Don't call her crazy
The label has deep, dark roots in silencing and controlling women; exploring the history will help us understand why it still hurts so damn much.
BY VICKY SIDLER
If we quickly look at a dictionary, we’ll find that the word “crazy” brings multiple negative connotations: full of cracks or flaws, not mentally sound, and marked by thoughts or actions that lack reason. Irresponsibly or even unknowingly, this is a label imprinted on women when they exhibit valid emotional reactions.
This reference is not a recent thing. It’s been part of human history for centuries. Calling women crazy or some other synonym to that effect is something many males do to reinforce patriarchy and misogyny. Consider the past times you’ve been called irrational, hormonal, or overly emotional. Did it result in uncertainty? Did the term cloud your thoughts and make you doubt yourself? Perhaps it made you question the logic of your actions.
Regardless, the association of the term crazy with women dates back almost 4,000 years. Here, we’ll be looking at how this term has been wrongfully attached to females over different eras, what it meant in the context of the time, and why this is something that needs to stop today.
"Hysterical" women throughout the ages
For centuries, many doctors diagnosed women with ‘hysteria’, an alleged mental health condition that explained why they exhibited behaviours and symptoms that were not considered normal or desirable to male figures. In other words, whenever a woman was too emotional, she would be labelled as hysterical or crazy. Any woman deemed irrational, deranged, or stubborn, regardless of the decade or sociopolitical context, was thought of as suffering from hysteria.
Colloquially, the term hysteria can describe excessive fear and frenzy. Uncovering the mysteries of hysteria is something many reputable medical authorities in the world have failed to address.
Hysteria was one of the first mental health disorders attributed almost exclusively to women. For over 4,000 years, scientific and demonological perspectives considered and analyzed hysteria as an illness. It was treated with herbs, sex, sexual abstinence, or more occult methods – such as punishing and fire cleansing for its association with sorcery – and remained a malady exclusive to females for years.
Ancient Egypt & Greece
The term hysteria originated in Ancient Greece and was exclusively attributed to the female body. Consider this – the word derives from the Greek word ‘hysterikos’ or ‘hysteria’, which means “of the womb or uterus.” Ancient Greek philosophers considered the craziness within women to be something that wandered inside the female body and caused various mental and physical conditions. They thought that the uterus was an independent animal within a woman’s body.
The very first description of hysteria in our culture seems to predate even the Greeks and goes all the way back to ancient Egypt. Antique papyrus documents related hysteria to the spontaneous movement of the uterus within the female body. The therapeutic measures of the time consisted of placing malodorous and scented substances near a woman’s mouth, nostrils, and vagina to return the uterus back to its correct location.
The word crazy word derives from the Greek word ‘hysterikos’ or ‘hysteria’, which means "of the womb or uterus."
The Roman Empire & Middle Ages
The Romans managed to be more practical in studying hysteria by providing a more accurate clinical description of the disease. However, much of their thoughts about it came from the Greeks, so they still believed it arose in the womb. They assumed it was an organ that sympathetically affected the rest of the human body.
Treatments included purges and administration of different herbal remedies to help the uterus re-accommodate itself. Getting married or repressing the excitement of young women was also thought of as a way to curb hysteria. A treatise on women’s diseases was also written that detailed how most of the disorders came from the toils of procreation. As such, recovery entailed sexual abstinence or perpetual virginity.
The medical culture that originated from the Greeks spread throughout Europe and the Middle East, after the fall of the Roman Empire. Trotula de Ruggiero was a renowned figure from that period. She is often considered the first female doctor in Christian Europe. Although discredited by sexism, she was an expert in women’s diseases and disorders. She was very involved with the study of hysteria without the moral influence of the time.
From the 13th century onwards, the inquisition and the fight against heresy became more widespread. The role of the physician that could not identify the cause of the disease diminished, and the role of the inquisitor associating this ‘mal de vivre’ with the Devil grew. This brought one of the darkest periods for women and humankind.
The medical culture that originated from the Greeks spread throughout Europe and the Middle East.
The 18th and 19th Centuries
This era is when female hysteria reached its apogee and became a noticeably prevalent diagnosis. During the mid-1700s, it took the form of a ‘vaporous ailment’ caused by air pollution that affected both men and women in large urban areas. Nevertheless, physicians considered women to be more predisposed to it because of their ‘lazy and irritable nature.’
Hysteria reached its boom between the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Women were mainly prescribed a cure that involved lots of bed rest and complete avoidance of any intellectual or physical activity. This ‘cure’ was famously directed to American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who, after her distressing therapy experience, wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper.” This psychological horror story narrates the deterioration of a woman forced by her doctor, husband, and brother to follow this treatment.
Doctors considered that problems within the genitalia could cause problems within women. A Canadian psychiatrist in the late 19th century went as far as to perform invasive surgery to remove the uterus to cure female patients of mental illnesses.
Hysteria reached its boom between the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
It needs to stop
Hysteria remained an umbrella term that included numerous symptoms to diagnose women when they were emotionally unstable or exhibited irrational behaviours. This diagnostic, in turn, reinforced harmful stereotypes about sex and gender, cementing a patriarchal look on women’s emotions and how society perceives them. It wasn’t until the 20th century that several medical associations stopped recognizing hysteria as a condition.
Increasing evidence supports the fact that hysteria was a way for men to describe and pathologize anything they found mysterious or unmanageable about women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” navigated the complex psychology of women’s minds when undergoing oppression and suppression. It also proved angular on the feminism fight by exploring the psychology of women and their social standing.
Psychologically speaking, women’s emotions read differently compared to men. However, assigning labels such as crazy or any other synonym, results in delegitimizing a woman’s opinion and feeling on any matter. Using the word crazy repeatedly in a negative context can produce damaging stereotypes regarding mental illness in an individual. For example, it can propagate the notion that mental illness is shameful and that having one invalidates one’s opinions, feelings, or thoughts.
Increasing evidence supports the fact that hysteria was a way for men to describe and pathologize anything they found mysterious or unmanageable about women.
The final word
There are severe ramifications to the improper use of the word crazy on women. With one vague, misogynistic term, a man can have too much control over a woman’s life. Regardless of the day and age, when women speak up about abusive and controlling systems or relationships, they are often silenced.
As a society, we must stop invalidating and diminishing women for being human beings. Calling a woman crazy might not send her to an asylum or medical centre nowadays, but she could end up losing her job, her family, her friends, and even her children. By not calling women crazy in the many contexts we’re already used to, we’ll be taking the proper steps to validate their opinions and feelings. We are responsible for laying the founding blocks for a more inclusive and egalitarian society. It’s time for a change. DEFY
Vicky Sidler
Vicky Sidler is a South African journalist, editor and content marketing writer. Her work has been featured in Forbes and Yahoo Finance.