Sexy But Psycho: How the Patriarchy Uses Women’s Trauma Against Them

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The Little Orange Book: learning about abuse from the voice of the child. OCLC 1054886898 . Retrieved 11 July 2020– via worldcat.org. Many of us become aware as the years pass that supporting or passively accepting the psychiatric labelling of women and girls will harm them in the long run. They may feel better temporarily, whilst they feel in control, empowered and informed that they have been given a formal diagnosis and prescription which ‘validates’ their ‘mental health’, but what will really happen is that they will be pathologised, judged, stigmatised and treated as though they are going to be mentally ill for the rest of their lives. In 2020, Taylor self-published her thesis as a book titled Why Women are Blamed for Everything. Based on three years of doctoral research and 10 years of practice with women and girls, the book focuses on the reasons why society and individual psychology blames women for male violence committed against them. [14] It draws on the psychometric measure Taylor developed during her doctoral research–called the BOWSVA scale–which measures the way the general public and professionals apportion blame to women and girls who have been subjected to sexual violence. The book also includes interviews with women who have been blamed for sexual assaults and professionals working in sexual violence services who are attempting to deconstruct victim blaming. [14]

That said, it's fairly obvious why this isn't an academic publication. There is a reference list at the end of the book and a few studies cited throughout, but not enough to buttress her arguments. There is no separate works cited or even an annotated bibliography.In 2022, Taylor published her second book, Sexy But Psycho: Uncovering the Labelling of Women and Girls through Constable. She described it as ”mixture of academic research, history, psychology and real-life stories of women and girls who have been told that they are mentally ill, instead of being listened to”. [19] The book focuses on how mental illness has historically been used to discredit women, focusing especially on the 2000s and pop artist Britney Spears. [20] PhD student announced as Chair of the Parliamentary Conference on Violence Against Women and Girls". birmingham.ac.uk. 5 September 2017 . Retrieved 11 July 2020. Predictably, Amber Heard Just Got Diagnosed With BPD and HPD". www.victimfocus.org.uk. 29 April 2022. Why women are blamed for everything: exploring victim blaming of women subjected to violence and trauma. OCLC 1159730638 . Retrieved 11 July 2020– via worldcat.org.

I do not believe that all mental diagnoses are claptrap and psychopharmalogical intervention is equivalent to malfeasance. What concerns me are the people who might read this and feel unseen or abandoned by the systems and professionals meant to protect and aid them, and stop taking their medication(s) without supervision. The author displays little to no understanding of pharmacokinetics, and her assertion that these medications are unnecessary (and her denial that they can be life-saving) is alarming. Statistically, many girls will be sexually abused in childhood by men and boys in their lives – but this does not mean that the abuse is a causal factor in their sexual orientation. If it was, and being subjected to male violence caused women and girls to change sexuality, the majority of the female population would be lesbian or bisexual. This booklet has been developed specifically for parents who are home schooling and primary schools who would like to teach children about relationships, sex and abuse in an ethical and sensitive way.

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I'm no fan of patriarchy, I'm a Gen X feminist, but that's just to reductive a claim to make. Class, race, sexuality, gender, socio-cultural norms etc etc - not *just* "being a cis woman" - are just some of the issues that contribute to our mental health crisis.

A fantastic look into the crossroads of mental health and misogyny, and the ways in which the two meet--and not for the better. From hysteria to BPD, from the transition from asylums to over-medication, Dr. Jessica Taylor offers personal and researched insight into how this facet of the medical institution continues to harm and discredit women. Is psychiatry really just ‘patriarchy with a prescription pad’? When I started reading Sexy But Psycho I thought this was perhaps a bold claim but Dr Taylor is able, emphatically and decisively, to demonstrate that this is far more than a ‘claim’. It is a distressing, disturbing and uncomfortable read, but a very important and enlightening one nonetheless. On the one hand it might be seen as an alarming exposé and yet, is it anything more than a nudge to alert us to what many of us have known, or at least suspected, for quite some time?

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Unethically using stories in your book that women have told you without their consent isn't feminism, no matter how working class you are. The inclusion of personal stories; they are weaved in very interestingly into the narrative (albeit sometimes quite repetitive). Statistics are great, but they dehumanise. This is not a topic you want to dehumanise. This biographical article is written like a résumé. Please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. ( February 2023) Flood, Alison (24 April 2020). "Author of book about victim blaming bombarded with misogynist abuse". The Guardian . Retrieved 10 July 2020. selectedStore.City }}, {{ selectedStore.State }} {{ selectedStore.Country }} {{ selectedStore.Zip }}

Eaton, Jessica (12 December 2019). 'Logically, I know I'm not to blame but I still feel to blame': exploring and measuring victim blaming and self-blame of women who have been subjected to sexual violence. etheses.bham.ac.uk (d_ph) . Retrieved 10 July 2020. Aside from the case studies and contributors stories, one of the more disturbing elements (for me) was recognition of how easy it is to slip into pathologisation, victim-blaming and self-blaming of and by ourselves, unintentionally and unnoticed, because we’re so indoctrinated and conditioned to accept the medical model of psychiatry. It’s true that many of the responses we’ve pathologised into symptoms of mental illness are actually natural and rational reactions to trauma and distress, and it’s true that diagnoses of these mental illnesses are, too often, used to undermine, discredit, discriminate against, and section those diagnosed with them - disproportionately, women.

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Why women are blamed for everything" book review". Archived from the original on 25 February 2021 . Retrieved 28 March 2021. A new reflective journal for parents and carers of children who have been sexually abused. This book contains information, advice and reflective writing exercises to support parents and carers. a b "Championing a 'VictimFocus' World with Jessica Eaton". onestopsocial.co.uk. 16 January 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020 . Retrieved 10 July 2020.