"Drama queens" and "attention seekers": characterizations of femininity and responses to women who communicated their intent to suicide

Harriet Townsend

doi:10.1177/08912432241300619

"Drama queens" and "attention seekers": characterizations of femininity and responses to women who communicated their intent to suicide

Harriet Townsend^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Communication, Society and Culture

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Historically, suicidal women and women in distress have been pathologized and trivialized. Despite high rates of suicidality among women, the role of gender and femininity continue to be overlooked in suicide research. I perform a qualitative “sociological autopsy” on 17 cases of young women who communicated intent before their deaths by suicide but were dismissed or ignored. I identify two tropes of suicidal femininity: “drama queens” and “attention seekers.” This paper highlights how gendered assumptions about, and interpretations of, women’s emotions and suicidality can be dangerous, even fatal.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5-34
Number of pages	30
Journal	Gender and Society
Volume	39
Issue number	1
Early online date	26 Dec 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432241300619
Publication status	Published - Feb 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2024. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

mental illness
social determinants of health
suicidal femininity
suicidal women
suicide

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10.1177/08912432241300619

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 152 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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"Drama queens" and "attention seekers": characterizations of femininity and responses to women who communicated their intent to suicide

Abstract

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Keywords

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