You may think fads we have now are crazy (selfies, really?) but they don’t even compare to what it was like during Victorian times.
Just a few fads that were running amok during the Victorian Age:
Ear piercing was already popular during Victorian times, but some women started also getting their nipples pierced. At the time, it was believed that doing so would help their breasts grow to become rounder and more attractive.
Arsenic was all over the place in the Victorian era. Since it was thought to make skin look younger, it was in many cosmetics of the time. Men also believed taking arsenic pills would increase their libido. Obviously, none if worked and people eventually caught on to how dangerous it can be.
The Prince of Wales got a tattoo on a whim while he was visiting Jerusalem in 1862, and that started a movement among the upper class to get inked. Although, unlike tattoos of today, where you want people to see them, the upper-class kept their tattoos hidden at that time.
Hysteria was really a generic term for any and all emotions that a woman would experience. The cure for hysteria? A “pelvic massage” or as we would call it today, masturbation, but performed by a doctor. Using his hand, or if his fingers started cramping, a clockwork, foot pedal-powered, or electrical device until “hysterical paroxysm” – an orgasm – was achieved by the patient. The treatment was de rigeur in female lunatic asylums too. A notable observation is that the technique was thought difficult for male doctors to master, and some referred their hysterical patients to midwives instead.
Obsessed with health, beauty, and fitness, hanging out in the gym at all hours, striving for perfection – body building isn’t a modern invention. In an era when excessive consumption and obesity were common among the upper and middle classes, some late Victorian men and women embraced the fad of physical culture, adopting exercise and diets to develop their bodies to the “Grecian ideal” or the perfect physique.
