New one on me
This came across my Twitter feed today: the glass delusion. In the 15th to 17th Centuries, an unaccountable number of Europeans decided their bodies were made of glass and behaved accordingly. I’d missed this one somehow.
Glass was new and magical, associated with alchemy and rich people. And even though people of all stations suffered from the delusion, it did cluster at the wealthy end of the spectrum, where people were more likely to think of themselves as precious and fragile.
The most famous sufferer – and perhaps the first – was King Charles VI of France (pictured), who wouldn’t let courtiers near him lest he shattered.
The BBC said, apart from a few isolated cases, the disorder vanished in 1830. If I had to guess, I’d say it was because factories had made glass cheap and common.
This all came up in the context of the trans delusion, which has apparently fallen off a cliff. Though if you look at the graphs (and do, they’re interesting), the leading chart is actually about non-binaries. Not the same gender confusion at all.
Posted: October 14th, 2025 under personal.
Comments: 4
Comments
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: October 14, 2025, 8:18 pm
While I do believe that being part of the Alphabet herd is mainly just the latest version of the classic teenage “What can do I that will disgust my parents? thing and will therefore fade away, I came here from an article that claims that the whole circus is still pretty popular amongst the kids.
“Approximately one in three freshmen at Brown University identify as LGBT, with 12.8 percent identifying as bisexual, 6 percent as gay or lesbian, and 1.6 percent as pansexual, according to a survey of 733 students.
This survey reflects broader trends, with about 30% of university students nationally identifying as LGBT, influenced in part by increasing female bisexuality since the 2010s.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/1-in-3-brown-u-freshmen-are-lgbt-survey/
In many ways, I hope your source is correct and mine is wrong but… in my lifetime it’s gone from sideburns to long hair to piercings to tattoos to being gay, and now being Trans… my old unimaginative mind is scared to think about what might be next…cyborgs?
Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: October 15, 2025, 12:15 am
Some veg – you left out dragon kin.
What I want to know is what committee do you go to to get your new gender approved to be counted as a product in the Bumpkin/Robbers 57 genders store?
Considering the turmoil of the 1790s through Adios Napoleon I’m surprised more nobility didn’t shatter. 😁
Comment from Uncle AL
Time: October 15, 2025, 2:19 am
I see there’s one sexual preference that is most definitely not in decline. The world is suffering from a surfeit of wankers and I fear the situation is getting worse. The only hopeful sign I’ve seen lately is that it is no longer impermissible to call them out for what they are. Just yesterday one of the world’s foremost wankers was deliciously humiliated on the diplomatic stage. Sir Keir was figuratively stomped into the mud of Sharm El-Sheikh by President Non-Wanker of the U.S.A. If you haven’t seen the video of Sir Keir squirming and then being elegantly but definitely blocked from getting to the microphone he so painfully craved, you should take a look (and take note of P.M. Meloni’s glee).
Comment from ExpressoBold Pureblood
Time: October 15, 2025, 8:54 pm
@ Uncle AL
10,000 👍🏻
🍻
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