When does a young girl's behaviour become a disease? In sixteenth-century Europe, the disease of virgins, or green sickness, was seen as a common disorder affecting young unmarried girls. Its symptoms included weakness, dietary disturbance, lack of menstruation and most significantly, a change in skin colour. Understanding of the condition turned puberty and virginity into medical problems, and proposed to cure them by bloodletting, diet, exercise, and marriage. Helen King examines the origins and history of the disease, from its roots in the classical tradition to its extraordinary survival...
When does a young girl's behaviour become a disease? In sixteenth-century Europe, the disease of virgins, or green sickness, was seen as a common diso...
