes, just organism. Organism.

Organism. Organ. That's the book. The book is thrown me. It's smart. It's two down, so far. Okay. Did you say the D word?

Dang. Okay. Yeah, I self-sensored just for the people. I like that, but I highlighted this part because they talk about your balloon vagina. Sorry. So, there is a lot made in this book of the fact that the walls of the vagina are extremely elastic and distends or dilates easily, which is, I mean, that makes sense. Like, it has to dilate to make way if you decide to have a kid.

Like, your kid comes through there, so it makes sense. And I just like, it is readily understood then why this organ, when not dilated or ballooned, forms a mass of soft, tiny folds and crevices. These crevices are very important to Leona because all of these crevices within the walls of the vagina create a veritable breeding place for germs. That's your problem right there. So there's your figure of your vagina with all the crevices. The crevices, you can see here the crevices. That's gonna be your problem.

You can see the crevices. And the crevices come up a lot, again, since we're heading towards douching, keeping the crevices clean. And then understanding that because it distends, because it balloons, if you will, it's referred to as a balloon multiple times, the vagina. You have to descend it when you're dosing,

to get into all the crevices. If you don't apply enough pressure, you know, you look at those hard to reach places. I like the way it's teasing it. It's like, if only there was some sort of flowery liquid you could shove up there to get all the crevices. Oh well, nothing like that. It's this read on.

You never know what twists I have in store. And this is, and like what's interesting is in the middle of this, like, this is just an intro to the pelvic organ still. We're still just in a place where they're like, this is what's up in there. That's all, I mean, that's all Leon is telling us. She throws in this story and she's like,

here's an interesting little tale. It's of a woman who at 54, she went through, let's see, they called the change of life or aggravated climactic phenomena, they mean menopause. They mean menopause. And she was a singer, famous singer, and she lost her voice and lost her vision as a result of menopause is what this claims.

And that to treat her, they took a donor ovary and transplanted it under her abdominal wall. Whoa. And then her voice came back and her sight returned. Wow. And now she's doing great. Wow. And now she's doing great. Wow. And has absolutely no symptoms of the, what did I call it, the aggravated,

climactic, phenominal, whatsoever. So it's wild because this is just kind of thrown in here and they're like, so anyway, we planted an ovary under the dominoe wall of this person and it all went fine. No big deal. There's no way that this is, there's no way this is the whole story. There's no way that this is, there's no way this is the whole story.

There's no, you can't just randomly take organs from one person and put it in another and it works out fine without like testing and matching right. Like we don't, we don't do that. You do. And I'm broken clocks right twice a day, so you know. But it's just like thrown in there. She's like, by the way, here's a little tale back to your balloon vagina. Check this out. So we've got some information on constipation. thrown in there. She's like, by the way, here's a little tale back to your balloon vagina.

Check this out. So we've got some information on constipation. There's a whole chapter on constipation. Wow. Which like, you know, this is all couched in like, this is just for women, just for the ladies. But like, it just continues. humans have always been endlessly obsessed with pooping, yeah, with like pooping more, pooping better, pooping less, pooping less, whatever. Poobe different. That's the American dream, just to poop different than you do. And we come out strong by quoting John Harvey Kellogg. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, right up in the front of this, constipation has been called the curse of the American nation. And it's perhaps responsible by me, John Harvey Kellogg, per serial pervert, perhaps responsible for more human misery and mental and moral disease than any other single cause. It causes more moral disease. Well, that makes perfect sense to me. You're constipated. You need a distraction.

What do you do? You play the pony's in Drinkle All-Ry. You know what I mean? That's the path to that sort of thing is laced with constipation. This is very much, and we've talked about this on the show before, could you talk to about Kellogg? And we've talked about pooping a lot on the show.

There was a time period. Sorry, I can't hear you. And this persists today. We've talked about this in some modern pseudoscience that if you're not going regularly and so your waste materials are sitting in your colon, the idea is that, and Leonelikens it to, like she says, if your colon is the garbage can of the human body, imagine if garbage is left to collect and hot weather. So like if you leave your trash cans out in the heat long enough,

it's gonna be funky. And so that's basically what she's saying is like, if you're not pooping regularly and it's just sitting in your colon, it's gonna create problems for you. It's gonna make your whole body funky. Funky. But not just like odor wise. Like this isn't like an aesthetic problem.

Like it's going to make everything. Your brain's gonna be funky. Your morals will be funky. Everything about you will kind of turn to a hot garbage. These ladies are playing a dangerous game. And like what I kind of like is that right from the beginning, she's like, now listen, primitive and semi-civilized man evacuates in a squatting position

as does the peasantry of civilized countries. These people are not troubled with constipation. So she's coming hard for the squatting potty, right? She's coming, I mean, she is coming so hard for the squatting potty that, here Justin, is a diagram. Oh my God, that's a squatty potty. It's a diagram. It's a diagram.

It's a squatty potty. Yeah, right. If you never see a squatty potty, it's a foot stool that goes in front of your toilet. There's just to put your feet on to get yourself in a squatting position. This must be a biologically advantageous for evacuating your bells. Now, I would like you to Justin contemplate, this is a diagram of a woman sitting on a toilet. Yeah. And she's got a little stool so that she can press her thighs up against her abdomen.

That's what they keep saying. Press your thighs to your abdomen. Does hers have a little red light on it so you don't fall in the bath him at night? I don't think so. Because that is quite a feature of the Squatty Party. I don't think it had evolved to that point yet. But what I think is interesting, and I'm going to show you some other diagrams from this book. This is why I think this is secretly subversive gonna show you some other diagrams from this book.

This is why I think this is secretly subversive. First of all, it's a woman sitting on a toilet pooping. That is what we are ostensibly saying. You could look right at it. Also, she appears to be naked. Yeah, it's scandalous. Now, she doesn't have eyes. She doesn't have eyes, but she is naked.

It's light on the features. I'll say. I'm saying this is a very specific taste here, Leona. Oh, you're saying this is like... There's some other diagrams I'm going to show you. Okay. I'm just, I am suggesting... Are they her diagrams?

I don't, you know what, I don't know who did the drawings, actually. Now that's a great question. Oh no, wait, Netter? Hold on. Not the Netter? Hold on. Not the netter. These cannot be from the net, not this diagram. Surely just the medical diagrams are from netter. Anybody, okay, we all had a netter anatomy.

We all had growing up, we remember. But then that was like all the diagrams that I looked at to study anatomy and medical school was the netter. That's who drew it. Surely netter didn't draw this person pooping. Surely not. Oh my goodness. This may be, okay, we're going to have to take a quick break so I can figure out if

netter just drew the internal organ diagrams or also drew pictures of people pooping. You asked me to make me take a quick break. Yeah, we got to go to the billing department. Let's go. The medicines, the medicines, the escalate macabre for the mouth. I'm Jordan Kershola, host of Feeling Scene, where we start by asking our guests just one question. What movie character

made you feel seen? If you were exactly what it was, Clem and Time, from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Joy Wang, Slash, Shabu Tupaki. That one question launches amazing conversations about their lives, the movies they love, and about the past, present, and future of entertainment. Roy, in close encounters with a third kind. I worry about what this might say about me,

but I've brought Tracy Flick in the film election. So if you like movies, diverse perspectives, and great conversations, check us out. Ooh, this is real. New episodes of Feeling Scene drop every week on MaximumFun.org. Oh my gosh, hi, it's me, Dave Holmes, host of the Pop Culture Game Show, Troubled Waters.

On Troubled Waters, we play a whole host of games. Like, one where I describe a show using Limerick, that I guess have to figure out what it is. Let's do one right now. What show am I talking about? This podcast has game after game, and brilliant guests who come play him. I was his name, Dave.

It could be your faith, so try it. Life won't be the same. A thick business starring Pat Miller and Lily Tomlin. Close. But no. Oh, is it troubled waters? The pop culture quiz show with all your favorite comedians. Yes, troubled waters is the answer to this question

and all of my life's problems. Now, legally, we actually can't guarantee that. But you can find it on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, any luck said did you? Carpet Crackfights. As far as there is no, there is no one else credited with any of these diagrams.

So I am here to report that yes, there's some like anatomical diagrams that you would expect of Frank Nutter. That makes sense. Those are pictures similar to the ones in your anatomy textbook if you had a netter. But I think that these diagrams of people pooping are also amazing. I am, this book is just incredible. And she goes on to talk about animals, you know, this was a time period

where animals were so huge. Right. Right. How animals are important and of course eating vegetables and all that good stuff that like people loved at the time to make you poop. But I think the diagram of a woman defecating was probably pretty big for the 1930s. Yes, she is very progressive.

There's an entire chapter on something called Lucaria. And what they're talking about is discharge from the vagina. Now, nowadays we don't really use that as a blanket term because we'd like to break down why. Why? So what is the discharge? What is the discharge? Is it pathologic, meaning that there's something wrong,

there's a disease process, there's something that needs treated, or is it physiologic discharge, which means there's just discharge there. Yeah. Yeah. The, you know, there are mucus membranes, like the vagina is supposed to be lubricated sometimes, not necessarily always, but there are times where it is. And so discharge results, the mucus that comes from our cervix can be thicker or thinner, and so it can come out sometimes. Anyway, this is going to all be normal. We've talked about this on the show too. That's really important to impress upon people with vaginas that discharge is part of having a vagina. And here's what normal discharge looks like, and here's what not normal discharge looks like. So you know when to go say like, Hey, I think something's wrong or don't freak

out or feel insecure. Right. Right. That's important. Now that is not how Leona feels. Because she titles this chapter at Lucaria, the thief of womanly charm. Whoa. And she says it is a symptom, not a disease. Yes, but it is always, always abnormal. Mm. There is no such thing as natural discharge in Leona's world that vagina should be bone dry. It's very specific times.

Um, and this is gathered. I like that. She says that and she said, this is gathered from America's leading. She says that. And she said, this is gathered from America's leading authorities on vaginas now. Men. Men. She definitely means men. We want this thing to be like a PBS pledge break during a telethalant just dry. Dry as Griffin says, dry as a popcorn fart. Just the dryest dryest it can be. I am assuming that she got information from Ben Shapiro on how the day and especially through time, time travel to find out like how dry

man should be a giant. I don't think Ben Shapiro is listed, but I bet starting about 90 seconds ago, Ben Shapiro, if he was listening, it was like, oh man, they're about to rag on me. I thought this is a safe, oh beans. It's been to me again. It's been to pier without my podcast was a safe place for him. It's a safe spaceship.

Yeah. If you have this is the safe spaceship. No, no, then you have not been listening. He's not listening. It's fine. Anyway, so that so she goes on to describe that like any kind of, like there is a kind of discharge that can happen with sexual excitement.

And she clarifies this, like, yes, you can have. To be avoid it. Well, I mean, a lot of it gets blamed on over stimulation. So this is where again, we're couched in a time where it's like, what does she say? Oversexual excitement without gratification is the most common cause of Lugaria.

Getting too worked up. When you're not supposed to be. Now, when are you supposed to be, Justin? When man's around. Not when a man is around. When you're not supposed to be. Now when are you supposed to be just? When a man is around. Not when a man is around. When you're husband. When you're in your marital, your sacred marital bed. And a bed with your husband.

And not the bathroom and not the living room. Just because the miz strikes you. And not the back seat of his car. No. No. And so I mean, it's very clearly tied to that. Like that's the big thing is she's like, so what we're saying, it's interesting

because on one hand, the idea that occasionally, you know, there's some vaginal discharge that could be associated with sexual excitement, that's true. And like, it's just, it's just, we're seeing it through the lens of a different, like social more right. Nowadays, we say that's normal.

Right. In the 1930s, that meant you needed to be aroused less. And then, but then, you know, it's tough because I can criticize that, but on the other hand, then she's like, hey, but here's what you do need to know. There are things like gonorrhea and chlamydia that can be really dangerous if you don't get them treated because they can cause permanent damage to your internal organs. And these are true statements that she goes on to describe. And so she's trying to empower young people and specifically young women with this kind of like, yes, it can be scary.

And maybe you did do something that I would recommend you not do. You had sex and you shouldn't have in my moral opinion. But if you see these things, go get help because they could permanently harm you or make you very sick. So I think that that's very helpful. But then you get right back into so you're like, okay, that's good information. I'm all for sex ed. And then she's like girls and women who are compelled to stand on their feet for long periods at a time without rest often become fatigued mentally and physically. And almost before they realize it, there appears the tail-tell sign of weakened body resistance,

vaginal discharge. So what she's saying is if you stand up too long, gravity. Well, it's your strength, your vitality, what does she say? Your fervor and vivacity will discharge through your vagina. Okay. Good to know. That was not something I was aware of. Well, that doesn't happen.

Like, you don't lose your sex energy through your vagina if you stand up too long. Okay. Okay. that, okay. Now, would that be a useful thing for me to say? Like, hey, boss, I gotta sit down because I'm losing all my sex energy through my vagina. Is this your talking to me? No. Well, you're not my boss.

We're cleaning up and you're like, boss, I gotta sit down. I love this as an excuse. Like, oh, I gotta sit down and say that sex energy. I like that. Is it true? No. As we get into vaginal hygiene, again, there are so many,

like it is in italics so many times, innumerable overlapping folds and crevices, innumerable. Inumerable. Inside the vaginal walls. And that is why when we get into like, how do we clean out the vagina? Which you generally speaking do not need to do. It's all about the douche. And they talk about Tuesdays on WKRX. It's all about the douche. That like basically if you can't get a guy,

if your husband's unhappy, if you stepping out on you, any of this, it's because you're not douching. This is, if in 2023, this exact book would be part of an MLM, it would be like, and luckily, welcome to douchely, the new subscription service that your friends sell you all the different funky fun varieties of douche and it would be natural natural and Pumpkin spice the whole from out wellness and something they would tell you there were pre or pro sort of some sort of Biotic it's the all biotics all biotics all biotics are in here kind of biotics you want But and they say like it's so important that countless numbers

of the fair sex having little of what is commonly called, quote, beauty, have attained their quote, place in the sun because they possess that certain something called magnetism and then she said, that's because they do. They maintain the state of glandular health. Basically, if you do regularly, you will glow from within

and draw men to you. Wow, I had no idea about any of this stuff. So she goes on to, like, don't use poisonous chemicals and astringents. That's actually pretty progressive for the time. And then she's like, here's some techniques that I would recommend in douxing. And these are more diagrams. And this is where I'm saying, I think that this is also somewhat subversive. Look at those pictures. Mm. Yeah.

Those are sensual images of the human body in compromising positions completely naked. And you don't see the douche. But there's arms missing. It's like, it's kind of, I don't think that, you think they're trying to make it? I'm kind of, I don't think that, you think they were trying to make it? I'm not saying, I don't think it's intentional, necessarily.

You think they're just bad making these sides. There's a, personally, on their stomach, completely naked with their knees kind of bent so they can access that area. Hey, honey. Hey, honey. Can we take a quick pause? You're a scientist.

If the person wasn't naked, that would be a very wild image. I don't know what they're playing on doing up there with a cargo shorts on. I don't know how they're gonna get the douche in. Look, and look at that person laying in her bathtub. Yeah, let me look at cross section of the bathtub. They remove the arms, because that's really the height of the sex board.

Well, then you would see what was happening. Yes. But like the way that the car... We see what's happening. Don't we wanna know what's happening? The upper arm is there and it's extended towards... You get it. When... The genitals.

Yeah, you get the idea. I'm just saying, if you looked at these, you would think, well, okay, I could do shan that position. But what else could you do in those positions? I'm just saying... Just saying. It's a little subversive, I think, Leona. I think Leona's obsession with sex energy comes through.

That or she can only find a dude to do the drawings. This one of somebody bent over, doubled over on the toilet is less attractive. But well, to me, to me, to me, that is not a judgment. It might be someone else's saying. You can't see the image. So if I said to say, it looks like she lost her keys up there. So she's just having to look around.

So there's a lot of stuff about ballooning and dilating. That's the big, the big take-home. And then we've got some diagrams of actual douching, like some very technical and humble drawing. And that's like a two-digit, is that what is that? Of douching. No, these are just like squeezy bottles full of liquid that you scored up there. Got No, these are just like squeezy bottles full of liquid

that you scored up there. Got it. Yeah, just various squeezy bottles. So that was like the big climax of the book. I wanted a few other things they thrown at the end. They have a whole thing on vaginal hygiene, which again, we've mainly talked about, I mean, it's just doishing, doishing, doishing.

They have some information on the menstrual cup, which is nice to know. Sure. Yeah, that was useful then, doishing. They have some information on the menstrual cup, which is nice to know. Sure. Yeah, that was useful then, useful now. In all caps under muscles of the vagina, they want to let you know that we've recently discovered the vagina has muscles. Oh, yeah. This is in 1937.

We recently discovered the vagina has muscles, and you can do things with them. You can use them. You can access them. It's like learning to wiggle your ears. Lift weights, crush cans. So in all caps, few women know that there are any muscles in the vagina, much less that they may be controlled or made to obey the will of the individual. Been the muscles of your vagina to your will. I am saying, we don't know what's up. Hey, guess what? You can do things with those.

And then there's a whole section on sex. And when I say there's a whole section on sex, it's under, by the way, it's under the category, Woman's Problems. That's the chapter. Woman's Problems. And basically what they're saying is, if you don't have sex with your husband, he'll leave you. That's kind of the, that's the main point of this chapter is that sex and marriage is normal and healthy. Okay,

there's something there, maybe, but that also like, you can't let that part, like that, that your marriage will be on the rocks and he's going to start looking for gratification elsewhere. And it's really your fault. And specifically while your pregnant is a great time to have sex they say, because you can't get pregnant. Yeah. Because you're pregnant. Yeah. Good point. So you don't have to be afraid. No, that's true. That's true. And I'm glad thank you book. Yeah. But again, it's tough. I don't want to knock Leona too much

because yes, obviously that's a terrible message to send. You have to have sex with your spouse so they don't leave you. That's not healthy or positive or safe or true. But then in that same chapter, she has statistics on how many people have gone aria. I mean, there's... I do feel like this is couched in a lot of, you know, dangerous, like, sexist,

misogynist rhetoric of the time, of course, Leona lived when she lived and worked when she worked. But there's also a lot of what would have been pretty groundbreaking, helpful sex information and body and anatomy information in this book, along with stuff that's absolutely wrong. Basional discharge can be completely normal. If you're worried, please go get it checked out, but it can be completely normal.

And you shouldn't do, generally speaking. The last thing I did wanna know quickly before we go is there is a chapter at the end on general body hygiene and exercises where we expand from the vagina. As balloon, as ballooned as the vagina can get, we're going to expand even further and talk about things like bad breath and the scalp and the feet. And then there's a section on molding the breasts. Oh. A word about the breasts.

Everyone knows that in France, holding the breasts. Oh. A word about the breasts. Everyone knows that in France, a Frenchman does not consider a woman lovely unless she has beautifully molded breasts. French women know this and strive to keep the chest and upper arm muscles strong and elastic. And then they proceed to give you some exercises you can do. To mold the chest. Like we must, we must increase our bust. You remember these exercises you can do. To mold your chest. Like we must, we must, we must increase our bust. You remember these exercises?

Yeah. Like that. But I just love the idea that everybody knows that in France, a Frenchman. A Frenchman. A Frenchman. As he is want to do. Well, only like women with perfectly molded breasts.

So there's some exercises you can use to increase the size of your breasts. And then some a few helpful dos and don'ts at the end. And please be reminded in all caps of the danger lurking in neglect of the generative organs. Retain your spark of vitality and your sex energy. What is that author's name again? That author is Leona W. Chalmers.

And this book is called... The Intimate Side of a Woman's Life. Thank you again, Olivia, for sending us this book. It was absolutely delightful. It made me laugh out loud several times, which Justin can tell you is a rare. Yeah, it's rare. I don't laugh out loud much, but the idea that if you...

Unless I'm really on a tear and like you're busing up, like laughing all the time, because I'm really on a tear. You know what really did it for me? What? Some joke I did? Yeah, well, it was a joke you did not like laughing all the time because I'm really on a tear. You don't really did it for me. What? Some joke I did. Well, it was a joke you did that I was remembering as I was reading the part about how if you stand up too long your sex energy will start leaking out through your vagina.

That was the, that was the moment that did it for me. That was it. Uh, thank you so much for listening to our podcast. If you like the intro music of our podcast, it's by a band, they're called the taxpayers. They made it, it's called Medicines. You can find that track and get some, you can get that song on vinyl.

There's a bunch of different versions of it. It's great. Find them on Bandcamp. Thanks to Max from Fun Network for having us as a part of their extended podcasting family. And thanks to you for listening. We very much appreciate it. But that is going to do it for us until next time. So until then, my name is Justin MacRoll. And thanks to you for listening. We very much appreciate it. But that is going to do it for us until next time.

So until then, my name is Justin McRoy. I'm Cindy McRoy. And as always, don't drill a hole in your head. Alright! Maximum Fun, a work-road network of artist-owned shows supported directly by you.