Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature) Women and Madness
Oct 19, 2023
Dr. Maria Massucco discusses women's trauma in modern & contemporary Italy, exploring the evolution of the mad woman in literature, the portrayal of madness and violence in battle, the influence of feminist scholarship, the relationship between opera and madness, the therapeutic power of literature, and the works of Goliarda Sapienza and contemporary Italian cinema.
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Two Types of Madness
- Ophelia represents a more modern, gentle type of madness compared to the raging women of antiquity.
- Modern society struggles with gender and madness because these manifestations have been allocated along the gender binary.
Shell Shock and Gender
- Shell shock in WWI was initially misunderstood and mistreated due to its association with feminine characteristics like depression.
- It was later recognized as PTSD, revealing the complex relationship between gender, madness, and trauma.
Freud and Hysteria
- Freud shifted the etiology of female hysteria from real sexual abuse to fantasy, potentially to gain societal acceptance for psychoanalysis.
- This ironically mirrored ancient diagnoses, attributing madness to a "wandering uterus" and prescribing heterosexual sex as a cure.