Hysteria

The name ‘hysteria’ is derived from the Greek words ‘hystera’ which means ‘uterus’ as well as  ‘hysterikos’ meaning ‘suffering of the womb.’

Greek thinkers (like Hippocrates and Plato) believed that when a woman experienced delirium, excessive emotion, and lack of self-control, it was due to her uterus moving freely throughout her body and thus having negative effects on her mental wellbeing. Plato believed that when the womb was empty for too long after puberty, it became distressed and disturbed and started to move around the body out of irritation. This gave the impression that women should be quick to occupy the womb – they were told that they needed to be getting married and carrying babies to anchor the womb, explaining why women were expected to fall pregnant at such a young age. The threat of sexual deprivation and barrenness sending women crazy spurred the myth of the wandering womb, solidifying women’s position as being strictly child-bearers. It also solidified excessive emotion as a feminine emotional condition, and caused women to become the ’emotional gender’. 

On the other hand, male hysteria, as the name indicates, is ‘hysteria for men’. Interestingly, symptoms included extreme behaviour, uncertainty in actions and motives, inclination to substances, for example, alcohol, and neurosis. The ‘disease’ was closely linked to gender stereotypes when men failed to act ‘like men were expected to act’, another feature of the patriarchal and misogynistic views that promoted hysteria.

Link to Project

My project is about femininity and mental illness, so I believe hysteria is a topic that links in perfectly with both. I want my photographs to show hysteria, showing it in a stereotypical and disturbing manner, utilising a slow shutter speed of 1/4 or 1/5 to create movement within the images, portraying hysteria as something that can’t be controlled. My inspiration, Francesca Woodman, was an individual who showed her struggles with mental health through her work. I think her work was an indirect portrayal of hysteria, all her photos having an unnerving feeling to them.

Hysteria’s dual nature makes it a perfect example of both oppression and liberation: although hysteria in itself is a symptom of patriarchal pressures, hysterical symptoms are also an implication of an individual’s increased awareness of patriarchy. This is a theme I want to portray through my photographs.