I researched instances of power and oppression in both past and modern-day issues for a project at TAMUCC. I chose the issue of abuse in psychiatric facilities. Thank you for reading and feel free to comment.

What many people do not realize about psychiatric hospitals is that they have a long history of mistreatment and abuse. Being admitted to a psychiatric hospital can be one of the most frightening and vulnerable times of a person’s life. Unfortunately, there are times when patients are taken advantage of in this state. Dorethea Dix, one of the first Americans to demand reform in psychiatric facilities, opened the world’s eyes to the horrors in the institutions. She visited and documented cases of abuse in psych wards and presented her findings to the public in 1843. Patients were found tied up, beaten, and put in cages for so long that their muscles atrophied. They were not given regular food and clean water and were usually denied showers and basic hygiene. Obviously, these conditions are not suitable for any human, especially those that are already fragile psychologically. Additionally, facilities would deem many women incurable despite their symptoms being treatable or preventable with proper care. Many viewed the mentally ill as less than human and treated them as such. While Dorthea Dix made great strides among others to reform mental health institutions, there is still a huge prevalence of abuse today.

At any given time, there are over 150,000 Americans being admitted into inpatient psychiatric facilities. Over time, activists have been working to improve and destigmatize psychiatric hospitals to help those that need it. The Psychiatric Bulletin found that approximately 71% of female inpatient patients have received unwanted sexual attention or assault in facilities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) studied sexual assault reports in psychiatric facilities over a period of three months in 2017 and found and found an alarming 1,129 reports of sexual assault and rape. Some experts even say that this number is grossly underestimated, especially in cases of staff member assaulting patients. While wards that prioritized sexual safety were also reported, the high percentage of patients that have been assaulted in psychiatric facilities is overwhelming. Perhaps the most shocking statistic from this report was that 97% of the incidents were reported as “low harm.” While the true impact of the incidents cannot be known, some criticize that they are reported as such to protect staff members. Many times, staff members don’t report assaults due to fear of being blamed, or to protect the perpetrator. Additionally, therapists and psychiatrists that are told about possible patient assaults may fear that legal action may actually harm the patient, and they may not be able to handle the scrutiny of a trial. Other times, they are just not believed due to their mental illness. The issue is that the mentally ill are already seen as unreliable, on top of being a woman. If it was between a mentally ill woman in a psychiatric facility and a nice male doctor, who would you believe? Many would believe the doctor, nurse, or staff member over the patient. A Cambridge study found that three-quarters of psychiatric professionals feel that there is avoidance or denial of access to the criminal justice system to patients. When action is taken, all that is typically required is an incident report that can stay with the hospital. The issues with this are that they are often not completed uniformly, don’t list the assailant’s name, and are not available to managers. Some reasons for the inconsistency of data reports are that staff may be habituated to sexually aggressive behaviors from their patients and don’t get the same level of outrage, or that they may be protecting another staff member. Many experts have recommended a national database of adverse incident reports to keep them available to managers and law enforcement and require them to give as much information as possible on the assailant. This would not only increase law enforcement involvement but also prevent repetitions by habitual predators. While many strides have been taken in the treatment of patients in psychiatric hospitals, there is still more to be made.

I researched instances of power and oppression in both past and modern-day issues for a project at TAMUCC. I chose the issue of abuse in psychiatric facilities. Thank you for reading and feel free to comment.

What many people do not realize about psychiatric hospitals is that they have a long history of mistreatment and abuse. Being admitted to a psychiatric hospital can be one of the most frightening and vulnerable times of a person’s life. Unfortunately, there are times when patients are taken advantage of in this state. Dorethea Dix, one of the first Americans to demand reform in psychiatric facilities, opened the world’s eyes to the horrors in the institutions. She visited and documented cases of abuse in psych wards and presented her findings to the public in 1843. Patients were found tied up, beaten, and put in cages for so long that their muscles atrophied. They were not given regular food and clean water and were usually denied showers and basic hygiene. Obviously, these conditions are not suitable for any human, especially those that are already fragile psychologically. Additionally, facilities would deem many women incurable despite their symptoms being treatable or preventable with proper care. Many viewed the mentally ill as less than human and treated them as such. While Dorthea Dix made great strides among others to reform mental health institutions, there is still a huge prevalence of abuse today.

At any given time, there are over 150,000 Americans being admitted into inpatient psychiatric facilities. Over time, activists have been working to improve and destigmatize psychiatric hospitals to help those that need it. The Psychiatric Bulletin found that approximately 71% of female inpatient patients have received unwanted sexual attention or assault in facilities. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) studied sexual assault reports in psychiatric facilities over a period of three months in 2017 and found and found an alarming 1,129 reports of sexual assault and rape. Some experts even say that this number is grossly underestimated, especially in cases of staff member assaulting patients. While wards that prioritized sexual safety were also reported, the high percentage of patients that have been assaulted in psychiatric facilities is overwhelming. Perhaps the most shocking statistic from this report was that 97% of the incidents were reported as “low harm.” While the true impact of the incidents cannot be known, some criticize that they are reported as such to protect staff members. Many times, staff members don’t report assaults due to fear of being blamed, or to protect the perpetrator. Additionally, therapists and psychiatrists that are told about possible patient assaults may fear that legal action may actually harm the patient, and they may not be able to handle the scrutiny of a trial. Other times, they are just not believed due to their mental illness. The issue is that the mentally ill are already seen as unreliable, on top of being a woman. If it was between a mentally ill woman in a psychiatric facility and a nice male doctor, who would you believe? Many would believe the doctor, nurse, or staff member over the patient. A Cambridge study found that three-quarters of psychiatric professionals feel that there is avoidance or denial of access to the criminal justice system to patients. When action is taken, all that is typically required is an incident report that can stay with the hospital. The issues with this are that they are often not completed uniformly, don’t list the assailant’s name, and are not available to managers. Some reasons for the inconsistency of data reports are that staff may be habituated to sexually aggressive behaviors from their patients and don’t get the same level of outrage, or that they may be protecting another staff member. Many experts have recommended a national database of adverse incident reports to keep them available to managers and law enforcement and require them to give as much information as possible on the assailant. This would not only increase law enforcement involvement but also prevent repetitions by habitual predators. While many strides have been taken in the treatment of patients in psychiatric hospitals, there is still more to be made.

Power and Oppression

Almost 150 years before congress passed the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Abigail Adams’ private letter to her husband was a step in the right direction for women’s equality. On March 31,1776, Abigail wrote a letter to her husband and at the time president, John Adams to try to encourage him not to forget about the women of the nation when fighting for America’s independence from the United Kingdom. She asked that John include women in having some political power in his new code of laws. John’s response was “As to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh.” Adams’ response to his wife shows that men have never viewed women as equal. There has and always will be an undermining demeanor of women’s roles in society, whether it’s politically, economically, or socially.

Of the many ways that we view men and women, the media’s portrayal is one of the most powerful influences, especially in Hollywood. While we have come a long way TV and Movie wise, women have always been underrepresented and given very narrow roles. As actress Geena Davis put it, “There have been far fewer opportunities for females and other groups to play different characters. Instead, the woman has often been the girlfriend or the wife of the lead character. This was sending a message to everyone in society that women had less value.” Hollywood media has done a great job in creating a message that says “men are superior”. Men are usually portrayed as strong, powerful, active, adventurous, and sexually aggressive, while women are typically given the narrow roles of a nurturer or of a sex object. There is a type of advertising that movies like to use a lot known as the Headless Woman Phenomenon. Essentially, they get the audience’s attention by using a woman’s body to show off her lips, butt, or her breasts and leave her face out of the frame. Kingsman for example. A popular British movie about a man becoming a spy, yet the movie is advertised by the lower backside of a random woman. In 2016 a comedian by the name of Marcia Belsky launched a Tumblr page titled “The Headless Women of Hollywood” The point of her website is to bring attention to the unfortunately still standard practice of dehumanizing photos of women in Hollywood advertisement. “By decapitating the woman, or fragmenting her body into decontextualized sexual parts, she becomes an unquestionably passive object to the male gaze.” This practice of removing a woman’s head also removes her value. Her value and purpose then become solely a sexual appeal to men.This has led to a big epidemic of sexual harassment in media. A shocking and disturbing 94 percent of women in Hollywood have experienced some form of sexual assault. Unfortunately, 69 percent of those sexual assaults have been men touching women in an unwanted sexual way. One of the more well known cases is the 2017 Harvey Weinstein Scandal. Eighty-five women accused Harvey of inappropriate behaviors ranging from things like asking for a massage to rape. Even 25 year old actress, Cara Delevingne, accused him of trying to kiss her in a hotel room. Rose McGowan, another woman who spoke out against Weinstein, was offered one million dollars in “hush money” from someone in Weinstein’s inner circle. Situations like this just shows how much power men have over women. Not only are women viewed and treated as sex objects, but they are also viewed as weak and dependent on men. Julia T. Wood, a student at NYU brought to attention that one of the biggest and most popular movie companies guilty of contributing to this portrayal is Walt Disney. Disney has many award-winning films that are targeted for a younger audience, so when the movie is solely based on how a female’s life is so horrible until a male comes around, it’s a little worrisome. The Little Mermaid for example, it completely embodies a woman’s dependence on a man for her identity. Ariel literally gives up her identity of being a mermaid so her lover Eric, who is a human, will accept her. These objectifying portrayals of women in Hollywood teach young girls to strive for an Ideal body or an ideal characteristic so that they can be socially acceptable. Media plays such a key role in developing social norms, and unfortunately women being undermined is still a social norm.

Power and Oppression

Almost 150 years before congress passed the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Abigail Adams’ private letter to her husband was a step in the right direction for women’s equality. On March 31,1776, Abigail wrote a letter to her husband and at the time president, John Adams to try to encourage him not to forget about the women of the nation when fighting for America’s independence from the United Kingdom. She asked that John include women in having some political power in his new code of laws. John’s response was “As to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh.” Adams’ response to his wife shows that men have never viewed women as equal. There has and always will be an undermining demeanor of women’s roles in society, whether it’s politically, economically, or socially.

Of the many ways that we view men and women, the media’s portrayal is one of the most powerful influences, especially in Hollywood. While we have come a long way TV and Movie wise, women have always been underrepresented and given very narrow roles. As actress Geena Davis put it, “There have been far fewer opportunities for females and other groups to play different characters. Instead, the woman has often been the girlfriend or the wife of the lead character. This was sending a message to everyone in society that women had less value.” Hollywood media has done a great job in creating a message that says “men are superior”. Men are usually portrayed as strong, powerful, active, adventurous, and sexually aggressive, while women are typically given the narrow roles of a nurturer or of a sex object. There is a type of advertising that movies like to use a lot known as the Headless Woman Phenomenon. Essentially, they get the audience’s attention by using a woman’s body to show off her lips, butt, or her breasts and leave her face out of the frame. Kingsman for example. A popular British movie about a man becoming a spy, yet the movie is advertised by the lower backside of a random woman. In 2016 a comedian by the name of Marcia Belsky launched a Tumblr page titled “The Headless Women of Hollywood” The point of her website is to bring attention to the unfortunately still standard practice of dehumanizing photos of women in Hollywood advertisement. “By decapitating the woman, or fragmenting her body into decontextualized sexual parts, she becomes an unquestionably passive object to the male gaze.” This practice of removing a woman’s head also removes her value. Her value and purpose then become solely a sexual appeal to men.This has led to a big epidemic of sexual harassment in media. A shocking and disturbing 94 percent of women in Hollywood have experienced some form of sexual assault. Unfortunately, 69 percent of those sexual assaults have been men touching women in an unwanted sexual way. One of the more well known cases is the 2017 Harvey Weinstein Scandal. Eighty-five women accused Harvey of inappropriate behaviors ranging from things like asking for a massage to rape. Even 25 year old actress, Cara Delevingne, accused him of trying to kiss her in a hotel room. Rose McGowan, another woman who spoke out against Weinstein, was offered one million dollars in “hush money” from someone in Weinstein’s inner circle. Situations like this just shows how much power men have over women. Not only are women viewed and treated as sex objects, but they are also viewed as weak and dependent on men. Julia T. Wood, a student at NYU brought to attention that one of the biggest and most popular movie companies guilty of contributing to this portrayal is Walt Disney. Disney has many award-winning films that are targeted for a younger audience, so when the movie is solely based on how a female’s life is so horrible until a male comes around, it’s a little worrisome. The Little Mermaid for example, it completely embodies a woman’s dependence on a man for her identity. Ariel literally gives up her identity of being a mermaid so her lover Eric, who is a human, will accept her. These objectifying portrayals of women in Hollywood teach young girls to strive for an Ideal body or an ideal characteristic so that they can be socially acceptable. Media plays such a key role in developing social norms, and unfortunately women being undermined is still a social norm.