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| title | slug | defined | speech | flag | reading | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hysterical | hysterical | true | adjective |
|
|
feeling or showing uncontrollable outburst of emotion; casually: very funny
Issues
Hysteria originates from the Greek word hysterikos or "of the womb." The Greeks believed that hysteria was something that moved through a woman's body and caused ailments.
Hysteria was once an official medical condition that was primarily diagnosed in women. (It has since been disbanded into other disorders, such as conversion and disassociative disorders.) So, as medical professionals believed men did not have uteruses*, medical professionals would not diagnose men with hysteria (even though they were experiencing the same symptoms of conversion disorder).
*Editor's Note: This concept that men cannot have uteruses is reflective of the medical context, not the belief of the editor.
Impact
Gender-codified and sexist language perpetuates harmful stereotypes that reinforce patriarchical ideas. In the case of hysteria, it perpetuates the false stereotype of women as being unreasonable, irrational, and not in control of their emotions. Harmful stereotypes can cause women to not be believed, to have their experiences invalidated, and be tone-policed.
Defining gender by sexual organs can also perpetuate transphobic and anti-trans definitions, where gender is falsely defined by sexual organs.
Medical conditions believed to be defined by sex and gender are reductive and can lead to misdiagnosis.
Alt Words
If intending funny connotation, try: funny; hilarious; comedic.
If intending panic connotation, try: panicked, petrified, startled.