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Stigma and delight

Stigma and delight. Dr. Patsy Staddon University of Plymouth Patsy.staddon@plymouth.ac.uk. Escaping from social expectations is fun. ‘…I absolutely love feeling……well, drunk!’ (research respondent)

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Stigma and delight

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  1. Stigma and delight Dr. Patsy Staddon University of Plymouth Patsy.staddon@plymouth.ac.uk

  2. Escaping from social expectations is fun • ‘…I absolutely love feeling……well, drunk!’ (research respondent) • I’ve got friends who do exactly that [so I] just go out and let my hair down and get drunk and dance around for hours (research respondent) • ‘Being drunk … it’s a brazen refusal to be quiet, well-behaved and ladylike ... Femininity ... relies on, is defined by, inhibition’ (Lawson 2000).

  3. Why alcohol presents a special threat • Our legalised drug of choice • Public health model of how to use it attempts to limit its role in social life (Hunt and Barker 2001) • It may be presented as potential enemy of ‘health’ and ‘order’ • Particular fears expressed for ‘safety’ of young women who get drunk • Shaming and stigmatising of this group in Press and in treatment

  4. Distaste at ‘unfeminine’ loss of control

  5. Enjoyment of alcohol includes relaxing of usual constraints • Most cultures recognise role of substances • But all limit who can use them and how • Greatest freedom to use likely to be given to most powerful group (e.g. men) • Least likely to be young females • Problematic as they acquire greater independence and access to substances

  6. So: DH message: ‘Safe, sensible, social’…attempts persuasion

  7. Misses the point! • Getting drunk offers women escape from iconic role, in which: • Less freedom to act out • Denied equal moral worth (Lewis 2009) • Greater stigmatisation of any deviance • Self-empowerment or ‘severity of engagement’ ?

  8. Stigma as social control • Deviant behaviour may be called ‘illness’ • ‘Mutual aid model’ of treatment: internalised moral opprobrium • Functions as lay explanation of ‘unsuitable behaviour’ (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010) • Belief systems have enormous power over how we see mental health (Beresford 2005) and substance use (Staddon 2005) • Treatment as retribution (Hannah-Moffat 2001)

  9. Pleasure in defiance and self-acknowledgement—even delight? • ‘I think I do sometimes see it as allowing me to access something that’s not necessarily accessible otherwise’ (research respondent) • ‘’spose it’s a place of my own’ (research respondent) • ‘Me tits was all hanging out…but I know I’d go for it again’ (research respondent)

  10. In conclusion • Escaping from social expectations is fun • Alcohol helps but seeing certain groups doing so creates unease • Who will look after the shop? • Health fears and stigma as social control • But the fun still beckons….

  11. References • Beresford, P. (2005) ‘Social Approaches to Madness and Distress: User Perspectives and User Knowledges’, Social Perspectives in Mental Health, ed. Tew, J., London: Jessica Kingsley • Hannah-Moffatt, K. (2001) Punishment in Disguise: Penal Governance and Federal Imprisonment of Women in Canada. Toronto: Toronto University Press. • Hunt, G. and Barker, J.C. (2001) ‘Socio-cultural anthropology and alcohol and drug research: towards a unified theory’, Social Science and Medicine 53 pp.165–188. • Lawson, N. (2000) ‘I drink, therefore I am’, Observer, Sunday November 12, 2000. • Lewis, L. (2009) ‘Politics of recognition: what can a human rights perspective contribute to understanding users’ experiences of involvement in mental health services?’ Social Policy and Society 8 (2) pp. 257-274. • Rogers, A. and Pilgrim, D. (2010) ‘Stigma revisited and lay representations of mental health problems’, A sociology of mental health and illness, 4th ed., Maidenhead: Open University Press. • Staddon, P. (2005) ‘Labelling Out: The Personal Account of an Ex-Alcoholic Lesbian Feminist’, in Ettorre, E. (ed.) (2005) Making Lesbians Visible in the Substance Use Field. New York: The Haworth Press.

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