Loneliness

I read the “The Lethality of loneliness” by Judith Shulevitz. I thought it was a really interesting article because I know that loneliness is really bad for you. However, it was interesting to see how loneliness could cause not only mental problems but also physical problems. This is due to humans being pack animals, as the article mentioned. Caciappo a scientist tested this by sorting 3 groups of college freshman based on loneliness he found that:

              As expected, he found the students with bodily symptoms of distress (poor sleep, high cortisol) were not the ones with too few acquaintances, but the ones who were unhappy about not having made close friends. These students also had higher than normal vascular resistance, which is caused by the arteries narrowing as their tissue becomes inflamed. High vascular resistance contributes to high blood pressure; it makes the heart work harder to pump blood and wears out the blood vessels. If it goes on for a long time, it can morph into heart disease. (Shulevitz)

It’s just really cool to see something that has been suspected for a long time, that loneliness is detrimental to health, and to see through science how deadly it can prove for a person to feel lonely.

            I also found it interesting that rejection lights up the same receptors that physical pain does. So emotional pain can be just as bad as physical pain. It’s just really interesting how much, it turns out that humans crave to be close to other humans and crave acceptance. It was really interesting to learn about the effect of loneliness, because it seems that it would be so unlikely that something like loneliness can have such a big effect on the human body.  It was even more intriguing to find out that loneliness can have a genetic factor. I had always assumed that it was just a social factor, like your home life that effected how lonely a person felt.

Citation

Shulevitz, Judith. "The Lethality of Loneliness." New Republic. New Republic, n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.

Mental Illness and Mass Shootings

In, “It’s not about mental illness: The big lie that always follows mass shootings by white males” by Arthur Chu it is mentioned how often we throw on the word mental illness every time a white man does a mass shooting.  As he writes, “ The real issue is mental illness” is a goddamn cop-out. I almost never hear it from actual mental health professionals, or advocates working in the mental health” (Chu).

            I agree , this excuse is just over used, we are not calling what these “ mentally ill” white men what they are terrorists. We are so quick to call any person of color who kills a lot of people a terrorist, as Chu him self points out:

              But it’s also bullshit when used to discredit the perpetrators of crimes. Mass murderers frequently aren’t particularly shy about the motives behind what they do — the nature of the crime they commit is attention-seeking, is an attempt to get news coverage for their cause, to use one local atrocity to create fear within an entire population. (According to the dictionary, by the way, this is called “terrorism,” but we only ever seem to use that word for the actions of a certain kind — by which I mean a certain color — of mass killer (Chu).

                        I also like the fact that he mentions that calling these terrorists mentally ill does disservice to the mentally ill community, painting them as dangerous bulbs ready to blow, as he points out it’s not considered ok to have the government have a national registry of all weapons because it impedes rights and gives to government tyrannical power, but having a national registry of mentally ill people isn’t a violation of those same rights.

                              I really like that this article pointed out how much the word mentally ill thrown around because we are just reluctant to call these mass shootings what they are, which is that they are acts of terrorism, because it means we have to deal with the fact, that terrorists aren’t just foreign men of color and the “other, but also exist in our normal society. 

                             

 works cited

Chu, Arthur. "It’s Not about Mental Illness: The Big Lie That Always Follows Mass Shootings by White Males." Salon com RSS. Nylon, n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.

 

BIID

I believe that to treat BIID the first course of action should be trying medication and therapy and if that doesn’t work than amputation should be considered. In the article Dr. First mentioned, “ The largest goal is to figure out the treatment for the people who have it… clearly, surgery has helped some people more than anything else. That’s a fact.”( Cutting Desire)  If something is helping someone feel better , why not let them do it, but even that is fraught with issues, because it insulting to the disabled community which did not choose to have the disability and maybe wouldn’t choose I if given the choice.

Furthermore, the article also mentions that from brain scans it was found that. “ They have found some variation in the right parietal lobe, the area of the brain responsible for creating a “map”… the image of where one’s body exists in space” and that “ So, for a leg, for example , they can feel it’s there but it doesn’t feel like it should be there.” ( Cutting Desire) So there seems to be a legitimate scientific reason behind this. I feel like it is something as many with BIID claim, should be part of the DMS. People with this seemingly terrifying disorder deserve recognition and help just like anyone else with any other disorder. This isn’t a one-off person claiming this. There are many who claim to have this disorder, and they seem to be suffering very much and have taken dangerous routes such as the, “ one patient [who]… froze his leg off with dry ice [and]… a man traveled to Mexico and paid 1,000 dollars for an illegal amputation, only to die of gangrene.” (Cutting Desire) This is all the making of a very serious disorder and if these people are being forced to do this, than it is more ethical to provide the amputations medically, it will at the very least save lives. I don’t see what the fact that mostly middle-class men have anything to do with anything really. Some disorders are just more common in one gender than another; For example, Depression has a higher rate in women. Not to mention the fact it also depends on where they took the demographics, like do they have a large enough data pool to make this assumption.

Personally, I feel like it is insensitive to war veterans who had no choice but to get an amputation, and considering the fact how hard life gets after an amputation it seems like a decision that one really should not make. But I also feel sympathy because these people really seem to be unhappy with their bodies and everyone deserves to feel content with the body they have. So I’m split, I believe it is unfair to people who had no choice to get amputation and unfair to the people who just want to be comfortable in their body. The issue is a sea of gray area, and I’m not really sure which group’s pain outweighs the others.

My Rough Draft

Shivani Avasthi

Greenlee

English 201

1/10/16

            Health is described as the balance of the self, as having all of your biological needs met first and then mental. Mental health, or the way one experiences the self, is crucial in whether one can be described as a healthy person. The bodies discussed challenge the idea that the social acceptance of gender, femininity, and perfection, which represents Patrick Bateman, is good health; furthermore, bodies such as Roxanne Edwards demonstrate how individuals can innovate ideas about gender, mental health, femininity, and perfection thus challenging the status quo.

            Patrick Bateman from the movie American Psycho directed by Herron is a prime example of perfect physical health not equating to good mental and overall health. One of the first scenes on the movie in Bateman talking to a bunch of his friends and reprimanding them when they start to say anti-sematic slurs, this contrasts when he goes to the nightclub with his friends at the club and getting frustrated at the waitress he asserts, “ You’re a fucking ugly bitch. I want to stab you to death and play around with your blood.” ( Herron) Interestingly this insight into how messed up his mental health is done in a very noisy club, a space where his mental health is hidden by the events going around him. This demonstrates that even though he may smile and look charming how easily bad mental health can be hidden and a person can be perceived as healthy. Furthermore, this is the first instance in Bateman’s character that shows that acceptable physical appearance is not a sign of a person in good health.

            Bateman is the perfect example of how wanting to achieve perceived normalcy and perfection is harmful to a person’s mental health. For example he goes through a intense morning routine, “ [using ] a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub and on the face an exfoliating  gel scrub” ( Herrod). Additionally, later on when Evelyn learns he hates his job and asks, “ Why don’t you just quit” he replies, “ Because I want to fit in” ( Herrod). These are just a few examples of how much trouble he goes through to come across as normal. This is his coping mechanism for feeling crazy, and knowing he is not “ normal”. He is the perfect metaphor for people ignoring and not embracing their differences and ending up with poor mental health as a result. Instead of addressing his problems and accepting who he is, he goes overboard trying to appear normal and healthy- even murdering people who one-up him on being physically perfect, not saying that cold-blooded murder is ok, but it is a metaphor for how not embracing your true self means that your overall health is not good even if the outside exterior is “perfect”. ( Herrod)

            Furthermore, society ignoring that perfect physical health does not mean good overall health is played brilliantly at the end of the movie, when Bateman’s lawyer does not believe that Bateman committed all those murders because he is “ good old Bateman” who is always put together and charming. The lawyer ignores that Bateman is telling the truth, because Bateman has always yearned for and presented perfection and presented himself par to the status quo. The character of the lawyer shows how normal people are willing to overlook things they know for truth because they refuse to acknowledge how much mental health plays into good health. This becomes the catalyst for Bateman realizing this exact same thing as he remarks, “  My punishment continues to allude me and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself” ( Herrod). This is the moment he realizes how deep he has gone trying to show perfection and trying to be normal, that now even when he wants to reveal himself he can’t. This serves as a warning to the audience that a person has to accept themselves the way their mental health works or end up very broken and miserable and very unhealthy.

            In stark contrast, is Roxanne Edwards in the radio interview “ Roxanne Edwards is Superhuman” by S. Adrian Massey.  She actively goes against what the status quo for femininity is and actively challenges traditional gender roles as she boldly declares, “ Femininity isn’t necessarily your breasts” and that, “ Most women are very strong, but they keep that shit to themselves”. This shows she refuses to clog up her mentality with the status quo that there’s only one “right” way to be feminine. She is taking the physical appearance out of it and uplifting other women instead of looking down on them. She is helping spread the healthy idea that femininity and women’s strength is very diverse and encouraging women that they should accept the way that they themselves define these terms is valid and to accept themselves instead of pushing it away, in a short term doing exactly the opposite of Bateman, and being much more healthy and happier as a result, even though her body does not meet the socially accepted definition of a healthy body. ( Massey)

            She is even challenging the socially accepted idea that femininity is restricted to one gender as she states:

I know some very unique looking women, all across the spectrum, and when I say unique looking women I mean unique women period. Drag queens, transvestites, body builders, you name it, the whole gamut and they are quite elegant and just amazingly feminine without having to have not one breast amongst them.

Furthermore, she is challenging the very restrictive social norm that expression of femininity is only restricted to one gender and rejecting it. One might think that she gets her idea of femininity from weird places but this just shows how open her idea of expression of gender and femininity is. It is drastically different from what the general public assumes to be feminine. She believes she can be completely ripped and still be feminine, that anyone can be no matter the gender a person identifies as, biological build does not and should not restrict how a person chooses to represent themselves. She is projecting the idea that a person accepting the way their brain processes concepts such as femininity and gender is a representation of a healthy person even though it goes against the status quo.

A Body such as Patrick Bateman represents how having a perfect body does not mean that a person is healthy; in contrast, Roxanne shows that the way to be healthy is to go against social norms and make your own definition of “perfection”, and achieve healthiness that way even if it might go against what society physically deems to be so.

Roxanne treats her body with a lot more kindness than I do as a college student. She makes sure it gets all the nutrients it needs. She also has a balanced diet, she knows it’s ok to have McDonalds as long as it is in moderation. What I really connected to in this interview was Roxanne's view of femininity she said, " Femininity isn't just about your breasts". This was honestly such a refreshing view on what femininity is, because in the media we always see women pitted against each other and who looks "better". I loved that she was so positive about other women she didn't tear them down and acknowledged that there are very different ways to be a woman and biological build has nothing to do with it. She even pointed out the hypocrisy of body building competitions when she said they expect a “ woman who has honestly all this muscle to still have her breasts and judge her against somebody else who’s got an breast implant and say that you aren’t feminine enough.”

            She constantly describes perfect femininity and how people judge her body type, and how it doesn’t exist, this relates back to what we talked about in class. In class we discussed that women “needed” to have that hourglass figure and boobs to be considered feminine and “ perfect”. Roxanne actively challenges this and when the host asks if she thinks she’s more perfect or “superhuman” tan other women the answer is a definite no. She doesn’t feel the need to tear down other women. She is in fact; very supportive of every woman whether she was born women biologically or not. She doesn’t feel the need to slut shame women and has a attitude of if you accept me than I’ll accept you. She even makes it clear that she is doing all these interviews to let women know that their idea of perfection and femininity is just as valid as hers and they should be themselves and strive to be a better version of them.

            In talking about race she acknowledges that what she has faced discrimination in is that if another lighter woman the same physique as her is in a competition she will be chosen to represent female bodybuilding, because she appeals to the masses. Her response to that is the ever positive response of I’ll do body building anyways because she’s not going to let anything get in the way of what she wants. She also notes certain types of bodybuilding are more acceptable for women such as toning and that your femininity does get questioned if you do something more extreme.

            Overall, I think her way of thinking is a positive step towards women being kinder towards each other and learning to accept that femininity is not just a couple of set characteristics but how every woman experiences it is just as valid as how another woman experiences it. I just think she’s a positive person towards other women in general.