They Tell Me what I Want

Pictures taken of the women in the asylums demonstrate how photography is used to construct and maintain stereotypes. The pictures with the caption “Four stages of puerperal mania” shows how just by grooming the woman and giving her better clothes she can be made to look insane or “normal” though this may not be how she feels mentally. It seems interesting to me that what is depicted on the outside does not ever seem to match the inside. Some of these women came into the insane asylum because their sense of dress made them look insane but were in fact mentally sane. Through the asylum’s modification program, they were made to look outwardly sane while they in fact lost their minds and became docile women who depended on others to tell them how to dress, think, and act.

A sense of forced silence is present in both articles. For the women in the 19 century asylums, it allowed for other dictate all aspects of their lives. In the disabled community, the voicelessness and partial invisibility in the major public sectors creates an environment in which the experiences and what it means to be disabled and created by non-disabled people who sometimes over estimate the negative aspects. As Saxton states, “oppression is what’s most disabling about a disability, (pg 378)” because it creates a big disconnect between reality and perception. The disabled are viewed as burden to those who will have to take care of them. However, if they are given the same tools and resources for advancement and trained, they would be a bit more sufficient, have opportunities and not be excluded from the public. As a result, they not have to rely extensively on others and not be viewed as such a burden.

Sexuality in individuals other than healthy middle/high class men is tied to reproduction. Those women who were seen as sexual deviants were forced to have clitoridectomies to remove any pleasure associated with sex. Success of transforming these deviants is cited by how many of those who undergo the procedure become married and bear children. For the disabled because some see them as “unfit” to reproduce and thus have no capability of being sexual. As we continue to see, fear informs regarding sexuality and value of human life. In Managing Women’s Minds, Men feared women’s sexuality and used surgeries and modification programs to frighten women into submission. In Disability Rights, Women who learn they were pregnant with a disabled child sometimes fear that raising a disabled child requires superhuman strength and is a great burden may decide or be pressured to abort the child.