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Reading leads to infertility -

Harvard professor Edward H. Clarke wrote in his 1873 book ‘Sex in Education, or A Fair Chance for the Girls,’ that women should limit their reading. Failure to do so would lead to irritability and infertility.

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Breast milk is actually coagulated menstrual blood -

According to the Jewish Talmud and philosophers such as Aristotle, breast milk was “menstrual blood that had been heated, coagulated, and whitened by hot air.” This belief survived at least until the Middle Ages.

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Women shouldn't exercise -

Working out is dangerous for women, according to the Berlin Medical Association in the 19th century. Gymnastics should be avoided because it can damage women’s reproductive organs.

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Women shouldn't exercise -

One doctor went as far as advising girls against jump rope, because "it made the feet flat, damaged the lungs, and caused twisting of the bowels as well as chronic headaches."

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Menstruating women can kill swarms of bees -

Pliny the Elder was a Roman philosopher and naturalist. In his encyclopedia Natural History, Pliny describes the “powers'' menstruating women reportedly had. One of them is the ability to kill a swarm of bees by just looking at it!

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Menstruating women can “dim the brightness of mirrors” -

Pliny the Elder really believed menstruating women affected the world around them, including objects. This included dimming the brightness of mirrors.

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Menstruating women can “blunt the edge of steel” -

And, of course, menstruating women should stay away from swords, knives, or anything remotely sharp made of steel.

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Menstruating women can “take away the polish from ivory” -

Ivory trade is now illegal, but back in Roman times, it was greatly appreciated. Just as long as women wouldn’t go near it, that is.

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Pregnant women who look at ugly things risk having ugly babies -

Author Julia Epstein points out in ‘The Pregnant Imagination, Fetal Rights, and Women's Bodies: A Historical Inquiry’ that “during the eighteenth century, physiologists, philosophers, and medical commentators engaged in a heated debate about whether or not imaginative activity in the minds of pregnant women could explain birthmarks and birth malformations.”

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Women have wandering wombs -

Hippocrates, the Greek forefather of modern medicine, also had dubious assumptions about women’s bodies. The Greek physician is credited with identifying a condition he dubbed “hysteria” (which was pretty much anything abnormal in a woman’s physical or mental health).

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Women have wandering wombs -

So, what was the cause for hysteria, according to Hippocrates? Women’s wandering wombs, of course. Yes, it was believed that a woman's uterus roamed all over her body, as if it had a life of its own.

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Women have no sexual desire -

In Victorian times, lustful urges were something most exclusively attributed to men. Any expression of desire from women was frowned upon. Queen Victoria herself reportedly told her daughter to "lie back and think of England" on her wedding night.

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Self-pleasure can have dire consequences -

If women had no urges, there was obviously no room for them to enjoy a bit of self-pleasure in Victorian times. It was probably for the best, as it was widely believed that women who touched their private parts would end up flat-chested.

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Menstruation can be really dangerous for children -

Thirteenth-century monk Albertus Magnus wrote in De Secretis Mulierum that a woman’s harmful “menstruation fumes” could "poison the eyes of children lying in their cradles by a glance."

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Menstruation will lead to diseases -

Magnus adds that menstruating women "tend to have epilepsy and leprosy because menstrual matter is extremely venomous."

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Menstruation can cause flowers to wilt -

This idea persisted throughout centuries.  Indeed, 1920's doctor Bela Schick described a supposed menstrual toxin called "menotoxin," which could cause flowers to wilt, among its many destructive powers.

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Men have more teeth than women -

Famed Greek philosopher Aristotle made great contributions to the world, but human biology was not his forte. Aristotle believed that women had fewer teeth than men.

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Conception is only possible in willing women -

This belief perpetuates to this day, with the likes of Missouri Congressman Todd Akin reinforcing it in 2012. It dangerously asserts that women who are forced to have sex can’t get pregnant because their bodies “shut down.”

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Women’s brains are less capable than men's -

This belief has been used to justify numerous things, including the once lack of women’s right to vote. It goes without saying that this has been disproved time and time again by the scientific community.

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Virgin women have healing powers -

More specifically, they can heal a man of any venereal disease. This dangerous assumption is still a reality in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Thailand, and India.

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Fertility is solely attributed to women -

Ancient Egyptians believed that fertility was solely a woman's responsibility. This myth perpetuated for centuries across several cultures.

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The uterus has seven chambers -

According to Rabbinic literature, where the fetus develops (in one of the uterus’ seven chambers or cells), will determine the sex of the baby. The three on the right are for male babies, and the three on the left are for female babies. If the fetus developed in the middle, the baby would have both male and female features.

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Menstrual blood has special powers -

Menstrual blood is not just toxic and dangerous, as according to the 12th-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen, it also has other magical properties. The German abbess believed it could cure leprosy.

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Pregnancy mood swings are caused by the uterus -

Eighteenth-century English physician Thomas Denman believed that pregnancy caused women's uteruses to become “irritable,” and consequently influenced women's emotions.

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Women’s flesh is weaker than men's -

The belief that women had more porous skin than men goes back to ancient times. Women supposedly had “spongier” skin, allowing them to retain moisture and blood in their breasts.

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Bad personality? Blame it on the ovaries -

In the 18th century, it was believed that the ovaries controlled women’s personalities. Removing them would cure any personality issues.

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Menstruation is the purging of evil -

In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was believed that menstruation was "a monthly purging of those evil humors."

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Tampons will make a woman lose her virginity -

This myth spread in the 1930s, when Tampax introduced the first tampons on the market.  

Sources: (The List) ('The Pregnant Imagination, Fetal Rights, and Women's Bodies: A Historical Inquiry') ('Natural History') ('Anatomy and the Doctrine of the Seven-Chamber Uterus in Rabbinic Literature') ('Sex in Education, or A Fair Chance for Girls')

See more: These conditions affect men and women differently

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