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Scholars@Hallwalls – Susan Cahn
September 16, 2016 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
On September 16th, historian Susan Cahn opens our series with her talk titled “‘Girls Invade, Shrinks in Trauma’: Feminism and the Politics of Psychiatric Diagnosis, 1970-1990.” By examining the struggle between second-wave feminists and the psychiatric establishment, Cahn investigates the history and politics of medical diagnoses. She looks at the American Psychiatric Association’s revision of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as a point of gendered conflict, examining in particular the construction of Borderline Personality Disorder. Was it coincidental that women’s anger and sexual desire—claimed proudly by feminists—became key symptoms of illness in “borderline” women?