There’s an unmissable irony in the way feminists today are rushing to defend mothers who kill their own children.
In doing so, they have effectively revived the old idea of female hysteria. Hysteria was once a widespread diagnosis, rooted in the belief that women were uniquely prone to mental and behavioural disorders because of their biology.
The term dates back to Ancient Greece, from hystera, meaning “womb”. Hippocrates and Plato even believed the womb could wander through a woman’s body, producing various physical and mental symptoms.
Modern medicine abandoned hysteria as a legitimate diagnosis long ago. Yet when a woman commits an unspeakable act today, we increasingly hear a remarkably familiar argument: her hormones, pregnancy, childbirth, mental state or female biology somehow explain, or even excuse, her irrational behaviour.
The irony is hard to miss here. In their attempt to defend women, they are resurrecting what feminists have long argued is one of history’s most patronising stereotypes about women.
