Geschlechternormen und Expertise

This article focuses on notions of gender in psychiatrists’ expert opinions written for lawsuits during the German Empire, 1871–1914. Four different narratives concerning gender can be identified in these testimonies. On the one hand, the reports describe women and men who did not conform to the gender stereotypes of the time. The psychiatrists found the non-conformist defendants to be of unsound mind. On the other hand, women and men who did conform to the gender stereotypes were also described. In those cases, however, “feminine” women were certified insane, whereas “masculine” men were accused of simulating a mental disease in order to avoid punishment. These findings strengthen basic assumptions of Feminist Epistemology by showing that first, psychiatric ideas of accountability were closely linked to the norm of “masculine” men and second, a double standard was used in assessing the soundness of minds of women and men respectively.