The Other Bennet Sister

[NinaOakley]

Not-significant-to-plot-spoiler-warning

When, in episode ten, Mrs Bennett says she came to London to see a specialist in nervous disorders and that Mr Darcy told her to not hurry her return and make sure she was fully recovered…

She was going for therapeutic masturbation wasn’t she?! And Ruth Jones playing her probably knew it!

Sorry, that has highly amused me this evening…next time I can persuade a certain someone into a bit of regency role play…

it was called "hysteria" in those days and the doctor would administer a good fingering to the patient in question. It led to the invention of the dildol as a piece of medical apparatus.

There is also a movie named "Hysteria" that you should watch.It's very amusing.

As a side note I really enjoyed the series The other Bennet sister. It helps if you've either read or watched Pride and Prejudice.

Well, you learn something new everyday. You often hear in films “she’s suffering from hysteria”, so do we assume this is what hysteria is, I never knew.

Goodness, I hadn't picked that up.

(You're Lucy Worsley really, aren't you?)

I’m not, but tanoshi might be!

I love it! Mr Darcy was so desperate to be rid of his mother-in-law he told her to spare no expense getting herself expertly fingered hundreds of miles away! Talk about telling someone to fuck off with regency politeness!

Meanwhile,
“come here, my dear Lizzie, we must be careful lest it’s hereditary…”

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a miserable cow of a Mother-in-Law must be in want of a right good seeing to.

I hadn’t picked this up at all!! Brilliant - she did seem more cheerful when she went home 😂

Isn't that a Victorian era thing, not a Georgian one.

Hysteria was invented IIRC on the 1850s

You might enjoy Rachel Maines's 'Technology of Orgasm'
https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/2867/technology-orgasm?srsltid=AfmBOorMSZ-oTX1EaMer6Id3jgM8v3bRXdX2GYsjzWoAB3rYEskkoqbW
Where she talks about the invention and deployment of vibrating devices.

Maines's thesis is contested - some people reckon that she's rather gilded the lily and the original sources were nort as persuasive as she makes them out but it's an interesting thought.

As I understood it the Victorians invented the vibrator but the idea of alleviating female distress by orgasm was much older.

'Come alleviate my distress at once Mr Darcy'