Category Archives: Vilification

“I learned to live as if I were already dead”: The historic vilification and othering of women committed to mental hospitals

by Managing Editor Posted on December 31, 2025

In this blog, Dr Kate McAnelly discusses the historic institutionalisation of women at Aotearoa New Zealand’s Seacliff Lunatic Asylum/Mental Hospital. Earlier this year, I wrote a blog about the ways in which ‘refrigerator mother theory’ was weaponised to vilify the … Continue reading →

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Sunday School Teacher to Hillbilly Dictator: Lutheran Rural Fundamentalism and the Bjelke-Petersen Paradox

by Managing Editor Posted on December 9, 2025

In this blog, Michael Stockwell explores the intersection between the Lutheran Two-Kingdoms Paradox and Rural Fundamentalism and its impact on Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s approach to politics. “It must be admitted the Government have a responsibility to protect the people against … Continue reading →

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Camp Names and Vernacular: Queensland’s Lavender Language

by Managing Editor Posted on July 30, 2025

In this blog, prominent LGBTQIA+ Rights Activist Bill Rutkin (OAM) and Contributing Editor Michael Stockwell explore how homosexual men living in Queensland during the Bjelke-Petersen era used lavender language to circumvent public and political vilification. Homosexuality: Bjelke-Petersen’s Convenient Scapegoat “I … Continue reading →

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“Production-line baby-killing centres”: Vilification of Abortion in Queensland’s Recent History

by Managing Editor Posted on April 22, 2025

In this blog, Cassandra Byrnes discusses Queensland’s historic use of the vilification of abortion as a political tool to support conservative values. On a global scale, we have seen how abortion is a contentious issue in the United States, particularly … Continue reading →

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Unreal and untrue: Refrigerator mother theory and the historic vilification of the mothers of disabled children

by Managing Editor Posted on March 19, 2025

In this blog Dr Kate McAnelly explores the underpinnings of refrigerator mother theory and how it was incorrectly used to blame and vilify mothers as being the cause of their children’s autism. Motherhood in and of itself has long been … Continue reading →

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“Vilification”

by Managing Editor Posted on March 10, 2025

VIDA editorial assistant and PhD candidate Michael Stockwell introduces a new blog series exploring historical and contemporary experiences of vilification through gender, sexual orientation and roles associated with them. Vilification, Scapegoats and Silence Vilification is a long held, unfortunate paradigm … Continue reading →

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