
Sharon Stone, in
Basic Instinct, dramatized the catastrophic actions of a clever yet unhinged woman. EPA/ Peter Foley
By Suzie Gibson
Mental illness and women’s sexuality are frequently aligned – on screen and off. The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, pathologized women’s sexuality. Indeed, his definition of a woman as someone lacking a penis has underwritten depictions of women’s sexuality.
Countless novels, films and TV programs continually pathologize women through and because of their sexuality.