Gendered dis/ability: perspectives from the treatment of psychiatric casualties in Russia's early twentieth-century wars.
The historiography on disability and gender in the West suggests an association between 'masculine' ability and 'feminine' disability. In contrast, Russia's early twentieth-century literature on the treatment of mentally-ill soldiers reveals a broader range of choices in ascriptions of gender and dis/ability. While conceptions of 'masculine' ability and 'feminine' disability existed in Russia, these two permutations of gender and dis/ability were neither strictly opposed in professional medical literature, nor were they the only available options. Physicians and patients most intimately associated with psychiatric casualties in Russia's wars also considered certain individuals to be masculine and disabled, as well as feminine and able. This article discusses and interprets these issues and concludes by exploring some of the possible political and cultural reasons why understandings of gender and disability proved more flexible in Russia than in the West.
Phillips
Laura L
LL
Department of History, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 99004, USA. lphillips@ewu.edu
D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000266:history*; D003469:Culture; D003863:Depression / Q000266:history; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology; D012425:Russia (Pre-1917); D047848:Russian-Japanese War; D047828:World War I