Things We Used To Believe About Women In The 1800s

People think crazy things about women on the reg, but the crazy things people believed about women in the 1800s were truly batsh*t insane. A lot of it was the same old crap — that is to say, society dictating to women how they should look and what they should do to make themselves look or not look a certain way. OH HOW VERY FAR WE'VE COME! In the 1800s, for instance, women were told not to ride their bicycles too much because they'd get "bicycle face", which was a face that was "exhausted and weary". Heaven forbid a woman look like she's exerted herself. How do we even survive in 2015 knowing we're never safe from the scourges of bicycle face?!

BuzzFeed's video highlights some of the most ridiculously beliefs people had about women in the 1800s, but the scariest part is how easily these beliefs can be parlayed into modern beliefs about women that people still hold. In 2015, there are still toxic attitudes about women and both overt and tacit socialization that enforces the idea that it's OK to police the way women appear and behave in public circles. Antiquated notions of feminine propriety, it seems, are still alive and well today. Here are some crazy things people believed about women in the 1800s...

1. Nervousness, Anxiety And Sexual Arousal In Women Received Weird Medical Diagnoses...

2. Men Were Suspect Of Women Who Socialized...

3. Women Who Masturbated Were Believed To Have Glandular Development Failure

4. Educated Women Would Be Unable To Have Children

5. That Lesbians Were Half Male

Watch the whole video below:

Images: Columbia Pictures; YouTube (5)