Chesler women and madness6/1/2023 These aspects include the connections between madness and issues such as emotion, language, class, suicide, alcohol and 'work'. The second half of the article explores certain qualitative aspects of how insanity was construed by the sane, in order to assess the extent of gendering in the day-to-day understanding of mental problems. It further questions whether those with mental problems were really just the victims of an oppressive (professional and male) form of discourse by offering a nuanced analysis of the social context in which mental disability was identified. It seeks to test a common assumption or assertion that 'madness is a female malady because it is experienced by more women than men' (Showalter). It looks first at what quantifiable measures may and may not tell us about the nature of madness in eighteenth-century Scotland and about the relationship between pathologies and the 'normal' structures of society. Phyllis Chesler accomplishes thus the first symbolical step of the feminist revolution: she gives voice to the woman. Combining patient interviews with an analysis of women's roles in history, society, and myth. The article uses a wide range of archival and literary sources to examine perceptions of mental incapacity. interest of Chesler's book, its overwhelming persuasive power as an outstanding clinical document, lies in the fact that it does not speak for women: it lets women speak for themselves. This definitive book was the first to address critical questions about women and mental health.
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