There is one passage that I cannot stop reading over and over again out of Emilie Autumn's
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls
The entire book has a sarcastic tone, but sarcasm is used as a mirror to be held up to reality and oh...
I'll just quote her already so you can see what I mean.
This comes out of a fictional letter from a fictional asylum in the Victorian age, but the things in which she talks about are all based off of historical records of the many horrid things that went on in these asylums, where often times, the only prisoners were women.
"Besides falsehood and treachery, there are reasons enough why any female may be thought insane by the medical community, her family, and society in general. Opposing an arranged marriage, for example, expressing ambivalence towards motherhood, being melancholy after giving birth (or melancholy at all), choosing to follow a differing religious persuasion from her family or husband, being too high-spirited, too low-spirited, mildly disagreeable or simply 'moody', caught exploring her own body, the body of a man who is not her husband, or, God forbid, the body of another girl...any behaviour thought aberrant by the impossibly narrow standards or our day is attributed to the inherent weakness and waywardness of the female gender. But, sisters, never fear! There are many methods by which female 'insanity' can be treated. For example: A girl who engages in intimate relations before she is married, even if such relations are entirely against her will, is branded 'promiscuous' and is thus insane (insanity being the direct cause of promiscuity in women), and yet, a common treatment performed on our girls suffering from fits of what the good [doctors] have termed 'hysterics' is, in fact, forced intercourse, or, as we like to call it, rape. Is there not some irony in this? It is thought that the supposed hysteria emanates from the girl's reproductive organs having nothing useful to do, and, by putting these idle organs to good use, the problem shall be solved and the lady restored to sanity, which would seem perfectly rational
The entire book has a sarcastic tone, but sarcasm is used as a mirror to be held up to reality and oh...
I'll just quote her already so you can see what I mean.
This comes out of a fictional letter from a fictional asylum in the Victorian age, but the things in which she talks about are all based off of historical records of the many horrid things that went on in these asylums, where often times, the only prisoners were women.
"Besides falsehood and treachery, there are reasons enough why any female may be thought insane by the medical community, her family, and society in general. Opposing an arranged marriage, for example, expressing ambivalence towards motherhood, being melancholy after giving birth (or melancholy at all), choosing to follow a differing religious persuasion from her family or husband, being too high-spirited, too low-spirited, mildly disagreeable or simply 'moody', caught exploring her own body, the body of a man who is not her husband, or, God forbid, the body of another girl...any behaviour thought aberrant by the impossibly narrow standards or our day is attributed to the inherent weakness and waywardness of the female gender. But, sisters, never fear! There are many methods by which female 'insanity' can be treated. For example: A girl who engages in intimate relations before she is married, even if such relations are entirely against her will, is branded 'promiscuous' and is thus insane (insanity being the direct cause of promiscuity in women), and yet, a common treatment performed on our girls suffering from fits of what the good [doctors] have termed 'hysterics' is, in fact, forced intercourse, or, as we like to call it, rape. Is there not some irony in this? It is thought that the supposed hysteria emanates from the girl's reproductive organs having nothing useful to do, and, by putting these idle organs to good use, the problem shall be solved and the lady restored to sanity, which would seem perfectly rational
if it were not so utterly absurd."
(page 127)
Autumn's point in all this is, how far have we REALLY come since the Victorian era.
(page 127)
Autumn's point in all this is, how far have we REALLY come since the Victorian era.
Yes, the examples she gives are strong, and thought of as being rather extreme compared to what goes on today.
But if you look closer, the underlying ideas have not changed.
"...any behaviour thought aberrant by the impossibly narrow standards or our day..."
This is a sarcastic stab at the modern standards given to us by society.
Before this statements she gives a list of acts that were looked down upon in the Victorian age,
but aren't most, if not all, of those things STILL looked down upon by the majority of society today?
"caught exploring her own body"
I know a few girls who have gotten beat for this simple act in their youth, namely because their families had a strong religious background and decided to beat the sin out of them.
"caught exploring the body of another girl"
I know, many more still, (including myself) who have been chastised, put down, bullied, and cast out by their friends, families, and lovers.
What I find in California, is that there is this mindset that these things don't exist anymore (being out casted for being a lesbian) which is a great reflection on our state's mentality (woooo!) Most of us, just don't care.
But most of America, sadly does. And there are Lesbians who are beaten, killed, and driven to suicide because of this.
Also, I must mention, there are many camps that exist where homosexuals are placed so that they may
"straightafied"
Am I the only one who is horrified by this notion?
"too high-spirited . . . too low-spirited"
Did you know that out of all the people who take medication for depression, bipolar disorder, etc,
the majority are women?
Not only that, but the majority are women who are not of legal age yet, and are forced onto drugs by their parents?
So yes, being different from your peers, or family, or lover, is just enough to be branded as crazy enough to be put on drugs against your will. Even if what you are feeling (sad, happy, angry, depressed) are all perfectly NORMAL emotions. And in connection to that, has anyone ever seen you be moody, or upset, and then they have the nerve to ask you
is it your time of the month?
People still have this notion in their minds that women are automatically crazy because their sex organs drive them to crazy.
Now combine, is it your time of the month? with, did you take your pills today?
and perfection! You have a double wammy against your emotions, emotions that may have logical, legitimate reasons, emotions that are automatically taken for granted, because it must, MUST, be your hormones making you act this way.
And now on to the bit about rape.
Did you know that a girl is raped in the United States about every two and a half minutes?
And that just goes for all the ones that are reported, which, more than half probably aren't.
What is the usual excuse given?
She was asking for it, someone told me she was easy, she did him, him and him, so she had to do meand believe it or not, I have heard all of these excuses given many times.
There seems to be this thing called, "the rumor effect", in which, if a girl is thought to be promiscuous, then men automatically see her as a target only for sexual activities.
This "promise of promiscuity" seems to be what many guys are after, even if what "promiscuity" translates to is
a fucking history of sexual abuse.
One of my closest friends was thought of as a slut by her own family. Why? because she was raped at 13, she went to one of her only friends, who started spreading rumors about her around the school, and boys ended up sneaking to her window, cat-calling her from the outside, and leaving condoms all over the families yard to make fun of her.
Horrible? Absolutely. Limited to Victorian era where women were thought of as nothing more than property?
Unfortunately not.
I just thought I would post this in order to get people to think a bit.
I know I hadn't seen the relations to today's society in that paragraph the first time I had read it,
but then I read it again,
and again,
and again,
and once more,
and it wasn't until Emilie Autumn had made such a sarcastic stab at the times we live in by writing from the point of view of a fictional character, sentenced to live in an asylum in the Victorian era under these circumstances for attempting suicide,
(which was common back then)
that I realized it wasn't just a story, the entire fictional part of the book is a metaphor for all the things that have happened to her, and all the things she has seen happen
and I wasn't able to put my finger on why this all seemed so damn familiar until the second time reading it.
"...any behaviour thought aberrant by the impossibly narrow standards or our day..."
This is a sarcastic stab at the modern standards given to us by society.
Before this statements she gives a list of acts that were looked down upon in the Victorian age,
but aren't most, if not all, of those things STILL looked down upon by the majority of society today?
"caught exploring her own body"
I know a few girls who have gotten beat for this simple act in their youth, namely because their families had a strong religious background and decided to beat the sin out of them.
"caught exploring the body of another girl"
I know, many more still, (including myself) who have been chastised, put down, bullied, and cast out by their friends, families, and lovers.
What I find in California, is that there is this mindset that these things don't exist anymore (being out casted for being a lesbian) which is a great reflection on our state's mentality (woooo!) Most of us, just don't care.
But most of America, sadly does. And there are Lesbians who are beaten, killed, and driven to suicide because of this.
Also, I must mention, there are many camps that exist where homosexuals are placed so that they may
"straightafied"
Am I the only one who is horrified by this notion?
"too high-spirited . . . too low-spirited"
Did you know that out of all the people who take medication for depression, bipolar disorder, etc,
the majority are women?
Not only that, but the majority are women who are not of legal age yet, and are forced onto drugs by their parents?
So yes, being different from your peers, or family, or lover, is just enough to be branded as crazy enough to be put on drugs against your will. Even if what you are feeling (sad, happy, angry, depressed) are all perfectly NORMAL emotions. And in connection to that, has anyone ever seen you be moody, or upset, and then they have the nerve to ask you
is it your time of the month?
People still have this notion in their minds that women are automatically crazy because their sex organs drive them to crazy.
Now combine, is it your time of the month? with, did you take your pills today?
and perfection! You have a double wammy against your emotions, emotions that may have logical, legitimate reasons, emotions that are automatically taken for granted, because it must, MUST, be your hormones making you act this way.
And now on to the bit about rape.
Did you know that a girl is raped in the United States about every two and a half minutes?
And that just goes for all the ones that are reported, which, more than half probably aren't.
What is the usual excuse given?
She was asking for it, someone told me she was easy, she did him, him and him, so she had to do meand believe it or not, I have heard all of these excuses given many times.
There seems to be this thing called, "the rumor effect", in which, if a girl is thought to be promiscuous, then men automatically see her as a target only for sexual activities.
This "promise of promiscuity" seems to be what many guys are after, even if what "promiscuity" translates to is
a fucking history of sexual abuse.
One of my closest friends was thought of as a slut by her own family. Why? because she was raped at 13, she went to one of her only friends, who started spreading rumors about her around the school, and boys ended up sneaking to her window, cat-calling her from the outside, and leaving condoms all over the families yard to make fun of her.
Horrible? Absolutely. Limited to Victorian era where women were thought of as nothing more than property?
Unfortunately not.
I just thought I would post this in order to get people to think a bit.
I know I hadn't seen the relations to today's society in that paragraph the first time I had read it,
but then I read it again,
and again,
and again,
and once more,
and it wasn't until Emilie Autumn had made such a sarcastic stab at the times we live in by writing from the point of view of a fictional character, sentenced to live in an asylum in the Victorian era under these circumstances for attempting suicide,
(which was common back then)
that I realized it wasn't just a story, the entire fictional part of the book is a metaphor for all the things that have happened to her, and all the things she has seen happen
and I wasn't able to put my finger on why this all seemed so damn familiar until the second time reading it.
Our society IS The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls.
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