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From: Brett Kluetz
Date: 10/15/02
Time: 8:31:01 AM
Remote Name: 136.142.43.21
Christie,
You asked about our input about whether women's roles in society directly affect WWS stuttering. This is an interesting question and I'm not sure how to answer it. I guess it depends on how one defines women's roles in society. I grew up during the 70's when feminism was pretty strong, so my views of women in society are pretty comtemporary re: work, self-expression etc. But, as we all know, the media still definitely encourages women to be thin and look a certain way. I don't know how this affects WWS per say, but I think for some (at least I have felt this way in the past), they may feel like: it's not "pretty" to stutter. That is, some women may feel that that need to look and portray themselves in a certain way and stuttering does not fit in the picture. Again, I do think that this applies to some men who stutter too, who may feel like stuttering is incongruous with being "powerful" in society. Having said all that, I want to stress that I think these feelings of self-consciousness etc. (that some PWS feel) because stuttering may not go with the picture-perfect model is all based on one's cognitive viewpoint. That is, I think it's possible to change one's thought processes about stuttering and to see that those media/societal portrayals don't really exist anyway and that stuttering can be congruous with being powerful, attractive, successful, smart. etc.
This is just my opinion though and I definitely do not mean to imply that I speak for all WWS! I hope that many WWS have never felt such imagined pressures. These are just some of my musings to your interesting and challenging questions...
Brett