Jessica Taylor

“Psychiatry often felt like the final frontier for feminism and women’s rights. It was overtly patriarchal, and most of its victims were, and continue to be, women. Misogyny ran riot. Racism was unchecked in a historical white supremacist system that still had entire narratives and diagnoses borne out of hatred and oppression of Black communities. Homophobia had been supported for decades whilst lesbian women were treated as if they were mentally ill. Whenever this is brought up, professionals are labelled offensive, unprofessional and unworthy of attention.
Like Dr Palfreyman, I had experienced years of disrespect, accusations, and pushback for simply suggesting that women and girls are not mentally ill, but are traumatised by their experiences, abuse and oppression. It seems such an obvious thing to say, from one professional to another – ‘maybe she isn’t disordered, maybe she isn’t ill at all’ – maybe she’s trying to cope with years of abuse and harm?”
― Jessica Taylor, Sexy But Psycho: How the Patriarchy Uses Women’s Trauma Against Them