Representation of
DISABILITY

So begins Amanda Hess’s 2021 New York Times interview with musician Sinead O’Connor opens in new window, who for years was maligned in the media by fellow musicians and celebrities for her anti-establishment stance and refusal to subscribe to music industry ideals.

The history of negative portrayals of Mad women musicians in the media is long and storied and often follows the same trajectory every time: mass publicized “breakdowns” followed by intense media scrutiny, constant tabloid stalking and monitoring of any kind of physical change that might indicate signs of dwindling mental health; all published in newspapers, tabloids and social media. Whereas male musicians like the Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison and the Who have their histories of substance use, complicated personal lives and occasional admittance into psychiatric institutions considered part of their mythology as rock stars, women in music are not afforded the same leeway. Think O’Connor, Britney Spears, Etta James, Amy Winehouse – women who rose to stardom amid personal troubles, forced to re-live their trauma over and over in the public eye.

Jijian Voronka’s 2008 article Making Bipolar Britney: Proliferating Psychiatric Diagnoses through Tabloid Media examines how public facing views of Mad celebrities impact the field of psychiatry. For instance, “how Britney manages, or refuses to manage, the making of herself as a mentally ill patient, will impact (either positively or negatively) how our culture responds to both psy and mad practices alike.” (Voronka, 2008).

Stigma creates stigma, and the cycle of ableism continues, unless we choose to disrupt these harmful narratives.