Originals 

“Hysteria is a kind of pathological by-product of the Victorian-Wilhelminian bourgeois social system with its sexual confinement, emotional oppression, and social suffocation.” (On the “Disappearance” of Hysteria: A Study in the Clinical Deconstruction of a Diagnosis, Mark S. Micale)

“If we show emotion we’re called dramatic. If we want to play against men, we’re nuts. And if we dream of equal opportunity, delusional. When we stand for something, we’re unhinged. When we’re too good, there’s something wrong with us. And if we get angry, we’re hysterical, irrational, or just being crazy. But, a woman running a marathon was crazy. A woman boxing was crazy. A woman dunking, crazy. Coaching an NBA team, crazy. A woman competing in a hijab. Changing her sport. Landing a double cork 1080. Or winning 23 grand slams, having a baby, and then coming back for more? Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, and crazy. So if they want to call you crazy, fine. Show them what crazy can do.” (Serena Williams)

Exercise

Process Notes

Powerful women addressing the prevalence of being shamed and gaslit is something I wanted to explore thoroughly in this course. When it comes to people whose success depends on what others think of them, such as public figures, it makes sense that it’s instinctual to cover up or gloss over threats to their mental integrity or sanity. However, I loved how Serena Williams directly addressed the people who have dubbed her as “crazy” due to her reactions in games / to certain depictions of her in the media, tying her experiences to those of women all around and specifically athletes. I integrated her statements into the historical definition of hysteria, while also incorporating interiority from an anecdotal experience to add the element of a present narrator. Layli Long Soldier’s poetry inspired me to play around with the formatting and add spaces where I felt them necessary to manifest the knee-jerk reactions which could not be put into words.