Nymphomania, for those of you who do not know, does not specifically refer to the insane and uncontrollable desire for sex. It’s quite gender-specific actually. In  the late 19th century, Nymphomania was a mental-illness diagnosed to woman who had what would by todays standards just be a regular sexual appetite. So what would happen is that the unfortunate female in question would be treated with all-manner of ‘cures’ such as blood-letting and even being shoved into mental asylums. Having an erotic dream was more commonly sufficient enough evidence to label one as an outrageous sex addict with a blood-lust desire for fornication.

The name ‘Nymphomania’ was actually named after the mythical creatures known as ‘nymphs’ in classical folklore which supposedly frolicked naked around forests and woods. The quintessential ‘fairy’ archetype if you will. These sorts of myths and legends were taken more as serious fact in the late 19th century and were often associated as having a more demonic element surrounding them than as anything pure or angelic. Hence the sexual connotation being applied and demonised accordingly.

If you happen to find yourself in the UK any time soon, and find any of the above-mentioned information of critical interest, you might want to step into the inner sanctums of the Tate Britain. Here you will find a newly opened exhibition entitled, ‘Bodies Of Nature’, showcasing the figure of the nymph during the late 18th and 19th century in the form of paintings by the likes of Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough.

The paintings offer an interesting insight into a time where science and technology were beginning to put strain onto the belief-systems ingrained within religious doctrines and as such people were beginning to fight to have their sexuality less strictly curtailed by the heavily and unfairly imposed morals of a society that was ruled by gradually outdated institutions.

All of the paintings at the Tate Britain are by male artists and appear softly pornographic in the showing of nymphs being the seductive little creatures that had the power to cause an episode of ‘Nympholepsy’ onto any mortal who stumbled into their world of magic and carnal desires. ‘Nympholepsy’ was a kind of epileptic seizure that would strike in the off-chance that a mortal did ever actually see a nymph.

Here’s what we think is the most interesting aspect of this exhibition however: Only one painting at the Tate was generated by a female. Caroline Mary Elizabeth executed an entirely unremarkable image which neither indicates her gender or anything overtly sexual. Whilst the males paintings all have the overtly sexualised content of a 19th century Playboy magazine – if such a thing ever existed. So in turn it is safe to say that men decided how woman were viewed in society and decided in turn which woman were the nymphomaniacs. The moral of this story is that we should all be hell of a grateful that we were not born in A) the late 19th century or B) to an Amish family in Utah.

[SOURCE] Independent