Mastodawn

really interesting piece on what may be a pervasive problem in historical scholarship, and maybe the humanities more generally: one scholar makes a tentative or poorly sourced claim that slowly morphs into accepted fact, and then proves v difficult to dislodge

(also: sex toys)

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/09/victorian-vibrators-orgasms-doctors/569446/

Victorian Doctors Didn't Treat Women With Orgasms, Say Historians

A favorite anecdote about the origins of the vibrator is probably a myth.

The Atlantic

brian long Oct 25, 2018

“People are not rewarded for checking previous work,” Schatzberg said. “They’re rewarded for coming up with sexy new research findings. That’s true in the sciences, but it’s also true in the humanities.”