Diminished men and dangerous women: representations of gender and learning disability in early‐ and mid‐nineteenth‐century Britain

McDonagh, Patrick

doi:10.1046/j.1468-3156.2000.00040.x

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In 19th-century English literature, men with learning disabilities were portrayed as lacking an essential component of masculine identity, usually because of their inability to handle money (McDonagh, 2000). Women with learning disabilities embodied a paradox, being seen as threatening because of their 'undisciplined sexuality', yet also sexually innocent and in need of protection.…”

Section: Gender and Social Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning disabilities and ethnicity: achieving cultural competence

O'Hara¹

2003

Adv. psychiatr. treat

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Despite the higher prevalence of learning disabilities among some minority ethnic communities and the greater burden of care, families from minority ethnic communities with a member who has learning disabilities are doubly disadvantaged as a result of racial discrimination and culturally inappropriate forms of care and service provision. This paper looks at the issue of discrimination, as well as the generally negative attitudes towards people with learning disabilities, and synthesises these into the concept of ‘double jeopardy’. It concludes by proposing ways of developing cultural competence in the delivery of care to this population.

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Section: Gender and Social Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning disabilities and ethnicity: achieving cultural competence

O'Hara¹

2003

Adv. psychiatr. treat

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“…The OED points to its first appearance in this sense in Farmer’s (1891) slang dictionary, but it does not seem to have been widespread before then. ‘Dick’ in Dickens is thus neither insulting nor psychosexual in any way (contrary to claims made by McDonagh, 2001 ), at least contemporaneously.…”

Section: Modelling a Simple Mindmentioning

confidence: 76%

Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield

Stockwell

Mahlberg

2015

Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics

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We suggest an innovative approach to literary discourse by using corpus linguistic methods to address research questions from cognitive poetics. In this article, we focus on the way that readers engage in mind-modelling in the process of characterisation. The article sets out our cognitive poetic model of characterisation that emphasises the continuity between literary characterisation and real-life human relationships. The model also aims to deal with the modelling of the author’s mind in line with the modelling of the minds of fictional characters. Crucially, our approach to mind-modelling is text-driven. Therefore we are able to employ corpus linguistic techniques systematically to identify textual patterns that function as cues triggering character information. In this article, we explore our understanding of mind-modelling through the characterisation of Mr. Dick from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Using the CLiC tool (Corpus Linguistics in Cheshire) developed for the exploration of 19th-century fiction, we investigate the textual traces in non-quotations around this character, in order to draw out the techniques of characterisation other than speech presentation. We show that Mr. Dick is a thematically and authorially significant character in the novel, and we move towards a rigorous account of the reader’s modelling of authorial intention.

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“…Third , McDonagh () states that: ‘Social concerns can be produced in literary works, making literary documents important sources of information concerning the ideological function of people’ (p.49). In his very useful paper, McDonagh highlights the considerable importance of understanding the social context of so‐called pathological behaviour and, in particular, how it can affect adversely gender differences and perceptions.…”

Section: Setting the Scenementioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Disorder, Criminality and the Literary Imagination

Prins

2014

Howard J Crim Justice

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This contribution attempts to explore the use of a variety of literary sources as aids or ‘prompts’ to understanding those offenders and offender‐patients whose mental states often raise considerable anxieties in those charged with their management. The word ‘prompt’ is borrowed from the work of my friend, the late doctor Murray Cox, and his co‐worker Alice Theilgaard in their seminal work Shakespeare as Prompter (1994). The author of the present article hopes that its content will enable readers to focus more clearly on why we sometimes fail our offenders and offender‐patients; in particular, through the mechanism of denial. The use of dramatic presentation when proffered with a unique blend of force and sensitivity can permit us to view puzzlement and horror from a safe distance and, at the same time, encourage us to increase our empathic understanding and professional practice. Most of the examples cited are brief allusions but, because her history is so compellingly applicable to our concerns in the present contribution, the ‘case’ of Lady Macbeth is considered in more detail. Finally, I would note some very wise words by Cox and Theilgaard (1994) in a caveat note to the reader: ‘Should the focus on therapy ever become occluded by preoccupation with poetic association, clinical skills would be diminished, distraction ensue and therapeutic contact deteriorate’ (not numbered). In the material that follows readers should bear such a cautionary note in mind.

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Diminished men and dangerous women: representations of gender and learning disability in early‐ and mid‐nineteenth‐century Britain

Cited by 15 publications

References 10 publications

Learning disabilities and ethnicity: achieving cultural competence

Learning disabilities and ethnicity: achieving cultural competence

Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield

Mental Disorder, Criminality and the Literary Imagination

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