Cassandra complex: why do so many women suffer from it?

An essentially feminine psychological phenomenon that refers to the Trojan princess.

The Cassandra myth has been used as a metaphor for various social and psychological phenomena, referring mainly to the silencing or disbelief of aspects traditionally related to the feminine by dominant figures or instances. These invisibilized feminine elements are, among others, intuition, imagination and creativity..

This eclipsing of the qualities considered feminine can be called "Cassandra complex".

Cassandra: the Trojan princess

The myth, which was immortalized in Homer's Iliad, tells us that Apollo, god of reason, lucidity and moderation, fascinated by Cassandra's beauty, promised her the gift of prophecy in exchange for her becoming his lover. Cassandra, daughter of the kings of Troy, accepted the gift, but rejected Apollo, who, offended, cursed her, making her predictions, although accurate, not to be believed or taken into account.who, offended, cursed her, causing her predictions, although accurate, to be neither believed nor taken into account.

Being unable to avoid or transform the events she foresaw, among them the fall of Troy and her own death, the gift became for Cassandra a continuous source of Pain and frustration, being also excluded and stigmatized by her visions.

The myth of Cassandra speaks to us of the dark aspect of Apollo, that is, when the rationality that characterizes patriarchy forgets its matriarchal roots and arrogantly reveals itself through misogyny, equating the feminine with the lacking, the weak and that which is susceptible to be dominated, exploited and violated.

The myth makes visible the need for linear, logical, analytical, quantitative and penetrating thinking, which provides pragmatic solutions and is usually related to the masculine, to be complemented with the so-called thinking of the heart, with receptivity, with the qualitative, with creativity, with synthesis and acceptance, traditionally related to the feminine.

The disqualification of the imaginary in modernity

Within the context of scientific materialism, framed in the Newtonian and Cartesian paradigm, different aspects reluctant to subscribe to instrumental and productive logic, such as intuition, imagination and the whole realm of the non-visible (traditionally related to the feminine) began to be considered as erroneous, obscure, childish, superstitious and with no legitimacy to provide valid knowledge about the human.

The Myth of Cassandra represents the tragedy and imbalance that entails the neglect and disregard of the non-rational, subjective and ineffable realm of our nature.subjective and ineffable realm of our nature.

Within science itself, quantum physics, whose object of study are the smallest particles of which the universe is composed, that is, the infinitely small, the non-visible, has invalidated the absolute concreteness that was presupposed for matter from scientific materialism, revealing a mysterious, paradoxical and irrational aspect that keeps strong similarities and correspondences with the nature of the psyche.

It collapses for example the pretensions of objectivity, evidencing the affectation of the observer in the observed when experimenting with quantum proportions.

The discrediting and expulsion of the soul in the contemporary world

Cassandra was confined and expelled from the collective life because her words were uncomfortable to the instances of power, to the dominant thought.

The popular expression "it is only psychological" shows the disdain towards the psychic and the subjective, in clear subordination to what is considered objective and physical.in clear subordination to what is considered objective and physical.

The discredit and confinement of the soul alludes to the process of dehumanization and disharmony that is denounced from different instances, generated by the excess of technification, rationalization and instrumentalization.

It refers to the rigid bureaucracy that instead of facilitating processes puts obstacles, does not welcome particular cases or the emergence of new conditions. It refers to medical practices in which economic interests predominate over people's health, and where patients' subjectivity vanishes in diagnoses, protocols and statistics. It also alludes to the medicalization of sadness and social nonconformity.

Other expressions of the confinement of the soul are the cult of appearances, packaging, happiness, youth, speed and growth. All of the above unilateralities neglect the complexity, depth, ambivalence and cyclical dynamics of the psyche..

The Cassandra complex and the marginalization of the feminine

The curse to Cassandra consisted in the fact that the warnings coming from her visions were not taken into account, that her words were not listened to, that her words were not heard.that her words were not listened to, that her contributions were denied. One of the readings that has been made of the myth of Cassandra is with respect to the exclusion and invisibility of women in patriarchal societies.

Submission and silence were in ancient Greece ideal virtues for feminine behavior and these conceptions and practices have been maintained throughout time.

There is multiple evidence that despite having been in inferior conditions in access to knowledge, women have historically been present in a relevant way in the political, artistic and scientific spheres. However, their contributions have been invisibilized or absorbed by a figure of greater legitimacy within the patriarchal logic, such as their father, brother, husband or lover.

In this same sense, there are also multiple testimonies of how scientific knowledge has advanced not only from rationality and empiricism but also from intuitions, imaginative visions and other aspects related to the non-rational sphere, but just as with women, these findings are invisibilized or absorbed by the patriarchal logic, these findings are made invisible or taken as mere coincidences..

The invisibility of women is also present when they are not taken into account in the media or for activities in which they could perform efficiently, because their age, their figure or their appearance does not meet the expectations of a certain male gaze, thus disappearing as objects of desire.

The feminine as merchandise and property

Once Troy was defeated, Cassandra was kidnapped and taken as spoils of war. The female body has been and still is treated as merchandise, as an object of pleasure, as an advertising showcase.

The logic of commodification and objectification of the female body is at the basis of forced prostitution, human trafficking, the pressure for a slender figure, the rise of aesthetic operations, rape as a weapon of war.

This logic is implicit in the mind of the abuser who considers his partner or ex-partner as his property and therefore with the possibility of using her as he pleases.

Self-owning woman and structural disbelief

In some versions of the myth, Cassandra is given the role of priestess or virgin. These aspects, in that context, symbolize the resistance of women to the subordination and dependence of men, as well as to the logics of domination and power that they personify. Cassandra then represents the woman who belongs to herself and not to her father or husband.

In patriarchal societies, belligerent women, those who say what they do not want to hear, those who transgress the canons imposed by men, have been silenced, marginalized or ridiculed as madwomen, witches or "hysterics".

Currently, many women have to face this structural disbelief in different circumstances. For example, when after overcoming multiple obstacles and disadvantages in relation to men, they gain access to spaces of power or recognition beyond those traditionally attributed to women (beauty, care of others, objects of pleasure) and are delegitimized, disqualified or not taken seriously.

Disbelief is also present when testimonies of sexual abuse or harassment are presented and are often discredited as fantasies or provocations of the woman herself.

Another expression of disbelief is the case of conditions in which it is not possible to find a visible and quantifiable element in the organism, such as chronic pain, fibromyalgia or mood disorders. People have to face being questioned about the veracity or intensity of their suffering, or even endure being accused of engaging in manipulative behavior.

Fissure between mind and body: the misplaced animality

In some versions of the myth, Cassandra's prophetic capacity is expressed as the ability to understand the language of animals. In mythology, animals are often representations of our instincts, of our body's needs and its rhythms, of our basic drives.

The Cassandra myth refers to how the civilizing process, which has elevated rationality and empiricism as dogmas, has opened a breach with our animality, with our innate capacity for self-regulation, with the inherent wisdom of our nature.

The distancing from our animality, from the wisdom of our body, manifests itself as disorientation and dissociation.

Internalized undervaluation

Women are forced to construct their identity in a context where their sources of identification are valued in a pejorative way, giving them connotations of weakness, victimhood, dependence and irrationality. On many occasions, the mother herself becomes the referent of what women do not want to become. The values associated with men, on the other hand, are highly valued, considering men as enterprising, logical, pragmatic, uncomplicated, objective, independent, strong, courageous and powerful.

For Maureen Murdock, the denigration of the feminine increases the likelihood that many women seek approval under patriarchal values, leaving aside or minimizing other fundamental areas of their personality.

Thus, the invisibility, marginalization, and disregard to which women are exposed become internalized, constituting an internal psychic factor from which negative judgments and evaluations of themselves emerge. becoming an internal psychic factor from which negative judgments and evaluations towards herself emerge.

Women are then identified with rationality and the search for external goals, constantly seeking approval from the male gaze. The internalized devaluation is installed as a feeling of insecurity and handicap that can manifest itself by way of compensation through a constant search to demonstrate how efficient and capable one can be, often under criteria of excessive demands that exceed the requirements of the context itself.

Psychological changes that are generated

The woman can then be possessed by an obsession for perfection and the need to be in control in different areas: work, her own body, relationships, while rejecting or distancing herself from other aspects of herself that have traditionally been related to the feminine.

She becomes deaf to the signals of her body and its rhythms; to the possibility of recognizing the excesses or deficiencies that happen to her. She does not give credibility to the inner feeling that can guide her about relationships or attitudes that need to be abandoned; nor to the voice that promotes the unfolding of her own vocation, that encourages her to be faithful to her own truth.

The gradual unfolding of the deepest needs of our psyche was denominated in Jungian psychology as the process of individuation and is considered to become more relevant in the second half of life, when the needs of adaptation to the outside world, vanity and the need for recognition begin to lose relevance, while at the same time the development of our interiority emerges as a priority. the development of our inner self emerges as a priority..

The Cansandras as medial women

Cassandra is named by the chorus as the very unfortunate and very wise, evoking the traditional relationship of wisdom emerging from suffering and frustration.

For Newman, the process of the evolution of collective consciousness in Western culture has gone from matriarchal unconsciousness with predominance of the instinctive, animism and the collective, to patriarchal skepticism in which rationality and individuality have prevailed. For Newman, the necessary patriarchal stage is experiencing its decline due to exhaustion.

The spirit of the times corresponds then to the need for a perspective in which the two principles interact harmoniously, which implies an integration of the feminine, reviled and repressed in this last stage.

The Jungian analyst Toni Wolf states that there is a type of women with a special sensitivity that makes them serve as mediators between the internal world and the external world. Medial women, as she calls them, are absorbed and molded by what seeks to become conscious in a given epoch, becoming the bearers of new principles and values.

Medial women capture and stage in the conflicts of their own lives, in the pains of their own bodies, what is "in the air", what the collective conscience does not quite admit: the need to integrate the feminine that has been rejected and repressed.

Through their art, through their sufferings, they shed light on the collective drama of erotically linking the masculine and feminine aspects, which, like a sacred marriage, act as complementary opposites without any kind of subordination. They consecrate themselves unconsciously to the service of a new and hidden spirit of the times, as did the first martyrs. Their pain becomes a scythe for the superfluous and for the encounter with the most essential and genuine.

The collective conscience cries out for a recognition and integration of the soul, of the feminine, in relationships, in institutions, in the productive model, in the instances of power. A participation on equal terms of the qualitative, of the non-visible, cannot be postponed. That the conquering, warlike and colonialist patriarchal logic be nuanced under the integrating and welcoming gaze of the feminine that unquestionably highlights the interdependence of all peoples and the sisterhood that binds us as a species. That also restores the sacredness and respect that the planet and all the elements of nature deserve.

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