Bibliograph

Hysterical, a memoir, Elissa Bassist

Type

Label

Hysterical, a memoir, Elissa Bassist

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references

resource.biographical

autobiography

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Hysterical

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Elissa Bassist

Sub title

a memoir

Summary

Between 2016 and 2018, Elissa Bassist saw over twenty medical professionals for a variety of mysterious ailments. An acupuncturist suggested some of her physical pain could be caged fury finding expression, and that treating her voice would treat the problem. It did. Here, Bassist explains how girls and women internalize and perpetuate directives about their voice, making it hard to emote or "just speak up" and "burn down the patriarchy." Today's mind-body doctors theorize that some physical pain is, in fact, repressed emotional pain finding expression, that emotions pile up in the unconscious, going unarticulated until they hit max capacity and tell the brain to create physical symptoms. When the mind denies itself language, it gives the body pain. If you don't share your story, your pain will tell it for you. Bassist presents a primer on new ways to think about a woman's voice, where it's being squashed and where it needs amplification.

Table Of Contents

Medical history -- Hysterical woman -- Crazy psycho bitch -- Who gets to speak and why -- Girls versus boys in conversation -- Why I didn't say no -- Emperors without clothes -- Must-see dead-girl TV -- STFU -- Silence and noise -- Hysteria reboot -- Speak again -- Reclaiming women's voices

Classification