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.
October 14, 2025 — 6:31 pm
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