![]() ![]() I further argue that this differential relation stems from the linkage between gender and attributions of agency and rationality which are tied to issues of power. I argue that at the level of official constructions the relation between gender and categories of mental disorder is indirect rather than direct, and stems from the differential relation of constructs of disorder to gendered behaviour. Employing a framework in which I distinguish official constructions of mental disorder, the delineation of normal cases and the process of case identification, I contend that gender is embedded in constructs of mental disorder. I then use her argument as the foundation for a detailed consideration of whether, and the mechanisms through which, gender is embedded in constructs of mental disorder. ![]() In order to explore these claims further, I want to begin by outlining Chesler’s analysis of the way the concept of mental disorder is constituted in relation to gender. A range of feminist writers of different theoretical persuasions have followed Phyllis Chesler’s influential study Women and Madness (1972) in suggesting that gender is embedded in the very construction of concepts of madness and mental disorder. ![]()
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