Essay Example on Lesbian Rights and BDSM: Establishing Mental Condition for Justice

The law is likely to assume the fact that a lesbian has a right to engage in related sexual activities including BDSM. However, medicalization is an option that can change the scale of justice as far as sadomasochism is concerned. It is important to establish the mental condition of any individual who intentionally seeks pain to attain pleasure. Some of the effects of BDSM can be long-lasting due to the permanents scars that may result. It can be argued that one needs to have a certain form of mental disorder to engage in BDSM. Therefore, causes and effects of sadomasochism can be explained using DSM-5 technique.

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Lin (2017) reveals that BDSM is a mental illness that falls under the category of paraphilic disorders in the DSM-5 manual. According to the definition provided by Lin (2017), an individual with this disorder experiences sexual arousal during exposure to intense pain, bondage, humiliation, and torture. A similar argument is shared by American Psychiatric Association (2013) who further claims that people with masochism disorder usually have the urge to be beaten, cut, bound and humiliated during sexual encounters. It implies that people who take part in BDSM are not in their normal senses to make accurate judgments or consent.

In conclusion, the medicalization of sadomasochism provides an additional point of reference in the litigation process. Medicalization calls for the need to evaluate the mental state of any lesbian accused of engaging in BDSM before determining their fitness to stand trial. The same approach is required for the victims who get injured during BDSM. In the end, the victim may be perceived as incapable of making consent to engage in lesbianism and BDSM which will reflect the legal decision made in the case of R v Brown.

Impact of Gender Norms and Social Understanding of Femininity and Diagnosis of Madness or Deviance

According to Noh, Lee, and Feltey (2010), deviance is no inherent phenomenon because it is rooted in a mental condition that can be medically proven. However, this has not always been the case in most judicial decisions because medicalization presents a unique view of crime. Courts are always keen to establish criminal responsibility of an offender. This implies that an accused person should have committed a crime under conditions that were within their control. The aspect of personal control is broad because it entails an individual's physical, mental, psychological and age factor. For instance, a person who commits murder on grounds of self-defense may not bear the criminal responsibility for their acts. Equally, a medically proven situation of mental disorder can also be a substantial reason to exempt an actor from assuming criminal responsibility. Basing on the medical and legal interpretation of retaliatory actions and their criminality, it is fundamental to assess a situation where a female offender is compelled to commit a crime after numerous instances of torture, humiliation pain and depression among other factors that have psychological impacts.

Gender Norms and Social Understanding of Femininity

Most societies have established weigh and rank men and women for the purposes of defining power and dominance. It has always occurred that men emerge at the top of the scale which implies that they are relatively more powerful than the women in the same society. This influence tends to affect all aspects of the lives of people including politics, learning, jobs, and authority in homes. The imbalance in gender relationships is evident in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). McCarthy, Mehta, and Haberland (2018) conducted a study that revealed that most victims of IPV are women because they are perceived to have little influence or power in any given intimate relationship. Apart, from IPV, women are always victims of gender violence in different areas such as places of work, leisure, and sports among others. Wall (2014) also agrees that gender inequality is a catalyst for violence between men and women. In this case, most men would use that socially-constructed position and power to physically abuse women; to show the existence of authority.

Numerous efforts have been made across the globe in an attempt to establish a balance of power and influence between men and women. This has manifested in the famous campaign dubbed 'women empowerment.' It is an indication that many cultures share the same ideologies of power relations between men and women. Research has shown that these social norms, power perceptions, and IPV can have psychological effects or lead to retaliation from women (Wall, 2014). Such reactions can often be interpreted as criminal offenses in courts.

The Battered Woman Syndrome

The Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) is a mental condition that results from constant exposure of the female to domestic abuse. Women who developed this mental disorder tend to develop a belief that they are destined for such hostile conditions. This makes them seem helpless and reluctant to seek legal or any other forms of intervention. The BWS condition also results in severe depression and related disorders which technology affects the way they may react to situations. In addition victims of domestic violence may also exhibit low self-esteem, poor relationships with family and friends and extreme anxiety.

A study conducted by Linklaters LLP (2016) reveals that most women who suffer from BWS opt for violence. However, the researchers delved into the legal interpretation of the situation by courts in different countries. Countries such as Poland, India, Hong Kong, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Spain among others consider self-defense as a substance mitigation factor in cases where BWS can be proven. This implies that most legal regimes around the world accept the medical interpretation of WBS and its potential impacts on the victims.

In conclusion, constant exposure of a woman to violence can result in woman battered syndrome which is a serious mental disorder. This condition can also lead to post-traumatic stress disorder which can affect that way a victim reacts to situations. BWS can compel a woman to commit murder as a way of retaliation to violence. It has been established that such cases are often determined based on argument of self-defense or mental condition of the actor.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Beresford, S. (2016). Lesbian Spanners: A re-appraisal of UK consensual Sadomasochism laws. Liverpool Law Rev (2016) 37, 63-80.

Harviainen, T. (2015). Learning Sadomasochism: An information literacy perspective. Journal of Documentation, https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/84218/gradu06411.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

Lin, K. (2017). The medicalization and demedicalization of kink: Shifting contexts of sexual politics. Sexualities, 20(3), 302-323.

Linklaters LLP. (2016). Women who kill in response to domestic violence: How do criminal justice system respond. A multijurisdictional study by Linklaters LLP for Penal Research International Report, Retrieved from https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Women_who_kill_in_response_to_domestic_violence_Full_report.pdf.

McCarthy, K., Mehta, R., & Haberland, N. (2018). Gender, power, and violence: A systematic review of measures and their association with male perpetration of IPV. PLOS ONE 13(11), e0207091. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207091.

Noh, M. S., Lee, M. T., & Feltey, K. M. (2010). Mad, bad or reasonable? Newspaper portrayals of the battered woman who kills. Gender Issues, 27, 110-130.

Wall, L. (2014). Gender equality and violence against women. Research Summary: Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault, Retrieved from https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/ressum7.pdf.