Criminologist Marisol Donis reveals how asylums confined women for breaking gender norms

Asylums confined women for breaking gender norms, not for mental illness, according to criminologist Marisol Donis's new book. The book details how women were institutionalized for minor transgressions like being "cheerful" or reading, often at the behest of male relatives, serving as tools for social control. Donis argues that while legal protections exist, societal attitudes towards women who deviate from norms still carry echoes of this historical oppression.