Charlotte Sargent

"Stigma Management," "Women With Disabilities," and "PMS as a Culture-Bound Syndrome"

In two of the articles we read this week, they talked about women and men with disabilities and how they are affected and treated by them. In the article “Stigma Management,” it discusses the experiences of male college students with physical disabilities and the way in which they “make up” for it. As stated in the article, “individuals with a physical disability fall outside of the range of what is considered normative or ordinary” (1470). When most people cross paths with a person who has a physical disability, they subconsciously, immediately form a judgment about that person, most likely thinking of them as “different” or unable to do what “normal” people are. “Individuals with physical disabilities frequently experience various forms of devaluation and discrimination” (Taub, 1470).

Due to their physical appearance, they are thought by society as less and as people who are incapable of doing many things that those without disabilities can. It is sad to think that people who have physical disabilities are questioned routinely about if they can do an everyday skill or just small tasks on their own. In order to compensate for ones disability, physical activity is one way to do so, especially for men. “Compensation involves stigmatized individuals gaining proficiency in activities in which they are usually not included or expected to perform well” (Taub, 1471). When a person with a disability is able to perform well in something that most people would not expect, it gives that person a sense of worth, accomplishment, and respect. “Physical activity participation also may demonstrate that individuals with physical disabilities are more able and similar to able-bodied peers than stereotypes suggest” (Taub, 1471). Many people with disabilities said that being physically active made them feel enabled and through sport they are able to demonstrate physical skill. One individual said that the reason he plays on a wheelchair basketball team is, “to show the world that able-bodied persons are not the only ones who can participate in sport or who can say ‘well, I’ve got a game, I gotta go” (Taub, 1475). Not only does it make them feel capable, it makes those with disabilities feel physically fit and better about themselves. “Participation in sport and physical activity enabled respondents to develop a physique they thought compensated for stereotypical assumptions about a disable body” (Taub, 1478). By exercising in some way many people with physical disabilities stated that it allows them to demonstrate a “muscular” body and a “liberated” body. One person stated that weight lifting helped his “body become more defined [and] more acceptable to people. [Others] want to see a nice, built body, and they’ll say, ‘he’s strong, he’s massive, he must work out all the time’”(Taub, 1478). This shows those with disabilities feel empowered when they are physically active because it is their way of showing and proving to society that they are just like nondisabled people and are capable of many of the same things.

This relates to the article we read, “Women With Disabilities” by Rhonda Olkin. She talks about how those with disabilities can be discriminated against in many areas of life. “The social stigma of disability is experienced with co-workers, students, peers, family, and medical service providers, as well as in dating and in applying for jobs” (Olkin, 191). People with disabilities have to struggle with the judgments and stereotypes that non-disabled people associate them with or as. Olkin states that, “When people respond to me, I can never know how much of their response is due to disability and how much to gender (and how much to my personality, my height, my clothes, my level of attractiveness, etc.” (Olkin, 192). She has had to deal with this uncertainty her entire life. It is hard to even imagine having to grow up with a disability and to constantly be reminded by society in various ways that you have one due to the way you are treated so differently. Olkin goes on to talk about how not only having a disability is difficult, but also being a woman with one has even more ramifications. “The disability rights movement has benefited men with disabilities and women with disabilities differentially” (193). Even though people with disabilities are all categorized and put into the same group or stereotype, the differences in society between men and women still exist. Olkin also discusses how woman with disabilities are though of as incapable mothers. “Given the devaluation of people with disabilities, the trend toward the prevention of births of babies with disabilities is a challenge to the existence of children and adults with disabilities” (Olkin, 194). It is sad that people with disabilities have to suffer so many consequences beyond what their body prevents them from being capable of. If a disabled person is truly fit to be a mother, then they should have that chance and opportunity. “Both women and people with disabilities are seen as childlike and helpless, and the confluence of the two statuses of gender and disability augments this view of the woman with disability” (Olkin, 196). Society causes disabled people to suffer socially in multiple ways and aspects of life that prevent them from trying live a “normal” life. It is more difficult for a woman with a disability to get married, have children, have a good, successful job that can support them, and to even just do everyday tasks in life. Disabled people are challenged daily and society makes it even harder for them to live regularly, due to the way disabled people are treated and perceived as.

The third article we read in class, “PMS as a Culture-Bound Syndrome” by Joan C. Chrisler, was all about what PMS is, why women get it, if it is a culture-bound syndrome, and why PMS so significant. PMS has become a more prominent term over the years. Women use PMS as an “excuse” for why they behave in the certain ways that they do. Many women think of PMS as a disease, and symptoms that could be from a number of other things, women correlate them to PMS. Some examples of PMS are, aches and pains, increased cravings, nausea, acne crying spells, hostility, irritability, anxiety, and so on. There are a variety of definitions of PMS and “all women do not experience the same changes, and the experience of any given woman may vary from cycle to cycle” (Chrisler, 156). Women feel various symptoms that may differ from one another. I have never thought of PMS as such a big deal. I more often than not, do not notice PMS, and if I maybe do, it does not nearly affect me in such a way that I cannot function normally nor does it make me act like a different person. “Cultural images and social roles and stereotypes shape women to notice menstrual cycle-related changes and to label them as pathological rather than as normal” (Chrisler, 158). Chrisler talks about in her article how years ago women would have dealt with her mood changes and such as a “part of the normal ups and downs in life.” I think that women like to give a name and have a reason as to why they are acting a certain way and PMS is the perfect excuse. “The menstrual cycle has become so salient as problematic that American women attribute almost any change to it” (Chrisler, 159). Society has made PMS such a significant thing that even men use PMS as an excuse for women’s behavior. Olkin talks about how it is a “culture-bound” syndrome because our culture and our society teach women to associate PMS with the certain symptoms and effects that they have. In other cultures, PMS is not thought of as such a negative thing. “Menstrual cycle-related complaints (except cramps) are most likely to be reported by women living in Western Europe, Australia, and North America” (Chrisler, 165). In other cultures women do not suffer from such severe symptoms. This shows that “culture shapes which variations in mood and physical sensations are noticed and which cause concern” (Chrisler, 165).

            These articles describe the ways in which society shapes a variety of people in various ways. From men with disabilities, to women with disabilities, to women who suffer from PMS. All of these topics depict the way in which society and culture treats people and the way in which people who suffer from different things have to deal with stereotypes and in some way feel the need to challenge those stereotypes and break free from societal judgments.