#shame is such an integral element of maintaining social dominance

[jamethinks]

I was trying to write a fight b/w Anya and Becky and it made me realize Becky doesn’t have shit on Anya.

Like the whole fight is bc Anya got a gift from her papa and she was showing it to Becky and Becky was like (in her head) “that shits so cheap and ugly I have much better stuff lmao” and Anya obviously hears that and is rightfully upset so she immediately starts icing Becky out and Becky gets mad bc she doesn’t know what she did to make Anya so ticked.

Eventually Anya gets tired and calls her a snob (which she canonically is) and concludes her rant by saying Becky has never owned anything of actual sentimental value because no one actually cares enough about her to go through the trouble, everything she has only has monetary value and that’s why money matters so much to her. And also despite coming from such a wealthy and influential family she only spends time with the poor nobody because she’s the only one she can always confidently feel superior to. Obviously not as eloquently stated but you get the gist.

And within my canon, Becky’s parents are divorced and her mom lives in the US so they only see each other during the vacation but now her mom just kinda cancelled on her. And then her dad is getting remarried to this bitch she doesn’t like. So Becky is just not in a good place and having Anya essentially tell her nobody gives a fuck about you fr hurts like a bitch

So naturally Becky has to combat it but it’s like what could she possibly say to get under Anya’s skin.

She’s poor? Old news. She doesn’t have any friends? Neither do you. Her house is small? Yeah cause her parents live there. Nobody likes you? My parents like me can’t say the same about you.

But even in the actual story the only leverage Becky could have is the fact that Anya is insecure but if one day she’s just not having it everybody’s getting burned. Especially because she knows all their deep dark secrets and anxieties. Like if Damian gets a bit too fresh like don’t forget your mom wanted you to die when the bus got hijacked bitch lower your fucking tone.

Like her only weakness is her own insecurities but she’s surrounded by people that love her and are invested in her happiness and well being so it’s only a matter of time before she stops caring. At that point nobody’s safe.

[culturalsociologyblog-blog]

“Do you really need that much space?”: The sexual politics of manspreading

By Fernanda Rodriguez R.

At the end of September 2018, a video by Russian activist Anna Doygalyuk went viral (Toronto Sun, 2018). In the said video, it is possible to observe Doygalyuk throwing a liquid in the pelvic area of various men on public transport in order to interrupt their manspreading: the male practice or tendency to sit in public spaces with their legs wide open, occupying at least two single seats (Jane, 2017). During the “demonstration”, Doygalyuk accuses the men in her country of gender aggression and her obligation to do something about it (Torornto Sun, 2018). However, one of Doygalyuk’s victims in the video, Stanislav Kudrin, confessed right after the video went viral that the stunt was staged (Torornto Sun, 2018). Despite this, manspreading remains a popular and controversial subject among both men and women. Indeed, the practice was even outlawed from public transportation in Madrid during the summer of 2017, citing the campaign “#MadridSinManspreading”[1] as the reason for the ban (Ahluwalia, 2017). Consequently, theories on gender and symbolic interactionism may provide an interesting outlook concerning this practice, due to the relevance of commonplace interactions and the sexual politics involving the microaggression[2] that is manspreading.  

 Video: Manspreaders on the Subway

 According to Mead (1962), the self is wholeheartedly linked to the social experience. Individuals are able to acknowledge that within any given society there are certain values and norms, which need to be integrated into the self. This process of socialization persists as long as people engage in social interactions (Mead, 1962). Therefore, Mead’s theory presents itself as a gateway for social interactionism, which serves as a micro-theoretical schema that analyzes the actions and perceptions of individuals in relation to one another as the process that shapes social reality (Blumer, 1969). Likewise, Goffman (1959) argues that to better understand the mundane interactions of people, it is best to think of them as actors conducting a performance. Namely, individuals actively devise particular impressions in the presence of others. A decisive element of these impressions are sign vehicles, such as clothes, ethnicity or gender (Goffman, 1959). In fact, gender represents a crucial feature in an individual’s performance.    

According to West and Zimmerman (1987), gender is an acquired and enacted status, unlike sex, which is based in biologically received genitalia. They view gender as a resulting element of social circumstances since the classification of individuals into labels such as “man” or “woman” is conducted in a clear social manner, which makes them appear natural thus reinforcing the apotheosis of gender. In other words, the implication that gender distinctions are an intrinsic feature of human beings reinforce and maintain the patriarchal social order (West & Zimmerman, 1987). Moreover, in a social structure in which men exert their dominance and profit from it, the modification of such a system remains disadvantageous for men even when this transformation would benefit society as a whole (Connell, 1987). Accordingly, Jane (2017) argues that manspreading is a clear instance of latent sexism against women since it not solely displays the privileged status of these men, but is also devised as an effective symbol of what it means to be male in a social space.

The problem of manspreading, however, is not a “new” phenomenon as illustrated by a cartoon-campaign founded by CityLab dated back to 1918 (Grant, 2016). Likewise, feminist photographer Marianne Wex conducted a thorough photographic study of the subject in 1979 in her book “Let’s Take Back Our Space: Female and Male Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures” (Bridges, 2017). Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the issue has escalated in recent years. Previous research conducted on the subject of body language has stated that positions involving the “exposure” of genitalia, as well as ample movements are more frequent in men than in women (Davis & Weitz, 1981). Furthermore, historically there has been an enduring social narrative for females of all ages to embrace closed and restrained positions in order to avoid any public display of control and openness (Jane, 2017). To many, these ideas may seem archaic and outdated, but empirical evidence has demonstrated that women’s physical stance nowadays remains in alignment with these confining “ladylike” poses (Jane, 2017). The human body is otherwise disciplined to the structures of inequality within the social order, and the idea that men require - and are entitled to - more space is one type of privilege from which plenty of men benefit (Bridges, 2017). Symbolically, positions that are broad and provide a significant degree of exposure are typically adopted by dominant individuals, while positions involving closed limbs and small gestures are common among deferential and meek individuals that make use of less amount of space (Jane, 2017). The perquisites linked with power carry the implication that individuals may exert their “claim” to behave in a particular manner without taking into consideration the social expectations regarding a specific situation. Therefore, a man that engages in manspreading can be perceived as an individual that it is not solely employing a gender-power marker, but that is also commanding the physical space: the adoption of such a dominant posture has the dual and co-constitutive function of both stimulating and reflecting a state of control (Jane, 2017).

Feminism allows individuals within this social order to challenge the current inequitable structure (West & Zimmerman, 1987). After all, as stated by West and Zimmerman (1987): “gender is a powerful ideological device, which produces, reproduces, and legitimates the choices and limits that are predicated…(p.147)”. Accordingly, feminist activists and groups have adopted a series of strategies in order to fight the “epidemic” of manspreading. First, there is the popular trend of “naming and shaming”: in said practice female activist have opted for taking forthright videos or photographs -occasionally with a somewhat humorous tone and other times in more seriousness- of men displaying obvious signs of manspreading (Jane, 2017). Later, these images are uploaded to social media platforms such as Instagram, Tumblr, among others. A second technique used by anti-manspreaders is that of directly confronting the culprits while also explaining to them their wrongdoing. Lastly, other activists have decided to “fight fire with fire” by sitting in a manspreading-manner on public spaces, sometimes even engaging in “leg battles” with the original manspreaders who try to intrude in their personal space (Jane, 2017). For instance, according to an article titled “Watch out, manspreaders: The womanspreading fightback starts now” by The Guardian, women in various parts of the world are appropriating the practice in the name of feminism (Sanghani, 2017). Big celebrity names such as Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid, and Chrissy Teigen are rejecting the narrative that states that women should sit with modesty and coyness, instead they are sitting with their legs open and sharing the outcome online, thus motivating hundreds more to follow in their footsteps (Sanghani, 2017).  

Even if these encounters can be deemed as trivial when they occur as isolated cases of “micro” sexism, Jane (2017) argues that the rationale behind these protests is that when coupled together all these isolated incidents comprise a significant social issue. Namely, a single male commuter extending his dominance over several seats on a train, bus, or tram while other travelers are forced to stand may not be considered more than a small inconvenience at the time. However, this small gesture is but a symptom of a more substantial issue regarding the preservation and imposition of a male-dominated social order. Moreover, Jane (2017) argues that the development of a pattern concerning these “minor” actions may evolve into a powerful emblem of “toxic masculinity”.  

Video: When a "lady" manspreads

Nevertheless, the effort of these feminist to stop the practice of manspreading are not without opposition. While the feminist discourses have often made use of scholarly literature to support their claims, most of the claims produced by the male opposition have dubious argumentation (Jane, 2017). The most popular counter-claim is that men require to sit with enough space between their legs in order to guarantee the comfort and protection of their genitals. However, this claim has proved to be completely unsustainable by actual medical data, which conforms with West and Zimmerman (1987) argument regarding the naturalization of constructed criteria that comes with an individual’s biological sex. Meanwhile, others argue that the issue is a matter of etiquette and thus, should be genderless. Moreover, the discourse around manspreading is also often disregarded as merely another rant created by the desperate and troubled minds of feminists. In the meantime, what is certain is that those female activists concerned with the issue of manspreading have been successful at raising awareness regarding the prevalence and universality of this disrespectful practice since campaigns to “stop the spread” have gained a lot of negative and positive media coverage on the international stage (Jane, 2017).  

In conclusion, when considering the handling of space in relation to the performance of gender, the matter of power becomes fundamental since space communicates a non-spoken message of individual status (Jane, 2017; Macionis & Plummer, 2012). Arguably, males tend to occupy more space than females, whose femininity has been traditionally associated with how little space they cover (i.e. the positive connotations of the word petite to describe feminine-looking women). Meanwhile, masculinity is often connected to the portion of the area a man dominates (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). Through these interactions that are being challenged by the feminist movement, from which manspreading is a sterling example of “doing gender” in modern times, it is possible to observe the power relations in the everyday of men and women. Women, who more often than not, see their plea for privacy and personal space overtaken by men.    

 References

Ahluwalia, R. (2017, June 8). Madrid bans manspreading on public transport. Independent. October 3,

2018 from https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/mandspreading-madrid-spain-ban-public-transport-bus-metro-behaviour-etiquette-a7779041.html

Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Berkeley: University of California Press

Bridges, T. (2017, February 8). Possibly the most exhaustive study of “manspreading” ever conducted. The Society Pages. Retrieved October 5, 2018 from https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2017/02/08/possibly-the-most-exhaustive-study-of-manspreading-ever-conducted/

Connell, R. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Davis, M., & Weitz, S. (1981). Sex differences in body movements and positions. In C. Mayo & N. M.Henley (Eds.), Gender and Nonverbal Behavior (pp. 81–92). New York: Springer.

Jane, E.A. (2017). ‘Dude … stop the spread’: Antagonism, agonism, and #manspreading on social media. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(5), 459-475. doi:10.1177/1367877916637151

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Anchor

Grant, M. (2016, February 10). Anti-manspreading cartoon from 1918 shows that manspreading has been going on for longer than you thought. Bustle. Retrieved October 5, 2018 from https://www.bustle.com/articles/140936-anti-manspreading-cartoon-from-1918-shows-that-manspreading-has-been-going-on-for-longer-than-you-thought

Macionis, J., & Plummer, K. (2012). Sociology: A global introduction (5th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Mead, G.H. (1962). Mind, self and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Charles W. Morrised. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Sanghani, R. (2017, November 23). Watch out, manspreaders: The womanspreading fightback starts now. The Guardian. Retrieved October 5, 2018 from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/23/manspreading-womanspreading-fightback-metoo-resistance-physical

Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271–286

Toronto Sun. (2018, September 27). Watch: Russian woman allegedly pours bleach on 'manspreading' train passengers. World News. Retrieved October 3, 2018 from https://torontosun.com/news/world/watch-russian-woman-allegedly-pours-bleach-on-manspreading-train-passengers/wcm/218dcb14-55bb-4665-80be-402c351b2d5e

West, C. & Zimmerman, D.H. (1987). Doing Gender. Gender & Society, 1(2), 125-151.doi:10.1177/0891243287001002002

[1] In English, it translates to #MadridWithoutManspreading

[2] Microaggression is defined in Sue et al. (2007) as: “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative insults…(p.271)” against marginalized individuals or groups.

[rechanneling-inc]

What is a ‘Mental’ Disorder

CONTACT US: ‘robertfmullen.com’ / ‘ReChanneling.org’ /  ReChanneling@yahoo.com

To the early civilizations, 'mental illnesses' were the domain of supernatural forces and demonic possession. Hippocrates and diagnosticians of the 19th century favored the humours. Lunar influence and sorcery and witchcraft are timeless culprits. In the early 20th century, it was somatogenic.[i] The biological approach argues that "mental disorders are related to the brain's physical structure and functioning." [ii] The pharmacological approach promotes it as an imbalance in brain chemistry. The 1st Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness (1952) was produced to address the influx of veteran shell shock (PTSD) and leaned heavily on environmental and biological causes. 

One only needs the American Psychological Association's [iii] definition of neurosis to comprehend the mental health community's pathographic focus. The 90-word overview contains the following words: distressing, irrational, obsessive, compulsive, dissociative, depressive, exaggerated, unconscious, conflicts, anxiety, disorders. The 3rd 

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-3) abandoned the word 'neurosis' in 1980, but it remains the go-to term in the mental health community. Its etymology is the Greek neuron 'nerve' and the modern Latin -osis 'abnormal condition.' Coined by a Scottish physician in 1776, neurosis was then defined as functional derangement arising from disorders of the nervous system. 

U.S. government agencies define mental illness as a "diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet diagnostic criteria" that can "result in functional impairment which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities." [iv] This 'defective' emphasis has been the overriding psychiatric perspective for over a century. By the 1952 publication of DSM-1, the focus had drifted from pathology (the science of the causes and effects of diseases) to pathography (the delineation of a person's psychological disorders, categorizing them to facilitate diagnosis). 'Pathos' is the Greek word for 'suffering' and the root of pathetic, and 'graphy' is its biographic rendering. Pathography is the history of an individual's suffering, aka, a morbid biography. Pathography focuses "on a deficit, disease model of human behaviour," whereas the wellness model focuses "on positive aspects of human functioning." [v]

Realistically, most terms for mental illness cannot be eliminated from the culture. Unfortunately, the negative implications of the term and its derivatives promulgate perceptions of incompetence, ineptitude, and undesirability. It is the dominant source of stigma, shame, and self-denigration. In deference to a wellness paradigm, we choose the word 'disorder'―defined as a correctable inability to function healthily or satisfactorily―over historical terms of pathographic influence.

There are four stages to any illness: susceptibility, onset, gestation, and manifestation. A disorder onsets (client is infected) and manifests (client is affected)―there can be no disagreement about that. Childhood/adolescent exploitation creates the susceptibility to the onset of a disorder, and the holism of the host―mind, body, spirit, and emotions―nurtures it. 

Carl Roger's study of homeodynamics, or the cooperation of human system components to maintain physiological equilibrium, produced the word 'complementarity' to define simultaneous mutual interaction. All human system components must work in concert; they cannot function alone. Integrality describes the inter-cooperation of the human system and the environment and social fields. A disorder is not biologic, hygienic, neurochemic, or psychogenic, but a collaboration of these and other approaches administered by the mind, body, spirit, and emotions (MBSE) working in concert. 

There is no legitimate argument against mind-body collaboration in disease and wellness. Emotions are reactive to the mind and body; spirit's participation merits explanation. First, spirit is not 'super,' but it is a natural component of human development. While some suggest spirit as the seat of emotions and character, the three are distinct entities. Spirit forms the definitive or typical elements in the character of a person. Emotions are the expressions of those qualities, responsive to the mind and body.[vi] 

We all have disorders. They come in different intensities and affect each of us individually. There are at least nine clinical types of depression, five significant forms of anxiety, and four types of obsessive-compulsive disorder; their impacts can be mild, moderate, or severe. Some people adapt quite nicely and get on with their lives. Others incorporate it into their personalities―the cranky boss, clinging partner, temperamental neighbor. We designed this Blog for those of us whose lives are negatively impacted by their disorder. 

Childhood/adolescent susceptibility to all disorders is plausible because, statistically, 89% of onset happens during adolescence.[vii] However, because symptoms can remain dormant until they manifest in the adult, statistics are indeterminate. This paper posits that childhood/adolescent-onset or susceptibility to onset is total. Claims or 'evidence' that onsets occur later in life do not impact the argument that susceptibility to onset originates during childhood/adolescence. 

Anything that interferes with a child's social development is detrimental to adolescent and adult emotional health. Childhood/adolescent exploitation or abuse is a generic term to describe a broad spectrum of experiences that interfere with their optimal physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development.[viii] Any number of situations or events can trigger the susceptibility to onset; it could be hereditary, environmental, or some traumatic experience.[ix] Inheritability is rare and susceptible to other factors, and traumatic experience is environmental.

Despite the implication of intentionality in the words' abuse.' and 'exploitation,' much can be perceptual. A toddler who senses abandonment when a parent is preoccupied could develop emotional issues[x] Onset or susceptibility to onset should never be considered the child/adolescent's fault and may be no one's fault.

Undoubtedly, this sociological model conflicts with moral models that claim, "mental illness is onset controllable, and persons with mental illness are to blame for their symptoms," [xi] or that mental illness is God's punishment for sin or amoral behavior.  

The cumulative evidence that childhood and adolescent occasions and events are the primary causal factor in lifetime emotional instability has been well-established. This exploitation interferes with the optimal physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development of the child. Most importantly, it affects our self-esteem, which administrates all our positive self-qualities (self-respect, -reliance, -compassion, -worth, and so on). These are the intangible qualities that make up our character, our goodness, our spirit. Our self-esteem is reactive to―and, in turn, impacts―our body, mind, and emotions. They all work together in concert. If one is affected, all are affected. 

Again, it is crucial to recognize the adolescent/child is not responsible for the disorder. Quite possibly, no one is at fault. Playing the blame game only distracts from the solution. The critical question is, what are we going to do about it?

 References

[i] Bertolote, J. (2008). The roots of the concept of mental health. World Psychiatry, 7(2): 113-116 (2008). doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2008.tb00172.x; Farreras, I. G. (2020). History of mental illness. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. http://noba.to/65w3s7ex

[ii] McLeod, S. (2018). The Medical Model. (Online.) Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/medical-model.html

[iii] APA. (2020). Neurosis. (Online definition.) Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.  https://dictionary.apa.org/neurosis  Accessed 05 April 2020.

[iv] Salzer, M. S., Brusilovskiy, E., & Townley, G. (2018). National Estimates of Recovery-Remission from Serious Mental Illness. Psychiatric Services, 69(5) 523-528 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201700401; SAMSHA. (2017).  2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  (Rockville, MD: SAMHSA. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml#:~:text=Serious%20 mental%20illness%20(SMI)%20is,or%20more%20major%20life%20activities.

[v] Mayer, C.-H., & May, M. (2019). The Positive Psychology Movement. PP1.0 and PP2.0. In C-H Mayer and Z. Kőváry (Eds.), New Trends in Psychobiography (pp. 155-172). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-916953-4_9.

[vi] Mullen, R.F. (2018). ‘Mental’ Disorders. ReChanneling.org. http://www.rechanneling.org/page-12.html  

[vii] Baron, M., Gruen, R., Asnis, l., Kane, J. (1983). Age-of-onset in schizophrenia and schizotypal disorders. Clinical and genetic implications. Neuropsychobiology,10(4):199-204 (1983). doi:10.1159/000118011; Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin,  R., Merikangas,  K. R., & Walters, E. E. (2005). Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry; 62(6):593–602 (2005). doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593; Jones, P. (2013). Adult mental health disorders and their age at onset. British Journal of Psychiatry, 202(S54), S5-S10. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.112.119164

[viii] Steele, B.F. (1995). The Psychology of Child Abuse. Family Advocate, 17 (3). Washington, DC: American Bar Association.

[ix] Mayoclinic. (2019). Mental Illness. (Online.) Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/symptoms-causes/syc-20374968; NIH. (2019). Child and Adolescent Mental Health. (Online.) National Institute of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/child-and-adolescent-mental-health/index.shtml

[x] Lancer, D. (2019). What is Self-Esteem? (Online.) PsychCentral. https://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-self-esteem/  Accessed 19 November 2019.

[xi] Corrigan, P. (2006). Mental Health Stigma as Social Attribution: Implications for Research Methods and Attitude Change. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice, 7(1), 48-67 (2006). Doi:10.1093/clipsy.7.1.48.