Why Do All The Women Go MAD?

Because we have to keep repeating ourselves to be heard

Why Do All The Women Go MAD?

There is an elephant in the room. No, maybe it’s a giraffe, a leopard, or a monkey. Actually, it’s a bull, and I am going to take it by the horns. Why did the Fearless Girl statue first stare down the Charging Bull on Broadway, and now stands before the New York Stock Exchange with a look of dauntless ferocity? A reminder for gender diversity, empowerment and equality in the world of finance and corporate leadership roles. The statue went up in 2017.

Read that again.

In our modern times, a statue needed to be commissioned as a symbol to remind corporate America, which apparently means male dominated corporate America, to hire women, too. Stereotypical beliefs about the abilities of women is still so deeply engrained in our society, it not only needs to be consistently pinged for correction – it needs to be dug out of the DNA.

Throughout history the voices, abilities, and presence of women have been shut down because of their perceived threat to men. Rebecca Solnit, an American writer and activist, has said: “History is full of women whose voices were ignored, dismissed, or declared irrational.” This is true, and at the same time strange when we look across history and see that this fact did not always exist. Early humans existed with a complimentary balance of power and respect between male and females. Many cultures, such as the Cherokee, Minangkabau (Indonesia), Mosuo (China), Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Akan People (Ghana), Ancient Egypt, and more, have held women in high esteem keeping them in leadership, authority, political, and decision making roles, passing wealth and lineage down from mothers to daughters. Things changed over time through reasons like agriculture, land ownership, war, religion and the rise of the Western male-dominated cultures spreading across continents.

What have ‘crazy’ women throughout history looked like?

Mary Wollstonecraft –

Philosopher, Translator, Novelist, Historian, Advocate, Essayist, and mother of author Mary Shelley. The author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women, argued for women’s equal education and rights, challenging societal norms that relegated women to subordinate roles and emphasizing that women are rational beings deserving of the same opportunities as men. – Critics portrayed her as morally unstable and socially dangerous.

When arguments couldn’t be defeated, character assassination was used instead.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz –

Poet, Nun, Philosopher, Playwright, Composer, Mathematician. A brilliant intellectual in colonial Mexico argued publicly for women’s right to education. A paragon for freedom of speech, women’s rights, and sexual diversity. Forced to renounce her studies and portrayed as arrogant and spiritual danger. Intellectual women were often silenced by declaring their curiosity improper or unnatural.

Perhaps there was offense to her famous poem “Foolish Men”?

Elizabeth Packard –

American advocate for the rights of women and people perceived to have insanity. Disagreed with husband’s religious beliefs and was committed to an insane asylum. Her husband claimed her to have been insane for three years. No medical evidence needed. Her sanity was concluded by a jury after only seven minutes of deliberation. Elizabeth Packard founded the Anti-Insane Asylum Society, campaigning for divorced women to retain custody of their children, to also ensure the rights of the mentally ill, as well as those of married women.

Insanity could be legally defined as a woman disagreeing with male authority, including her husband’s authority.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman –

Prominent feminist, social reformer, lecturer and writer who challenged traditional gender roles and championed women’s suffrage and autonomy through prolific literary works including novels, essays and poetry. She suffered severe postpartum depression and nervous system breakdown. After a doctor enforced restrictive “rest cure” which worsened her condition, she rebelled and recovered on her own by returning to writing. She wrote Yellow Wallpaper, which details how medical diagnoses were sometimes used to enforce silence and obedience. Later diagnosed with breast cancer, Charlotte chose to commit suicide, viewing it as an act of agency over her own death.

Zelda Fitzgerald –

American novelist, painter, writer, socialite, and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was a talented writer and artist whose creative ambitions were overshadowed by her husbands’ fame. It is believed her husband took ideas and phrases from her journals and their shared life to write The Great Gatsby. She was institutionalized multiple times and labeled unstable. Some scholars argue her creativity was suppressed or appropriated.

The mad woman label often erased women’s creative identities.

These are only a few examples, and we can easily agree that circumstances seem to have improved dramatically over the past two hundred years for women. I certainly enjoyed the right to have a full-time job, raise two daughters, go grocery shopping after work, hurry home and cook dinner, clean up the mess, help with homework and last minute science projects, pay the bills, balance the joint bank account, feed and care for the pets, clean the house, and maybe just maybe, I could put on something sexy for my man and still look like I meant it. And Yo – dare I write something a little ‘off color’, a ‘bloody horror’, or a sex scene, of course, there are going to be whispers behind hands, for good reason, no doubt. I’m likely living out some demented fantasy pent up inside my crazy little head - everyone needs a hobby.

This isn’t bitterness, just facts from real life.

So many times, I have sat in rooms with men talking about their ‘crazy’ ex’s. And you know why these women were called crazy? Because she had enough of their bullshit. She caught them cheating, lying, and even talking shit behind her back. She got tired of being their maid, their mother, their saint, and their whore all at the same time. The woman got sick of walking on eggshells, standing up for him when he didn’t deserve it, and standing back to make room for his ego. She started noticing when he didn’t speak up when one of his friends put her down. She hated pretending she wasn’t so smart or didn’t have opinions of her own that had merit. The list of all her craziness goes on.

As another Substack writer, Michelle Reid, mentioned in an article recently, the stigma applied to women regarding inferior intelligence, female penchant for hysterics, or hormonal imbalance as ‘the reason’ she can’t do as a man, isn’t limited to the male gender. Women themselves often hop on this train of gossiping over and demoralizing another woman who is different from them or the social group they move within. Shocking in a way when we should be cheering for each other, not looking for reasons to stop or shame another woman from rising, raising her voice, or walking freely within her own identity with pride, rather than settling to be, do, and think like everyone else.

When we see another woman following her interests, desires, and reaching her goals, it takes nothing away from us. Instead, I hope we will feel inspired and excited to see a sister rising in her own right and paving a way for others by her example. Instead of feeling jealousy or resentment for the achievements of another woman, we could choose to flip our view. We can say Look at her go! Yes, she is following her dreams! Wow, I am so inspired! Congratulations! That is what I want to do, too.

In my humble opinion, there may never be a utopia of perfect balance for all people. If it could happen, though, we will know things have truly changed in the world when Women, LGBTQ+, Hispanics, Asians-Pacific Islander, African Americans, Native Americans, Senior Citizens, and so on, needn’t have their own ‘special day’ or month of recognition. Not because marginalized groups are not important, but because we are all just as important as one another. When we are equally viewed valuable in human society without barriers, we celebrate life together every day, not as groups that must be held up to the light for recognition.

Thank you for reading. Special side note: First Ironwood Lounge - A Tale of Two Women Series podcast posts next week. Excited to talk with featured guest, writer Michelle Ried , a woman of many skills and talents, and contributor to Women’s Perspective, too. Notifications to follow.

Annette J Sharp