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\"Social workers, in whatever capacity they work, can expect to come into contact with women who have experienced/are experiencing violence and with women who are experiencing depression. Therefore, a range of social work supports and interventions are required in order to meet the needs of diverse women and assist them in their recovery. One of these methods is group work where women can share their experiences, learn from each other, reflect on their learnings and identify and achieve changes in their circumstances. This book is based on original research by the author that sought to understand depression in women from a feminist and gender-informed perspective, develop a feminist-based group work response, and highlight the activities of consciousness-raising and resistance as methods for women to achieve change in their lives and in their selves. An innovative and creative group work program, the Women's Journaling Group Program, was developed from this research and provides a new method of working with women who have experienced/are experiencing violence and mild-moderate depression. The Women's Journaling Group Program is research-informed, theoretically-grounded, practice-based and feminist and gender-focused. This book, and the program model within it, is an important contribution to the field of critical feminist social work practice.\"--Publisher's website.

Traditional sexual scripts are characterized by a gendered power inequality (male dominance vs. female submission) (Sanchez, Fetterolf, & Rudman, 2012 ). Although gender differences in a variety of sexual behaviors have been decreasing, research into sexual scripts provides some support for the existence of traditional sexual scripts adherence. Study 1a and 1b focused on men’s evaluations of sexual script deviation in women (i.e., sexually assertive behavior) and the possible disapproval of these behaviors (backlash effects). Participants (381 and 382 self-identified heterosexual men) were presented with a randomly assigned vignette describing a hypothetical sexual scenario in which a woman behaved either sexually assertive or sexually timid. Both studies indicated that men to some extent expressed disapproval of sexually assertive women. With the aim to assess if backlash effects were due to women’s sexual script deviation or if there was an overall negative evaluation of sexually assertive behavior irrespective of the target’s gender, in Study 2 we focused on the perception of sexually assertive behavior in both women and men ( N  = 268). Although we found that gender role conformity was held for women, but not for men, the results suggest that the negative evaluation of sexual assertiveness was not due to script deviation, but that there is an overall conservative attitude toward sexually assertive behavior. Our study provides some insight into the motives of traditional sexual script adherence particularly for women.

The defining quality of Black womanhood is strength, states Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant in Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman. But, she argues, the idea of strength undermines its real function: to defend and maintain a stratified social order by obscuring Black women's experiences of suffering, acts of desperation, and anger. This provocative book lays bare the common perception that strength is an exemplary or defining quality of \"authentic\" Black womanhood.The author, a noted sociologist, interviews 58 Black women about being strong and proud, to illustrate their \"performance\" of invulnerability. Beauboeuf-Lafontant explains how such behavior leads to serious symptoms for these women, many of whom suffer from eating disorders and depression.Drawing on Black feminist scholarship, cultural studies, and women's history, Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman traces the historical and social influences of normative Black femininity, looking at how notions of self-image and strength create a distraction from broader forces of discrimination and power.

Jezebel's sexual lasciviousness, Mammy's devotion, and Sapphire's outspoken anger-these are among the most persistent stereotypes that black women encounter in contemporary American life. Hurtful and dishonest, such representations force African American women to navigate a virtual crooked room that shames them and shapes their experiences as citizens. Many respond by assuming a mantle of strength that may convince others, and even themselves, that they do not need help. But as a result, the unique political issues of black women are often ignored and marginalized.In this groundbreaking book, Melissa V. Harris-Perry uses multiple methods of inquiry, including literary analysis, political theory, focus groups, surveys, and experimental research, to understand more deeply black women's political and emotional responses to pervasive negative race and gender images. Not a traditional political science work concerned with office-seeking, voting, or ideology, Sister Citizen instead explores how African American women understand themselves as citizens and what they expect from political organizing. Harris-Perry shows that the shared struggle to preserve an authentic self and secure recognition as a citizen links together black women in America, from the anonymous survivors of Hurricane Katrina to the current First Lady of the United States.

Nominated for the 2012 Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology! Why are women more likely to be positioned or diagnosed as mad than men? If madness is a social construction, a gendered label, as many feminist critics would argue, how can we understand and explain women's prolonged misery and distress? In turn, can we prevent or treat women’s distress, in a non-pathologising women centred way? The Madness of Women addresses these questions through a rigorous exploration of the myths and realities of women's madness. Drawing on academic and clinical experience, including case studies and in-depth interviews, as well as on the now extensive critical literature in the field of mental health, Jane Ussher presents a critical multifactorial analysis of women's madness that both addresses the notion that madness is a myth, and yet acknowledges the reality and multiple causes of women's distress. Topics include: The genealogy of women’s madness – incarceration of difficult or deviant women Regulation through treatment Deconstrucing depression, PMS and borderline personality disorder Madness as a reasonable response to objectification and sexual violence Women’s narratives of resistance This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of psychology, gender studies, sociology, women's studies, cultural studies, counselling and nursing. 1. The Madness of Women: Myth or Experience? 2. The Daughter of Hysteria: Depression as a \"Woman’s Problem\"? 3. Labelling Women as Mad: Regulating and Oppressing Women. 4. Woman as Object, not Subject: Madness as Response to Objectification and Sexual Violence. 5. The Construction and Lived Experience of Women’s Distress: Positioning Premenstrual Change as Psychiatric Illness. 6. Women’s Madness: Resistance and Survival. Jane M. Ussher is Professor of Women’s Health Psychology, and director of Gender Culture and Health Research at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. She is author of a number of books. Her current research focuses on women’s sexual and reproductive health, with particular emphasis on premenstrual experiences, gendered issues in caring, and sexuality and fertility in the context of cancer. \"Jane Ussher's new book on women and madness is her third, and every bit as good as her path-breaking, earlier discussions. ... A valuable and impressive book. It will be take seriously by feminist theorists, as well as by those in the biomedical and social sciences, and it will prove a useful addition to curricula at graduate and undergraduate levels in the fields of psychology, feminist studies, and psychiatry.\" - Jennifer Radden, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, in Psychology of Women Quarterly \"A complex and intriguing book. ... Anyone interested in a feminist and cultural perspective on how women come to be labeled as mad will find this book an interesting but valuable challenge.\" - Maxine Harris, CEO of Community Connections, Washington, D.C., USA in Psychiatric Services \"Written with verve in a polemical style, this book will not bore the reader. It starts with a convincing and moving deconstruction of the concept of madness, and moves on to a brief exploration of historical ideas about it. ... (This) includes first-hand testimony from psychiatric patients about the cruelty they have undergone; the combination of those women’s voices and Ussher’s confident tone is arresting. ... This book will be of interest to a wide range of readers beyond the obvious women’s studies market. Training psychological practitioners (counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists and arts therapists) should read it. Cultural studies, cultural history, social anthropology and sociology students will also find this book useful.\" - Times Higher Education Textbook Guide, November 2011 \"The cumulative power of Ussher’s material equals her commitment to the cause. It is hard to imagine any psychologist reading this book without coming to agree with some of its fundamental points. ... Ussher’s critique of the deeply gendered basis of many of our fundamental assumptions about the sexes and, indeed, about human nature cuts that deeply and incisively.\" - Harriette Kaley, psychoanalyst, New York, USA, in PsycCRITIQUES \" The strength of this book lies in Ussher's detailed critique of the medicalisation of women's distress. ... She carefully dissects the diagnostic categories frequently applied to women. Whilst her descriptions of the profound misogyny involved in the labelling and treating of women with 'depression' are very compelling.\" - Caroline Cupitt, clinical psychologist, NHS, UK, in The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy \"I recently taught a section of (The Madness of Women) in an undergraduate course on Philosophy and Mental Illness, and it was influential with my students, who returned to its arguments again and again throughout the course. ... It would make an excellent text for graduate school courses not only in psychiatry and psychology, but in social work, nursing, and philosophy.\" - Nancy Nyquist Potter, University of Louisville, USA in Metapsychology \"The book is fascinating and informative while at times gruesome as it explores the treatment of many women who are considered mad. ... It would be beneficial for students and teachers to use the book in feminist studies, gender studies, sociology, psychology, and women's studies, as a tool for increasing the understanding and application of madness and women. ... One of the major strengths ... is the focus on several characteristics of madness, including depression, BPD PTSD, and PMDD.\" - Hennie Weiss, California State University, USA, in Sex Roles \"Ussher writes persuasively and clearly, using nuggets of examples to provoke thought. ... This was a fascinating and evidence-based book, which never claims to be representing two sides of a debate. I think Ussher might argue that her side of the argument needs more airtime in the psychiatric climate it is being voiced in, and perhaps she is right.\" - Lucy Maddox, Chartered Clinical Psychologist, London, UK, in The Psychologist \"This book is beautifully written and the arguments powerful and sophisticated, whilst at the same time accessible. The author’s mastery in research and writing are clearly evident. The book is destined to become a ‘classic’ text in feminist psychology. A pleasure to read!\" - Michelle Lafrance, Department of Psychology, St. Thomas University, Canada \"This book is a compelling, hard-hitting and illuminating analysis of the social cultural, historical and economic forces producing the madness of women. It is a powerful illustration of a long-standing feminist view – that the personal is political.\" - Ann Weatherall, School of Psychology, University of Wellington, New Zealand