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the-self attitudes that have been inculcated in women in a male dom–
inated society. Among these diseases are psychoneurosis, phobias, manic–
depression, schizophrenia, and paranoia. "Male diseases" are, on the
other hand, an expression of self-indulgence and destructive hostility to–
ward others, i.e., alcohol addiction, alcohol intoxication, drug addiction,
and personality disorders. As further evidence of the successful self-in–
dulgence of men and the essentially self-destruotive attitudes of women,
Chesler cites the fact that more men than women are able to commit
successful suicides - women merely tend to attempt suicide.
The statistical analysis on which this theorizing hinges is of ,the
most simplistic and superficial variety - the coU'llting of heads. Further–
more, a study of 'the appendix and an examination of the charts and
tables that appear there reveal that Ohesler chose statistics that would
"pick up female patients," that she ignores
~n
her computations her
observations that women comprise 53 percent of the population and that
they live longer
tIh.an
men. Also, some of the charts are merely construc–
tions
from
NIMH reference tables. Those that are not indicate that it is
the nonwhite male and nonwhi,te female population that dominate the
psyohiatric facilities of this COU'lltry. Three of the charts are essentially
identical except for a shifting of dates - as
if
mere repetition were argu–
ment. It may well he that ,there are more female than male mental
patients, but Chesler's statistics do not inspire confidence nor invite
serious interpretation.
To compoU'lld matters, Chesler, in her psychological reasoning, has
adopted ,the typical symptom-oriented biases of the psychiatric profession
she imagines herself to be rebelling agarnst. Her discussions of rthe female
and male diseases makes it all too clear that Chesler knows no bet:ter
than the
run-of~the-mill
psycthiatrist or psychologist how to go about
dissecting and analyzing the subtle relationships between presenting symp–
tom and underlying personality oI1ganization. She is unaware that neu–
rotic symptoms may be part of any number of personality consteIlations,
that depressions are best understood in teI1lllS of
ttypes
and levels of
narcissistic regulations, and that depressions involve shifts of aggression
between internal self and object representations (not between self and
actual others, as Ohesler would have it). Chesler's whole notion of the
differences between male and female diseases boils down to a residue of
the commonsensical. For example, Chesler thinks that if women could
externalize rather than internalize their rage and resentment, they would
be less neurotic and more fulfilled . There
~s
no clinical truth ,to ,tihis what–
soever. Externalization is, in fact, a typical evasion of conflict. As such
