Perceptions of gender and gender roles

Kupers, in her article "The Politics of Psychiatry", asserts that many of the diagnoses contained in the DSM-IV pertaining to gender and sexuality are pathological. The categories of mental disorders, states Kupers, have been constructed by those in power who determine what constitutes a mental disorder in those they hold power over. In this case those in power are straight, white males, and those they have power over are everyone else (Kupers, 1997, p. 18). There is also the fact that the every day life of the individual is being increasingly forced to fit into a more regimented role over the past century, "as a result the average citizen is permitted fewer eccentricities before deviance is declare

. . .
en biases against women or minorities when coming into conflict with the white male mental health community. There is the example of Elizabeth Packard, whose husband declared that "her disagreement with his religious views was evidence of insanity" (Kupers, 1997, p. 18). Slaves who escaped from their owners' plantations were given the diagnosis of "drapetomania" or "flight-from-home-madness" (p. 18). Both of these examples may be over a hundred years old, but that doesn't negate the fact that those biases are still out there. The weak point in Kupers' argument is that she does not allow for the progress that has been made in the last few decades and "these definitions represent a process of consensus building and compromise among experts of different opinions" (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001, p. 126). The strong point in Ross, et al's argument is this very fact that they put forth. The DSM-IV is part of a continuum, a work in process, that will continue to evolve as the mental health community discovers more about mental health and how it works. In this process there will be disagreement and "the opportunity for political, cultural, and ideological influences on the establishment of the diagnostic criteria for disorders in such a
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Position Argument, Elizabeth Packard, Issues DSM-IV, DSM DSM-IV, Politics Psychiatry, Considerations Society, Kupers Instead, Introduction Perceptions, Gender Issues, Weaknesses Articles, kupers 1997, mental health, gender bias, mental health community, halgin 2001, gender issues, abnormal psychology, personality disorder, ross et, nolen-hoeksema 2001, health community, views abnormal psychology, clashing views abnormal, psychology guilford cn, dsm-iv clashing views,
Approximate Word count = 1417
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Perceptions of gender and gender roles