Janet took her seat in the lecture hall calmly, pulling out her notepad and pen. The lecture today was on the newly discovered phenomenon of hysteria in women. The lecturer, Dr. John Hall, argued that any woman, no matter how sober and logical normally, could be driven to hysteria by simple manipulation of biological attributes. This had intrigued her, so she had taken time from her classes that afternoon to come to his lecture. The speaker would come out onto a stage, apparently, as a large solid wooden podium with a microphone was set up for him. There was also a curious chair, one with almost no seat, that had two thin foot-long platforms beginning about six inches from where the seat ended. Apparently, one would rest as best one could on the narrow "seat" and hold oneself up by putting one's legs on the platforms. She sketched the design as she waited for Dr. Hall.
The auditorium quickly filled up. Janet noted most of the seats were filled by men. She prepared to write as the room fell silent and Dr. Hall stepped out onto the stage.
He was rather young, she thought, perhaps thirty at the most. His dark brown hair fell to his shoulders in waves, framing his narrow face. His green eyes gleamed as he regarded the audience, setting his papers down at the podium. He wore a dark suit, but no tie and no gloves. His hands were strong and he briskly tapped the podium.
His appearance set some of the audience to murmuring, and she distinctly caught a gentleman to her left saying, "Disgusting, the way these children try to teach us our business."
Dr. Hall cleared his throat. "Ahem." The room quieted. "I am pleased to see you all here today, lovers of learning. I am Dr. John Hall. I have made quite a study of female biology in my time, and I am here today to demonstrate to you the ease with which hysteria clouds the most keen of female minds. No university training, no book learning, no amount of philosophy or logic can drown its clarion call out."
Dr. Hall began his lecture with various case studies and slide pictures of women he had studied. They formed a pattern after a while. The women, all young and probably pretty to men, she wrote, claimed great objectivity and calm, but soon all gave way to hysterics upon the use of Dr. Hall's techniques. He showed the women afterward in the grip of their hysterias, heads thrown back, mouths open, crying out frantically. She frowned. The "before" shots were all full-body pictures, but the "after" ones were all head shots. She wondered why.
Dr. Hall caught her attention. "To fully demonstrate the effectiveness of my technique, I shall require a volunteer from the audience, a woman of learning and science, upon whom to demonstrate my work."
She proudly raised her hand. She knew that no matter what any man did to her, she would not fall prey to the grotesqueries she had seen this afternoon. She was no swooning girl, but a woman who knew her own mind.
"Ah. Come here, come here." Janet got up and moved to the stage, where Dr. Hall helped her up the stairs and took her beside him.
"Now, my dear, a few questions. What is your name?"
"Janet Moore Hayward-Smith."
He made a quick note on a blank page. "And what have your courses of study been?"
"Classical literature, geometry, and astronomy." The crowd made appreciative noises. She smiled as she saw a few of her teachers sitting there, beaming at her.
"Excellent. Excellent. Now, tell me, Janet … I may call you Janet?"
She thought for a moment, but decided not to press. "Certainly."
"Janet, are you by nature a hysterical person? Do you cry easily?"
She smiled. "Of course not. I rarely cry, I never swoon, and I do not fall prey to hysterics."
The crowd muttered, but Dr. Hall raised his hands above his head. "Please, please! It has been my experience that when a lady says she does not do these things, she does not." He turned to her and took her hand. "I believe you, Janet."
His eyes were warm. She did not react to them. "Good."
"So. In the interests of science, let us experiment, shall we? Please pull your skirts and petticoat up, and seat yourself in that chair as best as you can, legs apart."
She stared at him. Had he actually said …?
He waited by the podium, hands folded. "Go on. It is part of the experiment."
She felt unease. She did not quite trust him, but still … if it was a scientific endeavor, she could not help but obey. She pulled her skirts and petticoat up, leaving her long white legs mostly bare except for her stockings and drawers, and seated herself on the chair after pressing one leg to the platform, then raising the other. She was now quite exposed and felt a trifle embarrassed.
Dr. Hall then walked over to stand behind her. "Now, we must restrain you, to keep your fit from throwing you off the chair. Men?" A man walked in from either side of the stage. One began fastening her legs down to the platforms, the other tried to tie her arms to the arms of the chair. She protested.
"Sir! I am a woman of logic and intelligence. I shall not give way to the vapors like these silly chits you have shown us."
He smiled at her sweetly and bent in to whisper in her left ear. "Indulge me, Janet." The warmth added to her embarrassment, though she was surprised to find she had enjoyed having his breath on her lobe. She permitted the man to bind her arms, and let the man who had bound her legs to move them nearly as wide as he could.
