A lifetime of movies and re-watches of Beauty And The Beast has helped instilled some sort idea of what Stockholm Syndrome for all of us. Basically, it’s a condition where a captive (usually a woman) might fall in love and/or deeply empathise with their captor. It’s a pretty common trope in media, to the point where the aforementioned Disney film has inadvertently become the poster child for the condition.
But alas, it seems like our knowledge of the condition barely scratches the horrendous truth because Twitter (of all places) has revealed Stockholm Syndrome to be nothing more than an unsubstantiated byproduct of sexism and misogyny.
Speaking of dubious claims, the GOAT team talk about the ridiculous conspiracies and claims being peddled around regarding COVID-19 on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Twitter user Sarah Mohammed shared some excepts from the book See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence by Jess Hill, and proceeded to blow everyone one’s mind on the sexist origin story of how Stockholm Syndrome came to be.
Those who have some armchair knowledge about Stockholm Syndrome may know that it was first coined by a psychiatrist, Nils Bejerot, following a bank heist in Sweden. But according to the excerpts of Jess Hill’s book however, Bejerot “never spoke to the woman he based it on; never bothered to ask her why she trusted her captors more than the authorities.”
It all seems like Bejerot and the authorities made up the term as a way to make themselves look better, especially after the woman in question, Kristin Enmark, criticised the police and Bejerot after the heist was over for their macho grandstanding when they paraded the captors up and down the street.
When told of Enmark’s criticism of him and the authorities, he simply dismissed her comments as a product of Stockholm Syndrome (which again he made up) while still not speaking to her once.
But perhaps the most revealing part of Jess Hill’s book is Enmark’s remarks years later as to why she was so critical of the police and Bejerot: “Yes I was afraid of the police; what is so strange about that? Is it strange that one is afraid of those who are all around, in parks, on roofs, behind corners, in armoured vests, helmets and weapons, ready to shoot?”
I’m certainly no psychiatrist, but it sure sounds like sexism played a big part in how the term “Stockholm Syndrome” became a thing, and how it came from a place of misogyny from sexist men in positions of power.
There’s so much to unpack from these excepts of Jess Hill’s book and it really does call into question how we should view Stockholm Syndrome. It’s not recognised as a proper diagnosis or disorder and there’s no way of properly diagnosing it, yet people still use it as a cure-all explanation for complex issues, like women in abusive relationships.
Empathising with people is part of what makes us human and doing so as a captive isn’t the result of some syndrome – it’s a defence mechanism to ensure a higher chance of survival. Wouldn’t you want to suck up to your captor if your life was literally on the line?
Reducing the intricacies of human empathy while simultaneously hand-waving away women’s feelings to something beyond their control is a worrying oversimplification of a complex issue.
Sarah’s viral tweet of Jess Hill’s book excerpts has definitely helped shine a light on the sexist origins of Stockholm Syndrome and helped give some much-needed insight into the sexism and misogyny that gave rise to the term. Here’s hoping we move on from this and Hollywood stops glamourising something that is rooted in undermining women.
Always be in the loop with our snackable podcast breaking the biggest story of the day. Subscribe to It’s Been A Big Day For… on your favourite podcast app.