(no paper is attached to this workshop)

Feminist historian Nancy Tomes (1994) states, “Most of the history supposedly written about ‘women’ and madness has in fact been only about white, upper middle-class, heterosexual women and madness” (p. 375). The intention of this paper was to give voice to the unique aspects of lesbian women’s experiences of madness. After a brief overview of the history of psychiatric heterosexism and homophobia, this paper explored oral and written narratives of psychiatrized lesbians published in Canada, the United States, and England since the 1970s, which predominantly describe lesbians’ experiences with psychiatry from the 1940s to early 1980s. These narratives revealed how many lesbians enter the psychiatric system as a result of homophobia and heterosexism, systems of oppression that pervade their experiences of psychiatric treatment such as through the enforcement of female gender norms, denial of their lesbian identity, assumption of lesbians as sexual predators, devaluation of lesbian relationships, and perpetration of sexual violence by professionals and patients. Lesbian madness narratives are often a form of ‘coming out’ story and political awakening, illustrating how, as a result of experiences with psychiatry, authors of lesbian madness narratives challenge oppression by coming out, connecting with community, developing a critical consciousness and engaging in activist work.

Reference: Tomes, N. (1994). Feminist histories of psychiatry. In M.S. Micale and R. Porter (Eds.) Discovering the History of Psychiatry (pp. 348-383). New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.