Disability

Question 1

Disability Primary Literature

Kim Chernin, Womansize 1981

Answer 1

• Author: Kim Chernin
• Feminist
• Personal experience: w/eating disorder – weaves own experiences into book
• Published 1981
• Looks at modern women’s obsession with being thin, and discusses reasons why men have encouraged this obsessions.
• Some notes on text itself:
• A lot of emphasis of fat-acceptance
• Views getting fat as: positive, political
• Words she links with fat women: power, subversive, radical, indulgence, power.
• E.g. ‘There she was, a distinctively massive figure, w/broad hips, large breasts, standing with her legs apart, in a definite posture of self-assertion’ (a form of self assertion)
• E.g. picture to right – connotes abundance.
• Contrast Jane Fonda – “These exercises will give you a smaller, firmer butt, less apt to “fall,” and those saddlebags will disappear”
• Juxtapositions
• Comments embracing fatness
• Juxtaposed repeatedly next to small remarks that reveal awareness of the dominant societal views regarding body (new images of desirability as thin)

Question 2

Disability Primary Literature

Jane Fonda, 1981

Answer 2

• Popular exercise manual of the time
• Her workout book – provided set of instructions and visual material about how to execute series of exercises
• Closely linked to her Workout video.
• Original JF Workout video (1982)- sold approx 17 mill copies world-wide; 1st JF’s Workout book (1981) stayed no.1 on New York Times Bestseller list for 24 months.
• Supposedly about creating stronger females.
• But been criticized for subtly upholding traditional domestic roles of women:
• This traditional message can be seen in various comments throughout book:
• E.g. “You are going to have to find time to work out despite the telephone, the refrigerator, the children, the television set, a dirty house and all the rest”
• E.g. Pregnancy workouts: - the emphasis on sculpting body for necessities of procreation.
• On one hand : can be seen positively - because – simultaneously improves stamina, endurance, pain control
• On other hand: feminizes women’s strength. [ties it to female reproductive role)

Question 3

Disability Primary Literature

Susan Orbach, 1978

Answer 3

• Psychotherapist –personally concerned –Has a practice in London where she treats people [The Women’s Therapy Centre, London]
• Feminist –politically concerned
• Works closely with British government –e.g. provides consultation advice (and political education) to organizations from the Government, NHS, and The World Bank.
• e.g. of activist work:
• helped create Dove’s “Real women” campaign;
• e.g. created “AnyBody” (a organization that campaigns for body diversity)
• Why is Orbach interested in the body?
• Interview extract, in her own words: “I think my interests in the issue emanated from anguish and concern [I was so concerned about the way bodies were becoming commodities and objects]. As someone who is critical of contemporary culture, I have political concerns”
• Pioneering anti-diet book – quickly became bestseller.
• Challenges notions of fat being result of greed/laziness; she proposes a more complex thesis: GENDER inequality made women fat.
• “For many women, compulsive eating and being fat have become one way to avoid being marketed or seen as the ideal woman,” she writes. In other words, what your fat says about you, is: “Screw you!” “Fat expresses a rebellion against the powerlessness of the woman,”

Question 4

Disability Primary Literature

Joey Deacon, Tongue Tied, 1974

Answer 4

• Autobiographical Book, 1974. Man with Cerebral Palsy, represented Spastic Society in 1981 on Blue Peter (International Year of the Disabled. Published by Mencap as part of Subnormality in the 1970s series. Royalties funded a home for Deacon to live in.
• Deacon also attempted to write an unpublished book about a disabled man who learned to walk in order to walk up the aisle.
• Extract describes family relationships, sports days, surgery, friends within the institution etc.

Question 5

Disability Primary Literature

Eva Figes, NOVA 1973

Answer 5

• NOVA, 1973. Conflicting - both demonstrating the need for cash provision, but stressing from second-wave feminist position which emphasised that ‘mongols’ could cause marital breakdown and left parents housebound.
• Cited father of disabled boy - subject to fits, wheelchair bound etc. - situation was seen as stressful, community care was seen as farcial
• Also highlights shortcomings of the Mental Health Act 1959.

Question 6

Disability Primary Literature

Morris - Put Away, 1969

Answer 6

• Morris particularly captured the nature of the physical environment; finding a trend of overcrowding, understaffing and neglect, with a general conclusion that ‘there is a positive correlation between the worst physical conditions and the size of the ward’.
• Sociologist work - more applied sociology for PhD work
• Funded by voluntary pressure group
• Dismal outlook
• Looked at subnormality, private and public
• Sent a worker to spend 60 days on ward - message this report set fitted with the Seebohm report
• Disabled people were infantilised - “best boys” or “one of our girls”

Question 7

Disability Primary Literature

Morris - Put Away, 1969

Answer 7

• Morris particularly captured the nature of the physical environment; finding a trend of overcrowding, understaffing and neglect, with a general conclusion that ‘there is a positive correlation between the worst physical conditions and the size of the ward’.
• Sociologist work - more applied sociology for PhD work
• Funded by voluntary pressure group
• Dismal outlook
• Looked at subnormality, private and public
• Sent a worker to spend 60 days on ward - message this report set fitted with the Seebohm report
• Disabled people were infantilised - “best boys” or “one of our girls”

Question 8

Disability Primary Literature

The Undefeated, 1950

Answer 8

• Central Office of Information’s (COI) 1950 film, The Undefeated; which charts the rehabilitation of Joe Anderson following his double amputation. It channelled the narrative of the tenacity and adaptability fabricated post-WWI; as demonstrated by the 1921 Handbook for the Limbless. This emphasised that amputees could complete physically-demanding activities in accordance with contemporary ideas of masculinity. This trope was used to show that Joe’s ‘malfunctioning biology’ - which was a source of weakness and emasculation - could be overcome through determination. Whilst recovering, Joe is presented as dependent and infantilised (figure 1): a ‘boy’, stripped to plain attire, surrounded by doctors. Lacking a voice, he communicates through vulnerable facial expressions. By figure 2, through attitudinal changes and willpower, Joe becomes a ‘normal’, composed man - deep voiced, formally dressed and with a reputable occupation. This projection confirmed the notion that the responsibility for reintegration lay with the individual rather than society. The film’s very commission highlights concern around the stigmatisation of the disabled following the post-war rise of limbless ex-servicemen (and civilians). As the COI elected to run sample viewings to test viewer appetite for the film, it is possible to assess popular reaction through its monitored. Evidently, the film was met with enthusiasm from the limited release, and further went on to achieve commercial success, winning several awards, including Documentary of the Year. This indicates popular and elite tolerance (and celebration) of the projected narrative.
• Similar to Douglas Bader, 1956 - Reach for the Skies.

Question 9

Disability Seondary Literature

Summarise the findings of Simon Szreter - Sex Before the Sexual Revolution

Answer 9

Emphasises the degree to which body was controlled - strictly covered at all times. Sexual coyness resulted in unhappy marriages; to the detriment of the wife.

Question 10

Disability Seondary Literature

Summarise the findings of George McKay

Answer 10

See Long Essay. McKay points towards the disability arts movement, and the rise of musicians in particular affected by Polio. Discussion of Ian Dury and Spasticus Autisticus, how it was provocative and spoke to disabled interests.