The Gendering of Madness in Victorian and Modern England and America

Various scholars have addressed the association between women and mental illness in Victorian and Modern culture; however, little attention has been devoted to how this association impacted the lives of actual women. This book analyzes how the gendered construction of mental illness affected the lives of individual women living in Victorian and Modern England and America. The study reveals that the cultural association between women and madness made women vulnerable to unwarranted institutionalization. Women who rebelled against social conventions were particularly at risk, and the public was aware of this risk. In addition to analyzing how the public responded to the threat of unnecessary incarceration, the book analyzes how women responded to incarceration themselves. Moreover, it explores how some women who experienced mental illness responded to the treatment they received. This study ultimately reveals that some women actively protested the diagnoses and treatments for mental illness.