Daphne Scholinski the Last Time I Wore a Dress Essay

Daphne Scholinski’s memoir The Last Time I Wore A Dress is a touching narrative of a girl who was misunderstood. Throughout her childhood and young adulthood, Daphne struggled with identifying with her feelings. Daphne was constantly searching for an answer to why she felt different. Daphne wanted to â€Å"fit in† but she knew she was unconventional. The different labels she was given through out her psychiatric stay stuck with her and left a scar of how she was once perceived. Daphne had very low self esteem through out her childhood. This is because her parents ignored her and gave her little affection. â€Å"She didn’t even notice when I walked out of her apartment, ran down the stairs,† (Scholinski 4). Her self esteem was worse at her dads†¦show more content†¦She know that this is the root of her problem and she try’s to avoid it at all costs. She is afraid of their perception of her and if she will have to change. Daphne goes through a metamorphosis through her memoir. As a child she acts the way she feels so she is only doing what is natural to her. Because there is violence in her house she acts violent and because she feels like a boy she dresses like a boy. She viewed her as tough and that doesn’t change. However her thoughts of being an under achiever change after her self esteem is restored, which doesn’t fully happen until her stay at the Wilson Center. The Wilson Center is where she has the best perceptions of herself; she feels independent, smart, fun, and friendly. Daphne had a very hard time understanding her thoughts and feelings until the Wilson Center. The patients are who gave Daphne strength, the positive environment let Daphne explore who she was and relax and have fun. The Wilson center represents the adolescence that she should have had. The Dr.’s still make her feel uncomfortable when the gender issue arrises but Daphne can cop with it better because she likes where she i s. Meeting Valerie led her to discover her homosexual feelings. It wasn’t the initial meeting of Valerie but later in Daphne’s life she released her true feelings towards women which is the biggest change of all. The reason why Daphne was originally admitted into the Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center is dueShow MoreRelatedEssay Darkness Visible by William Styron1860 Words   |  8 PagesTo Educate or to Advocate? When I first set out to propose a project, I wasn’t sure what topic I wanted to conquer. Therefore, I quickly jumped when the professor suggested reading the memoir, â€Å"Darkness Visible† by William Styron. I have enjoyed all the class readings so far, I even did my last project on another memoir, and thought that reading a fresh perspective regarding mental illness would be engaging and inspiring. Unfortunately, I began reading â€Å"Darkness Visible† with preconceived notionsRead MoreThe Last Time I Wore A Dress1229 Words   |  5 PagesDaphne Scholinski documents her experiences through multiple psychiatric institutions in her gripping and light-hearted memoir titled, â€Å"The Last Time I Wore A Dress†. Published in 1997, her memoir establishes a strong connection with readers, thereby allowing them to be present within her plot; watching her story unfold from above. By analyzing the plot, characters, themes, and setting of â€Å"The Last Time I Wore A Dress†, I seek to draw a connection between Scholinski’s memoir and the mental modelRead More Gender Identity Disorder Essay1594 Words   |  7 Pagesnot up to science or other to say whether or not an individuals gender identity equals their chromosomes and genitalia. In the case of Daphne Scholinski, we are given insight into her incredibly abusive past as well as her journey through psychiatric facilities due to her diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder through her memoir The Last Time I Wore a Dress. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)[4] outlines the following criteria for a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder in Childhood: Read More Is Insanity Normal? Essay3468 Words   |  14 Pagespsychologists agree that DSM is a reliable source and base their diagnoses on it (Kirk and Kutchins 51), but, at the same time, it analyzes and attempts to define mental illness, which is a construct, a shared abstract idea (Kirk and Kutchins 23). DSM cannot be proven factual and unfailing, so it is bound to have its faults. We can clearly see this because DSM has been revised three times (Kirk and Kutchins 39). In fact, until 1980†¦DSM provided no formal definition of what constitutes a mental disorder