Tag Archives: assignment 4

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/14/arts/14KELL.html?pagewanted=all

In talking about sexuality last week, I’ve always remembered the repression that women’s sexuality has had over the years, and perhaps centuries. Although it has been recognized more over the past few years, women’s sex drive used to be a mystery and actually something to be feared and treated like a sickness. Like Michel Foucault wrote in The History of Sexuality, women’s libidos were something to be analyzed and deconstructed, and I am reminded of a phenomenon that I saw on the History Channel called Lisztomania.

For those people who don’t know, Franz Liszt was a pianist and composer of classical music in the 1800’s. What makes him special is that he was one of the first rock stars, complete with crazy groupies. Women would follow him around and go into hysterics every time they saw him perform. When he was done smoking his cigars and he threw away the butts, women would actually start fighting over them.

Men would see this kind of behavior and, rather than think that their women were merely sexually stimulated by this famous, talented person, they actually thought they women were physically sick. Men called this sickness Lisztomania, and if you’re thinking that it’s kind of like Beatlemania, where it was accepted that women were just incredibly big fans of the Beatles, then you’re wrong. Lisztomania was an actual medical condition, and governments launched campaigns to try to immunize the public, especially the sick women.

I am very happy that women’s sexuality has been more recognized in the past few decades, and that we’re not treated like sick people when we decide to express it.