Neoma
Neoma's JournalA lot of us are in the closet about our illness.
That's a harsh reality that no one really dares to talk about. There are reasons for it, and it can but doesn't always relate to stereotypes. The social stigma attached that damages so many peoples lives.
Reason #1 You know that as well as I do. You say something about it, and you instantly get that...look. Sometimes it varies. Surprise, worry, or the 'get away from me' gesture. They treat you differently. Not 100% of the time, but they do. Then you just get sick to your stomach about it, and just stop saying it to people altogether. It's too hurtful to get that look.
Reason #2 is because you're denying your own illness. You don't want to be one of them. You think you're perfectly fine. "Look, I'm smiling! Leave me alone!" You really don't want to take pills because you're afraid of what they'll do to your brain. Plus, only crazy people take pills. "I haven't been crazy thus far, and I'm not starting now!" You think to yourself. You deny your own illness, and you become even sicker.
Reason #3 is the cruelest one of all. Most of you know exactly what I'm talking about, and that's the sad part of this. Someone finds out this information, and uses it against you in the worst possible way that they can. Blackmail, threats to commit you, using the information to emotionally abuse you, using the information to shun you from your community, family members using the information to control what happens to you medically (or worse), using that information to smear your name, or maybe even to mess with your pills. There are too many reasons why people do not stand up for themselves to say that they have this or that mental illness. Also, it doesn't help that too many people with mental illness are all ready kicked down to the ground and stomped on emotionally. A lot of us are defenseless, pure and simple.
I do not hide, and anyone that posts in this group doesn't either. Are we crazy? Are we insane? (pun intended) Of course you need to hide it! There's too much risk, too much going against you! Well... I want to help foster a greater understanding and acceptance of what mental illness is. Yep, that about covers it. That reason pushes aside everything else. I wish more could say the same.
Breathe.
If someone has a vendetta on us, so be it, our voices are still here and loud. Although disconcerting and wrong, it's a simple website flaw. Let's take a step back from all this for a moment.
Now, I don't nessicarily want answers to this thread due to all the hot blood going around, so this is why I'm locking it. It'd be a lot better if you just private message me instead.
Now with that said, let me state that this feud is ridiculous. We're both in favor of equal rights and calling each other names isn't right. We need to straighten this out before we each say stupider things.
Now let me say this loud and clear. Anyone can be a feminist, and anyone can use patriarchy against women. Every group of people has people who are bullies. If we are judging purely by gender or rather in this case, gender changing, we are not treating people by their character and we are doing a huge disservice to ourselves. I've said my piece, and counted to three.
I got a splinter on my smart phone thumb.
Why do I keep using my thumb? Ow, ow, ow. 
Mental illness in women.
I've been told that more women than men end up in psychward. Until of course, the economy crashes and men get particularly stressed over not having a job, house, car, etc. And that women remember more emotional turmoils in their lives than men. I tested this on my brother... You know, totally scientifically, to see if he'd remember certain horrible events. He did not remember... But then, he could just have a poor memory.
The people who said this worked in psychward, so I'm not sure if that's true. It looks to be true by being there myself 6 times (before I was diagnosed with bipolar, and after they gave me a pill that made my bipolar 10 times worse, those bastards) and it kind of seems to be true. It seemed to be a 5 men to 10-15 women ratio.
So, maybe this is just me, but sexism might have an intsy bitsy part in that. Being abused emotionally, religiously put down, raped, and well... the results of wife beaters. (Take note, if you feel like going homicidal on someones ass, they let you cool down in psychward.)
I've also known someone who has been threatened to be put in psychward for having her toe out of line. (Being an independent woman who's atheist.) As you can imagine, it's a serious threat. You only need(ed?) two people to commit someone to psychward. And this wasn't the worst story I've ever heard when it comes to controlling women by either threatening to make her look to be crazy or making her unstable. All they have to do with women is, "cowboy them up" after all.
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Gender: FemaleMember since: Sun Mar 7, 2004, 11:02 PM
Number of posts: 10,039
