# The Phenomenon: What is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 20, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phenomenon-what-is-it/1018583 "2025-05-20T13:19:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 407
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phenomenon-what-is-it/1018583/407 "2025-06-07T18:53:33Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > On the other hand, don’t we have a few counter-examples of things that were dismissed as being mere psychology that did eventually turn out to be objectively true? A mild example would be ulcers supposedly being caused by stress turning out to actually be a bacterial infection. Or more infamously, “hysterical” women’s “fantasies” of rape and abuse by their father figures. In other words, should invoking delusion as an explanation be taken with caution? Yes, to the point that there is a spin-off thread to this one, which discusses that, and in which the ulcer thing is mentioned repeatedly. > [@Has any modern woo been accepted as real science?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-modern-woo-been-accepted-as-real-science/1018724): > > Moving on from this thread. I made the statement, “AFAIK, not one single modern phenomenon that has been dubbed woo has proven to be real.” Of course many advances in science have been disbelieved at one point or another. Germ theory. Continental drift. The existence of atoms. The commonality of all is that the evidence was slim to non-existent - until scientists, no one else, provided irrefutable evidence. Woo, more formally known as woo-woo, has this [definition](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=woo): [woo woo(adj.)](https://www.etymonline.com/word/woo%20woo) also woo-w… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phenomenon-what-is-it/1018583)._