Connolly, M. (2013). The social construction of madness: A feminist perspective. Psychology of Women Section Review, 15(1), 59-61. (original) (raw)
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This paper aims at shedding light on the female mental disorder from a positive perspective. The connections between women’s gender, their mental disorder, and their psychological state are scrutinized within a feminist scope since the feminist approach is required in this context. Indeed, under the umbrella of feminism, women are able to reject oppression and discover their identity. Moreover, many female autobiographical novels, such as Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, are recognised by the presence of women’s mental disorder. The findings reveal that gender and the patriarchal practices lie at the heart of women’s mental disorder, but, fortunately, the latter is considered as a form of rebellion rather than a form of weakness. Thus, this study emphasizes the fact that madness can lead to the formation of an integrated self and a free space away from the traditional social demands.
The portrayal of a woman as 'mad' or 'crazy' in literary texts is very common. 'Madness' is accepted as female's malady and the result of her femininity especially in the Victorian era although this relationship can be tracked to the medieval times. This paper examines madness as feminine quality and how it is revealed in the two literary texts which are Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) and Toni Morisson's Sula (1988). Sample instances are also given of the unfairness women learn to live with from the selected literatures from the twentieth century. Historical background is also studied within the theory that loads of women are driven to the madness by the way of life imposed upon them in the form of repression and societal expectations from them.
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The present paper discusses the types, functions and limitations of the madness narrative, a particular type of text dealing with a popular research topic: mental instability, within the larger contexts of women’s autobiographical writing and illness-based writing. The overview aims to provide the theoretical framework necessary for the further analysis of specific madness narratives.
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