In this episode, Chris Stevens reads from 'She: Understanding Feminine Pyschology' by Robert A. Johnson.
Maggie rails against the history of patriarchal intolerance towards women. "Like hysteria, for example. In the 18th century, boy, they'd just rip a woman's womb out for that one." Since about 500 BC physicians thought the womb (called 'hystera' in Greek) either wandered about the body or retained fluids, causing all sorts of behavioral problems. Throughout the ages, hysteria always had some sort of sexual component. By the 16th C the condition of hysteria was deemed only treatable by large vaginal infusions of male semen. By the 18th C folks were doubting that hysteria was caused by the womb, but still thought sex cured it. While the surgical removal of the womb (a hysterectomy) was never routinely used to treat hysteria, in the 20th C it was used as a cure-all for any gynecological problem from prolapse to endometriosis to chronic yeast infections.
At the baby shower, the men are watching a Seattle Seahawks football game.