No, Mr Voris, ADHD isn’t a feminist conspiracy

Last updated on: December 12, 2014 at 2:37 pm by Rebecca Frech

No, Mr Voris, ADHD isn’t a feminist conspiracy 2014-12-12T14:37:48-05:00 Rebecca Frech

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Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine sent me the link to the latest episode of Michael Voris’s The Vortex. In it Mr Voris discusses his theories for how feminists have conspired to de-masculinize men, and take over the Church and society. I can’t say whether or not his conspiracy theories are conspiracy truths, the radical man-hating feminists no longer return my phone calls. It could be that he’s onto something.

What I do know is that his inclusion of 1 in 7 boys being diagnosed with ADHD as being a part of a “men are despicable” campaign against “authentic masculinity” is not only misleading, it’s demeaning to those who genuinely struggle with this very real disorder. Contrary to his shoddy pseudo-journalist premise, the boys (and the girls Mr Voris so conveniently forgets to mention) who are diagnosed as having either ADD or ADHD are not being drugged up with ritalin simply for “being boys”. The science, he conveniently ignores, has repeatedly shown it to be an actual difference of brain chemistry and behavior.

While there is a likelihood that there are children who are misdiagnosed in an effort at misguided classroom control, his scoffing at the 1 in 7 statistic belies the fact that many of these boys are being appropriately treated for a very real disorder. We can legitimately debate the reason behind the rise in ADD/ADHD diagnoses in the past few years – whether they are conditional, environmental, or biological and/or the numbers have gone up due to a better understanding within the medical community itself, the fact remains that this is not a made up product of an anti-boy conspiracy.

I think a part of the problem is that, like all mental disorders, ADD and ADHD are not discussed. There is a cutoff in adolescence where having ADD or ADHD changes from being a sign of an energetic child (bless his heart) to being an embarrassing admission of mental illness. This helps to contribute to the impression that it’s a case of medicating naughtiness or the natural rambunctiousness of “difficult” children. The reality of life with either of these disorders is far from this “naughty boy” perception.

Back in 2011, I wrote about my own diagnosis as an adult with ADD and the relief that came with having a name to call the fog and confusion that permeates my brain. The memory struggles, the inability to focus, the struggle for words, and the bitter frustration of knowing that I wasn’t quite right but not having a reason why were all explained with that one diagnosis. The medication which Mr Voris sees as an evil permutation of the “feminazi” political machine has been a life-changing miracle in my life.

Then there is my son. Thirteen years old, creative and wickedly smart, his life is a constant battle to sit still long enough to complete tasks, and to be able to focus long enough to finish a conversation. He was diagnosed as having severe ADHD at the age of 8, and has been medicated ever since. He has become the loudest proponent I know of getting a diagnosis and medically appropriate help.

When I showed him the Voris video, he said, “This guy is an idiot who doesn’t want to understand. He’s just making stuff up, and I don’t know why. He doesn’t get that when I don’t have my medication, I know I’m going to get into trouble. It doesn’t matter how hard I try to not get into it, it just happens. It’s like my body starts going before my brain can catch up. Like I’m thinking in two different directions and can’t think ahead to what bad things could happen as a result of what I’m doing. I also can’t do my schoolwork no matter how hard I try. I can’t force my brain to finish paying attention to even a single sentence I read in a book. I want to, but my brain runs away from me. It’s beyond frustrating. It makes me want to just do nothing because I start things knowing that there’s no way my brain will let me finish them. He should try and live in my brain for a day, and then tell me how the crazy people are making my brain do this or that it’s just my imagination.”

While he may be right about the rest of his She-Woman Man Hating theories, he’s dead wrong about this one. His ignorance is doing nothing more than helping to perpetuate the stigma against this mental disorder, and carrying forward the myth that it’s somehow “all in our heads.”

<<If Mr Voris would like to debate the reality of ADD/ADHD as anything other than a feminist conspiracy with me, I’d be happy to have that discussion. Name the day and I’m there.>>

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