This piece came out of my thoughts on the Victorian Era medical condition known as ‘Hysteria’ and how is was treated. The Victorian Era has always ben a point of great fascination and offense to me. I think it says a lot about a society that they would point blame toward a woman’s sexual and reproductive organs as the cause of mental instability. Common medical treatments for hysteria included manual masturbation, water douches and clockwork vibrators. Charming.
Hysteria is no longer viewed as a legitimate medical condition.
On a personal level, it has recently come to light that for many years I have been misdiagnosed with a mental condition. Therefore for years I took medication that I shouldn’t have been taking (This medication had side effects that also impacted my life, such as aggression). Without going into the ins and outs of it, the condition I had actually been suffering from turns out to be something that is far simpler and easier to manage. It has been an interesting road for me inasmuch as how people have treated me, how people have used this against me, and above all how the simple explanation was overlooked in favor of a far more complex, and now that I think about it, outrageous diagnosis.
“Hysteria” will be exhibited as a part of the beinArt Collective Group Exhibition at CoproGallery, (CA, USA).
Exhibit runs; June 5 – June 26, 2010.
For more information about other participating artists and the show, you can go here.
