A-Infos (en) Italy, Sicilia Libertaria #469 - GENDER STEREOTYPES. - Mental Health and Motherhood (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Another woman has died. This time, not by a man's hand, but by her own 
decision, tragically taking her children with her. Anna Democrito, 46, 
threw herself from the third floor clutching a rosary after throwing 
away her three children, the youngest of whom was just 4 months old. She 
and her two younger children died, while her eldest, 6-year-old 
daughter, is in intensive care in serious condition. ---- The tragedy 
that occurred in Catanzaro last April has sparked a public debate, as 
usual, impoverished and pallid, centered on facile and insignificant 
polarizations. From the "unnatural mother" label the deceased received 
from right-wing respectability, which always takes every opportunity to 
rigidly define the parameters of motherhood and femininity and finds 
every justification in a tragedy like this to thunder to the "pink" 
masses about proper behavior, to the progressive defenses of a 
postpartum depression that was effectively undiagnosed.

But the icing on the cake, this time too, was the Church, which usually 
ferociously attacks these acts, being the number one enemy of suicide 
and even more so of maternal filicide, yet it was the most reasonable 
voice  Brasil, Bento Goncalves/RS, OSL:  it's horrifying to write this 
Brasil, Bento Goncalves/RS, OSL:  of all. Undoubtedly touched by the 
presence of a rosary at the crime scene, confirming that the woman's 
last thought was one of redemption, but even more compelled by 
Democritus's discreet activism in the parish, she spoke of "invisible 
pain," emphasizing the true centrality of the issue, a sign of a wisdom 
that, not being disinterested, loses its value, but which offers us the 
opportunity for alternative reflection. The icing on the cake, however, 
is the fact that in bringing up interesting content, she clearly had to 
narrate a psychological profile entirely centered on the good woman of 
faith and kind daughter of God, eliminating herself, as always, from the 
roster of authoritative voices in a nanosecond.

As for the "invisible pain" mentioned and which the prosecutor's office 
is investigating, it is certainly something more complex than a lack of 
maternal instinct (which on a psychoanalytic level means nothing at all) 
or postpartum depression. Statements from family members and 
acquaintances pointing in this direction, mentioning past emotional and 
behavioral issues for which nothing was ever done and which certainly 
may have worsened during a time that is presumed to be complex, but 
about which nothing is known.

The truly useful point, in my opinion, is precisely this: to conceive of 
mental health as a fundamental right of every person, and its disruption 
or absence as not attributable to a single cause. Furthermore, the fact 
that, in the case of a woman facing pregnancy, it is taken for granted 
that this is the reason for her distress embodies one of the most subtle 
and least obvious gender stereotypes, since it appears to be a defense. 
In reality, it is more likely a double-edged sword, forcing assumptions 
and obscuring the layers of which we are all made, women included. If in 
the past, it was the menstrual cycle that bore the burden of personal 
distress, then it was female sexuality, especially when it diverged from 
what was thought to be the norm. Even today, motherhood continues to be 
the place to stuff everything and file the issue away.

This doesn't mean that women can't suffer from postpartum depression, 
that the menstrual cycle can't cause hormonal and therefore emotional 
distress, or that a certain sexuality in women  Brasil, Bento 
Goncalves/RS, OSL:  as in men  Brasil, Bento Goncalves/RS, OSL:  can be 
a symptom of a distress. But these are specific cases that need to be 
explored in depth and require a diagnosis, which therefore requires the 
person to embark on a meaningful therapeutic journey. Outside of these 
necessary steps, a tragedy like the one in Catanzaro remains marked by 
more unknowns than certainties, and we can only approach it with 
presumptuous assumptions. The fact that the prosecution is driven by an 
obsessive need to find a reason, and that it is usually very good at 
finding it in a cliché, does not change the reality of the facts, even 
if it somehow falsifies them. The reality is that Democritus was a woman 
who was psychologically ill, suffering from an indefinable illness since 
it had never been investigated, and that something pushed her to the 
quadruple act of no return.

Anna, like all other women involved in similar dynamics suffering from 
unresolved psychological distress, has the right to be left to her own 
devices and likely would have needed care and support long before the 
postpartum period, and perhaps even before becoming a mother. In Western 
society, which medically focuses on symptoms and illnesses rather than 
maintaining a state of health  Brasil, Bento Goncalves/RS, OSL:  as, for 
example, certain Asian medicines do  Brasil, Bento Goncalves/RS, OSL: 
mental health is something built when the psyche has already been 
compromised by trauma, distress, and illness. In reality, however, since 
it is "health," it must be structured and supported well before any of 
these conditions can occur. And it is a fundamental right of every 
person to be able to enjoy comprehensive, free services designed to 
maintain both physical and mental well-being. Otherwise, a woman facing 
childbirth and its subsequent stages is always at risk of falling apart, 
just like any person facing a complex moment in their life.

Instead of perpetuating gender stereotypes, it's urgent to start talking 
about mental health as something more complex and necessary. While it's 
true that it's no longer a taboo and can be discussed, it's equally true 
that talking about it this way is a terrible thing. And when it concerns 
women, it becomes doubly serious due to the countless stereotypes, 
burdens, and negligence that weigh on those born or raised as female, 
and we oppose all of this.

Désirée Carruba Toscano

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