word of the year?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 8/20/2012 01:24 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>t occurred to me that there was once a superstition that a woman could get
>pregnant only if she, er, had, um, a certain feeling during the, ah, act.
>
>Thus, very few actual ("legitimate") rape victims could get pregnant.
>
>You can imagine how pleased I was to discover that I'm not crazy and  my
>memory still kind of functions:
>
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-h-word/2012/aug/20/legitimate-rape-medieval-medical-concept
>
>So Congressman Akin's remarks (based on the knowledge of "doctors") are
>perfectly sensible.
>
>To the medieval mind.

As the article notes, it was believed through the early modern
period.  The Puritan response to that belief, intended to support "be
fruitful and multiply", was to encourage the man to enable the woman
to achieve that certain feeling.  (Provided, of course, they were
married to each other.)

Joel

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