How do we read certain speeches on hysteria?

Abstract

The term hysteria is generally used to refer derogatorily to female subjectivities. We try to account for how the notion of hysteria circulates within certain doxastic social discourses. Then, we intend to critically reflect on the concept of hysteria through discursive analysis. With the aim of re-appropriating certain offensive, stigmatizing, insulting codes, such as the notion of hysteria, in whatever way we can. Purpose: to deepen the knowledge of the disputes of meaning around certain discourses on hysteria and to trace how certain discourses on hysteria are inscribed in constructions of female subjectivation, in this sense, we intend to replace certain discursive constructions on hysteria aiming at dismantling critical within these. We propose throughout the article a brief theoretical journey where hysteria appears as an object of study, linked to the feminine and the pejorative. Then, we discursively analyze the appearance of these two postulates in virtual social discourses. We can recognize, on the one hand, that neither power nor discourse is completely renewed. On the other hand, that despite the intentions to subvert them on numerous occasions, no modifications or claims are achieved with respect to them. We not only propose to show how some of these speeches offend certain bodies, but also the way in which said offense leads us to possibilities that seemed inaccessible in the face of insulting and, in a certain way, limiting speeches.