It does if you fly far enough. (But I suspect that isn’t what they meant.)
Was this about misunderstanding aerodynamic effects that allow heavier-than-air flight?
I’m don’t know how the idea originated. Possibly this had something to do with the effort to establish the speed of sound. In MOW it was a vehicle that could run on land, over and under water, and fly up to the unbelievably high speed of <drum roll> 150 MPH! At the turn of the century trains were approaching speeds of 100MPH. Between that and the speed of bullets people didn’t have much of an idea what fast was.
Yeah, it’s got Nashville Pussy beat all to heck!
Fee Waybill’s lawyer would like a word with you.
And she’s a formidable woman – stands about 50’ tall, if memory serves.
…in a five foot dress.
If you lost multiple wives to a failed uterus you might think they were delicate.
Pregnancy related mortality, miscarriage, cervical mucus plugs, menses. No birth control. Impregnating younger wives or perimenopausal women.
Any and all ovarian issues were probably thrown in as well. UTI’s.
Measles was measles. Little Jimmy getting decapitated by a thresher would have a pretty easy COD. Occupation related causes were starting to be figured out (chimney sweep carcinoma). My WAG is that if you took a healthy 30 years old man and woman of the time period who die suddenly. The man’s death would be due to occupation or accident and easily solved. The women’s would have “something” to do with her uterus. Even auto immune diseases affect women more often and can target reproductive organs.
The evidence was that uterus’s were fragile. The sexism was that all women had the same “occupation”, job description, and value.
Nothing? Nobody?
Crap.
Oh, well. I thought it was brilliant.
Well I LOL’d, but you should have drawn out Cennnntrifuuuuuge.
I wonder if our distinguished forebears would have ventured an opinion on women and their uteri flying around the earth at 17,500 mph in zero gravity?
My theory is that reduced air pressure, high speed, and airline alcohol service all stimulate a massively increased production of testosterone. Not necessarily in that order.
You left out the 6 drinks they belted in the airport bar first. But overall, yeah, you nailed it.
It is also a pretty common thing, though easily treatable these days. Itbwould have been more common whwn women had more baboes, at later ages. Ialso feel like severe constipation was more common, but I am not sure why I think that. Anyway, 200 years ago, there was a good chance you knew someone whose life was severely limited by having their uterus partially fall out.
It really bothers me that this “fact” is always presented as absolutely ridiculous and an example of stupid barbarism, when “19th c doctors were concerned that traveling at high speeds could cause uterine prolapse” is a reasonable concern, if ultimately unfounded.
Excellent point there @MandaJo. As always.
I’ll add something nobody has mentioned that I’ve noticed.
Land-based transportation in those days, whether by horseback, carriage, trolley, or primitive steam railway was not a smooth experience. Lots of violent jolting and swaying as the pitifully incapable suspensions of the day rolled over the ghastly rutted dirt tracks they called “roads” or the roughly cobbled and badly indented surfaces they called “city streets”.
Railways were little better. The rails weren’t straight or flat on top, had ill-fitting joints every 20-ish feet and were set upon a roadbed little better than the horsetracks they hoped to replace.
At the 15-25 mph speed common in the early days the ride would have been teeth-rattling. And uterus-rattling. Imagining traveling over the same surfaces at 2 or 3x the speed would have been horrifying to contemplate.
From our POV it’s pretty obvious that better running surfaces enable speed at least as much as more powerful engines enable speed. Engine power alone was a necessary, but far from sufficient, condition for getting vehicle speeds up from 20-30mph.
But that widespread recognition may well have been a bit in the future when all these “60mph will kill women & children and cripple strong men” sorts of thinking first came out.
More like three feet when they were just getting started and the rails were made of cast iron.
I heard it in Judy Garland’s voice.
But that’s another thread.
The 19th century American diet was atrocious, and intestinal issues were common. It’s one of the reasons that breakfast cereals were invented - they provided decent nutrition at a time when people didn’t always get it.
I don’t think so. Even early railways were surely a much smoother ride than any road transportation. So I do think the specific idea that the high speed would make bad things happen to your body is indeed ridiculous. It’s the common confusion between speed and acceleration.
I mean - it appears to be an urban legend that anyone actually held this belief, so that tends to support the view that it’s ridiculous.
This is actually a patented method for facilitating birth:
The pictures are worth thousands of words. Presumably if this device could compel the birth of a child, it might also do a fine job of prolapsing a uterus.
From the link,
"…The machine could go up to 7gs, and is equipped with a bell—in accordance to the original design plans—that rings once the baby lands on the net, “in case, no one was paying attention,” quips Dublin’s Science Gallery researcher Tessa Delehanty.
Earlier, Blonskys’ child-birthing apparatus was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in 1999, a satirical award that “honor achievements that make people laugh, and then think.”
I’m still laughing rereading the research.
Well, dicks do swing, so there’s that. Still if an alien saw one swinging I doubt they would make that connection. On the contrary, even.