Essay Example on Neurotic Society: Anxiety, Mental Illness & Personality Impairment

Introduction

Neurotic society often experiences feelings of anxiety and distress and sometimes mental illness. According to Fromm "Neurotic persons are in principle not different from those we find in the normal people" (p. 116). However, the growth of their personality is crippled (Fromm p.139) The society can be termed as neurotic if the individuals living in it experiences feelings of anxiety and relentlessness in the way the programs of the countries are handled. Fromm describes the democratic capitalist society as neurotic and not the individuals within it. His argument is correct because society behaves in uniformity when dealing with things affecting the country.

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Society becomes neurotic when they are faced with unpleasant experiences. According to Fromm "A neurotic person can be characterized as a person who is not ready to surrender completely in the battle for oneself" (p.114). The democratic capitalist society in the United States of America can be described as neurotic because they fail to surrender completely to the decisions made by the republicans. The unpleasant experiences encountered in their fight for a voice in the country drives them to become neurotic.

Fromm is right in concluding that the society and not the individuals are neurotic. The democratic capitalist society in the USA often airs their grievances as a group and not an individual. The members are fed with the party's objectives and they become ready to implement them regardless of the cost. However, individually, many democratic capitalists are not aware of the reasons for anxiety within their group. Most people are contented with the provisions made by the government and the reason why they experience the problems is due to the community.

Do I sound Gay

Do I sound gay film (2015) is an American documentary by David Thorpe. The plot and the settings of the movie explain about stereotypes in human sexuality and sexual orientation. Society tends to judge gay people in the community harshly which drove David Thorpe towards changing his voice to fit in. However, not all the people in the community are stereotypes of homosexuality. Different concepts of psychology have been discussed in detail in the video.

Language

David Thorpe does not appreciate his gay voice at which changed at age 17. He is concerned about how people in the community think of his voice. David asks several people the question of whether the sounds gay sue to the perception that it creates among different people in the society. The idea of his voice sounding different from others drives him to visit a therapist to help him in changing the voice. However, during different interviews with several individuals, David discovers that several people appreciate their voice despite their feminist tones. Lack of confidence in his voice is contributed to self-rejection. However, after interacting with many people, the gay voice does not seem weird to him.

Sexuality

Sexuality refers to a person's sexual feelings, attractions and attitude towards other people. Physical attractions are also part of human sexuality. David Thorpe narrates how several encounters with people who are attracted to him sexually become weird. Heterosexual people often find homosexuality absurd and they struggle to understand what leads to sexual attraction towards people of the same sex. However, as gay marriage was legalized in New York, the stereotype of sexuality reduced. Homosexuality was termed as a taboo that forced David to hide his sexuality.

Gender

Gender and sexuality are often confused during discussions. Gender is attributed to the roles given to men and women in the society. During the interviews between David and his friends, the expressed how society judged them based on the roles they were supposed to play in society. Masculinity is expected to command respect in the community which is a problem among gay people with feminist voices and who undertakes female roles.

Sex

David Thorpe's interaction with gay celebrities leads to a closure of how sex problems are experienced within gay marriages. In one of the interviews, Dan Savage explains how he has to wear like a black to raise sexual feelings to his partner. David also explains how he broke up with his boyfriend due to dissatisfaction. Same-sex romantic relationships are described as a problem as sexual encounters between males were considered a taboo in the society. However, despite the challenges experienced the film reveals that sexual satisfaction among gay marriages is not a fantasy.

Intersex

Intersex refers to the situation where a person is neither male nor female. In the film, David explains how intersex defines a person's sexual orientation. Homosexuality is most cases arise from intersex individuals who were assigned a less dominant gender by doctors after their conceptions. Intersex is regarded as a problem in society which results in emotional trauma among children when they are growing up before they understand their anatomy. However, the film proves that intersex is a reality in the society and no one should be ashamed of how they were created.

References

Do I sound gay? (2015)