When first published in 1972 this book was the first to address critical questions about women and mental health. Combining interviews with patients with an analysis of women's roles in history, society and myth, Chesler concludes that there is a terrible double standard when it comes to mental health. In this new edition, she addresses many of the most relevant issues to women and mental health today, including eating disorders, social acceptance of antidepressants, addictions, sexuality, postpartum depression and more.
The contributions address current debates about gender, power, identity and culture and concerns about boys’ and girls’ schooling, gender achievement patterns, the boys’ education debate, and gender relationships in the curriculum, the classroom and youth cultures.
The authors address questions such as: What is the meaning of gender in an African context? Why does gender usually connote women? Why has gender taken hold in Africa when feminism hasn’t? Is gender yet another Western construct that has been applied to Africa? They show gender as an applied rather than theoretical tool and discuss themes such as the performance of sexuality, lesbianism, women’s political mobilization, the work of gendered NGOs, and the role of masculinity in a gendered world.