Forgive me father, for i have sinned.

“Humbling women seems to be a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.” (Excerpt from Circe by Madeline Miller)

The term “female hysteria” originated as a diagnosis for any number of mental ailments suffered by a woman; a sort of all-consuming rage, promiscuity, and/or madness inseparable from what may fuel it. Modern media has profited on this concept of the “madwoman” and its deep roots in the misogynistic values of society. Think of some of your favorite movies or shows. Female characters don’t have to be likable, or even reasonable. They can be angry, depressed, or promiscuous. They can inspire terror, be a force to be reckoned with, and thus be driven by their “over-the-top emotions.” Film and television love to use this trope of the hysterical woman regardless of its absurdity. After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. My goal with this series was to expose these stigmas of femininity in modern media as a kind of conceptual metaphor with the seven deadly sins. In Roman Catholic Theology the seven deadly sins are common vices or behaviors that act as a gateway to immoral behavior. They are Pride, Greed, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, and Envy. While not inherently sins themselves, they are certain dispositions toward sin that are prophesied to separate the human from their morality. The thematic overlap between the seven deadly sins and more modern concepts of female hysteria enforces misogynistic gender roles and stigmatizes “unfeminine” activity as a kind of illness. As a female artist, this series acts as a sort of catharsis; a shared release of repressed emotions.