Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction: Are We Out of Our Minds?
- 1. Growing up a Girl
- 2. Family Life
- 3. The Art of Starvation
- 4. The Costs of Fertility
- 5. Women’s Work
- 6. Unheard, Ignored, Entrapped?
- 7. Where Gender, Sex and Mental Health Collide
- 8. Survivors of Male Violence
- 9. Locked Away
- 10. Borderline
- 11. Failed by Mental Health Care
- 12. Written Off Too Soon
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Index
6. - Unheard, Ignored, Entrapped?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 October 2024
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction: Are We Out of Our Minds?
- 1. Growing up a Girl
- 2. Family Life
- 3. The Art of Starvation
- 4. The Costs of Fertility
- 5. Women’s Work
- 6. Unheard, Ignored, Entrapped?
- 7. Where Gender, Sex and Mental Health Collide
- 8. Survivors of Male Violence
- 9. Locked Away
- 10. Borderline
- 11. Failed by Mental Health Care
- 12. Written Off Too Soon
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Women from Black, South Asian and other ethnic minority groups experience gendered racism. Gender and race intersect in such a way that Black and ethnic minoritised women are not only sometimes afraid of seeking help from mental care, but also are invisible to services and their needs are ignored. There has been a significant tension in feminism between respecting culture and faith and attention to women’s human rights (cultural relativism). However, when women feel entrapped within their families and culture and are subject to forced marriage, domestic violence or FGM, resulting in major mental health problems and suicide, we cannot condone abuse and violence. Black women’s mental health and wellbeing is an important focus for Black feminism, which was largely excluded from second-wave feminism. Concepts of ‘mental illness’ do not always fit easily with personal healing that focuses on emotional and spiritual growth and overcoming oppression. Cultural humility is essential and its crucial for services to collaborate with NGOs that are trusted by the women in communities and run by them. As women we must call out discrimination and racism and challenge it.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Out of Her MindHow We Are Failing Women's Mental Health and What Must Change, pp. 109 - 130Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024