Troubles dans la masculinité

Abstract

This article examines the links between madness, internment, and masculinities in the second half of the 19th century based on the archives of three insane asylums located in Quimper, Morlaix, and Ville-Évrard. Contrary to the widespread idea that women were over-enclosed in asylums in the 19th CENTURY, he begins by highlighting the clear overrepresentation of men in the admission statistics. The article then examines the specificities of male insanity and shows the central place that alcoholism and violent behavior occupy. Thus, far from being associated with a form of effeminacy or demasculinization, insanity has much more often to do with a form of exaggeration or pathological exacerbation of virility. By regulating its excesses in this way, asylums have been able to contribute to the advent of an “appeased” masculinity (Anne-Marie Sohn).

Keywords

• masculinity
• madness
• internment
• insane asylums
• France
• 19th century