If you’ve ever heard someone close to you saying that women are crazy, you’re hearing a hurtful generalization that has caused a lot of harm over the last few millennia. While some people wonder how much a stereotype like this matters in the real world, others have directly experienced the consequences of having their mental stability or health assumed because of their gender. It even feeds into other gendered stereotypes like the idea that women belong in the kitchen.
Understanding the truth behind this common misconception will give you more respect for the women in your life, including possibly yourself. Pushing back against this stereotype when you hear it from your friends and family members can go a long way in supporting women and helping to Spread Love.
Rates of Mental Illness Among Men and Women
First, women tend to report experiencing mental illness at a slightly higher rate than men, at around 26 percent for women and around 20 percent for men as of 2022. However, many specific illnesses like bipolar disorder have no particular link to higher incidences in a certain gender. Others, like ADHD, are diagnosed almost twice as often in men as women. There are many factors that lead some researchers to think that men aren’t reporting their mental illness issues as frequently as women. Some serious conditions, such as the risk of suicide, are markedly higher in men. By the statistics alone, there’s nothing to support that women are crazy and men are sane.
It’s simply a fact of life that anyone can experience mental illness at any point, and there’s no way to predict it by gender or other factors alone. While men and women tend to experience mental illnesses with slight differences due to gender, there’s no proof that women are more likely to experience them than men in most cases. Where gender differences do appear in the statistics, many researchers attribute the higher rates of illness in women to the extra pressure on them due to misogyny, family and child-rearing demands, and a higher overall workload.
Misogynistic Myths and Real Consequences
Even if you don’t personally believe women are crazy, you might think that it’s a fairly harmless thing to say or believe. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of real harm created by the stereotype that women are somehow less mentally healthy or fit than their male counterparts. Lobotomies were an invasive form of brain surgery used to treat what were seen as mental illnesses in the 1950s. They were largely used against women, permanently altering their personalities and cognitive abilities.
Less extreme examples have included cases where women had their rights to see their children removed due to stereotypes about their gender and mental illness or cases of job and housing discrimination. These misogynistic issues affect both women who actually suffer from mental illness and those who are perfectly healthy. It’s even led to the stereotype that women are evil in some way.
Why the Idea That Women Are Crazy is Gender Discrimination and Ableism All at Once
Most people who disagree with the concept that women are crazy rightfully label it as a form of sexism and gender discrimination. However, it’s also a form of ableism. This is the belief that people with health conditions and disabilities, including mental illnesses, are somehow inherently inferior or lesser than others.
It remains one of the most pervasive forms of discrimination because many people believe that their ableist beliefs are harmless or even positive. Framing women as unstable or unhealthy due to their gender is offensive on both health and gender-related fronts. Respect for everyone includes people struggling with mental health concerns regardless of their gender. Building a positive mental attitude goes a long way in helping you embrace others.
Supporting Women with Mental Illness
Rather than framing a struggling woman as simply yet another example of an outdated stereotype, it’s essential to act with compassion and support instead. Women suffer from unique and often overlooked mental health risks such as post-partum depression and psychosis that are still lacking in research and proper treatment. If you know someone who is having a hard time dealing with the day-to-day struggles of life, check in on them regularly and see what you can do to guide them toward counseling and treatment. You can make all the difference in someone’s life just by paying attention and avoiding stereotypical thinking, such as assuming blondes are dumb.
Associating mental illness with a specific gender doesn’t just hurt women. It also keeps men from recognizing when they’re struggling and discourages them from seeking out the help they deserve. Everyone can benefit from getting rid of these harmful stereotypes that are holding us back as a society. Visit Spread Love to learn how you can promote love and respect instead of hate and stereotypes in our world today.
