{"id":3432,"date":"2014-12-12T14:37:48","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T19:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/?p=3432"},"modified":"2014-12-12T14:37:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T19:37:48","slug":"no-mr-voris-adhd-isnt-a-feminist-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/12\/no-mr-voris-adhd-isnt-a-feminist-conspiracy.html","title":{"rendered":"No, Mr Voris, ADHD isn’t a feminist conspiracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine sent me the link <\/a>to the latest episode of Michael Voris\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019s onto something.<\/p>\n

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What I do<\/em> know is that his inclusion of 1 in 7 boys being diagnosed with ADHD as being a part of a \u201cmen are despicable\u201d campaign against\u00a0 \u201cauthentic masculinity\u201d is not only misleading, it\u2019s 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 \u201cbeing boys\u201d. The science, he conveniently ignores, has repeatedly shown it to be an actual difference of brain chemistry and behavior.<\/p>\n

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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 \u2013 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 <\/em>a made up product of an anti-boy conspiracy.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s a case of medicating naughtiness or the natural rambunctiousness of \u201cdifficult\u201d children. The reality of life with either of these disorders is far from this \u201cnaughty boy\u201d perception.<\/p>\n

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Back in 2011, I wrote about my own diagnosis as an adult with ADD <\/a>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\u2019t 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 \u201cfeminazi\u201d political machine has been a life-changing miracle in my life.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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When I showed him the Voris video, he said, \u201cThis guy is an idiot who doesn\u2019t want to understand. He\u2019s just making stuff up, and I don\u2019t know why. He doesn\u2019t get that when I don\u2019t have my medication, I know I\u2019m going to get into trouble. It doesn\u2019t matter how hard I try to not get into it, it just happens. It\u2019s like my body starts going before my brain can catch up. Like I\u2019m thinking in two different directions and can\u2019t think ahead to what bad things could happen as a result of what I\u2019m doing. I also can\u2019t do my schoolwork no matter how hard I try. I can\u2019t 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\u2019s beyond frustrating. It makes me want to just do nothing because I start things knowing that there\u2019s 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\u2019s just my imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he may be right about the rest of his She-Woman Man Hating theories, he\u2019s 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\u2019s somehow \u201call in our heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

<<If Mr Voris would like to debate the reality of ADD\/ADHD as anything other than a feminist conspiracy with me, I\u2019d be happy to have that discussion. Name the day and I\u2019m there.>><\/p>\n

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Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine sent me the link to the latest episode of Michael Voris\u2019s 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\u2019t say whether or not his conspiracy theories are conspiracy truths, the radical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNo, Mr Voris, ADHD isn't a feminist conspiracy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine sent me the link to the latest episode of Michael Voris's The Vortex. 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