The inconvenience of a miswired brain

[Takashi96 847]

As a neurodivergent individual, I've grown accustomed to the negative reactions my communication style receives from the "straight world." This can be difficult when you have a decades old question that is either too bizarre to answer or too perverse for a fetish forum. Yet here we are. And so I am wondering what did germophobes do before germ theory? Germ theory emerged in, I believe the 1860s? Microscopic organisms and their relationship to germs, infections, disease. Information that would scaffold onto preexisting obsessive compulsive tendencies and create chronic hand washers and the like. But did germophobes exist before germ theory? Was there an earlier obsessive compulsive cleanliness behavior that just happened to be onto something even before science?

[Peenicks 853]

My best guess is that germophobia didn't really exist before germ theory. It's hard to have an irrational fear or something you don't know exists. Obviously people could still have an irrational fear of the illnesses those germs caused but the remedy for those things prior to germ theory was usually something along the lines of "pray really hard" 

[Takashi96 847]

4 minutes ago, Peenicks said:

My best guess is that germophobia didn't really exist before germ theory. It's hard to have an irrational fear or something you don't know exists. Obviously people could still have an irrational fear of the illnesses those germs caused but the remedy for those things prior to germ theory was usually something along the lines of "pray really hard" 

I'm curious to know if there was a placeholder behavior? Some similar irrational ritual patiently awaiting a justification? 

I think you're probably right about the prayer as medicine approach. 

 

[oliver2 3,919]

I don’t know the answer, but I’m pretty confident that people were cleaning themselves and other things long before germs were identified, soap and baths being both ancient inventions.

Herbal medicine is ancient, too!

[Eliminature 5,108]

Germphobia didn't exist before the discovery of microbes, but the irrational fear of poisoning was common right into ancient times. Maybe that was the "germphobia" of its time? 

Fear that there was poison in your food or drink, in your clothing (especially your gloves), in the pages of letters, in the wax of candles and even in playing cards are all recorded. Just how effective poisoned paper or playing cards would be is debatable, of course. However, the phobia was still there. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Eliminature
Adding more information

[Kupar 12,528]

[Takashi96 847]

On 9/4/2022 at 8:37 AM, Eliminature said:

Germphobia didn't exist before the discovery of microbes, but the irrational fear of poisoning was common right into ancient times. Maybe that was the "germphobia" of its time? 

Fear that there was poison in your food or drink, in your clothing (especially your gloves), in the pages of letters, in the wax of candles and even in playing cards are all recorded. Just how effective poisoned paper or playing cards would be is debatable, of course. However, the phobia was still there. 

Ah ha! I hadn't considered the fear of poison being that widespread among common people (unlike royalty with their poison testers and all that). But when you factor in our knowledge of mental health at that time that makes a lot of sense. I mean we had madness, idiocy, and demonic possession. But we didn't have the language to explain why an otherwise normal cobbler would fear eating soup out of certain bowls. Thank you!