![]() Last month the Daily Star reported that a woman was claiming that a fall from her Wii Fit board turned her into a nymphomaniac (Emma Wall, “ Nintendo Wii Made Me a Nympho!”, Daily Star). Headlines still support this belief that one false step will send a “normal” woman spiraling into an over-sexed state. Self-control and moderation were central to the health of both men and women, but women’s presumably milder sexual appetite meant that any signs of excess might signal that she was dangerously close to the edge of sexual madness.” ![]() “In the Victorian period, both doctors and the patients who sought medical help believed that strong sexual desire in a woman was a symptom of disease. Nymphos Are Sickīack to Carol Groneman’s book Nymphomania, A History: Research has shown that only “about 8% of the total population of men and 3% of women are sexually addicted ” ( ). In other words, there isn’t a way to determine how much sexual desire or activity is too much.” Instead, a person whose sex drive is obsessively high is called “hypersexual.” Other words used are “ sexual addiction” and “compulsivity.”Ībnormal is the key word here. According to “the term… is not scientifically meaningful simply because there are no specific criteria that would define a nymphomaniac. The term “nymphomaniac” or “nympho” is no longer recognized in the medical world. Yesterday’s Nymphomaniacs Are Today’s Sex Addicts In contrast, The Encyclopedia of Psychology states that “scientists now recognize that the shape of the skull does not relate to the shape of the brain.” 7. Phrenologists believe that “the faculty concerned with physical love and sexual attraction on the lower back of the head, behind the ears.” The bigger your cerebellum, the bigger the back of your head- meaning you literally have too much sex in the brain. ![]() ![]() The same book quoted above also states that Phrenologists of the same time period thought “an enlarged cerebellum… indicated inordinate sexual appetite.” A visit to confirms that there are still people who believe in this study of head shapes. It’s All In Her Head Doctor and Woman Holding Dolls at Sex Clinic (Photo by © Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) Obviously this critic was a man and had never had a pap smear! 8. The book “Nymphomania, A History” describes how Victorian doctors feared that “eating rich food, consuming too much chocolate, dwelling on impure thoughts, reading novels, or performing “secret pollutions”… overstimulated women’s delicate nerve fibers and led to nymphomania.” They were so worried about these delicate nerve fibers that “one critic even feared that the use of the speculum itself might so excite a woman’s passions that it could cause nymphomania” (Carol Groneman, Nymphomania A History). (Painting: Nymphs and Satyr, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Wikipedia.) 9. Treatments have included “cold baths, bromide sedatives, cauterization and, yes, clitoridectomy” (Peter Green, “ All Sexed Up”, Los Angeles Times). In fact, historically, the female problem of nymphomania has been taken much more seriously than the male counterpart. Why are we all familiar with the term “nympho” and not “satyro”? Is it because a woman who is unable to control her sexual desires is more exciting or more newsworthy than a man with the same problem? More likely, it’s because a willingness to engage in constant sexual activity is considered normal when it comes to men. Both words are inspired by Greek mythology: nymphs are “minor deities represented as beautiful maidens” and satyrs are “woodland creature depicted as having the pointed ears, legs, and short horns of a goat and a fondness for unrestrained revelry.” I guess that’s where the term “horny” comes from? Did you know that the term nymphomania only applies to females? The male counterpart is called satyriasis.
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