I am a graduate student in clinical psychology, currently living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. I think about social structures, where people fit in them, how people's identities are affected by them, and how all this relates to mental health. Sadly, societies always seem to have cracks, hierarchies, inner and outer circles. Some people step on others, some fall to the bottom, some aren't heard at all. Through my research and practice, I hope to give voice to the marginalized. And with this blog, I hope to document and deconstruct the huge effects of patriarchy on women.I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, where I caught the tail-end of the Soviet regime, lived through the Perestroika and into the chaotic aftermath. Eventually I was transported to the US in the late 90s, where grunge culture still raged against the machine. Through many transformations, I feel that I have been a foreigner, an outsider, a city girl in small-town America, a socialist in hyper-capitalism, an individualist in the midst of collectivism, a single girl working in academia, and a married girl on a career path to change the world, even if just a little bit. In all those times and settings, there have been women, strong and caring and often without a voice, who held me and each other together in a network of support. Now I'm at the point in my personal development where I ask, what does it mean for us to be women? Interestingly, social rules provide few satisfactory answers, and we are left to figure it out on our own, bound only in our powerless struggle to find ourselves. In any case, this is a place to post my thoughts on things that I encounter, accept or reject about the meanings of womanhood.
Disclaimer: I am by no means a writer. I didn't major in English, and most of the writing I do now is of the dry, scientific variety. However, I need this practice and experience of putting down and simplifying my often convoluted thoughts. I hope that I can sometimes make sense.
Of course, I welcome comments and your input. For thousands of years BCE and hundreds of years CE until the early 1900s, women had no vote, no say, no voice. In that sense, the fact that I can even post this blog is breakthrough in itself, and I would like it to be an open forum for all. So please, go ahead and discuss. I know you have things to say.
To contact me directly, please send email to: larusse [at] prostokvasha [dot] com.
