Tears are representative of hysteria, a psychiatric term historically attributed to women. This term was used to describe behaviors seen as overly emotional, irrational, and uncontrollable. It was an oppressive diagnosis which labeled women essentially unstable, belittling and ignoring them. Iris Marion Young’s essay Pregnant Embodiment tells readers that in “mid-nineteenth century [Victorian England and America], being female itself was symptomatic of disease. Medical writers considered women to be inherently weak and psychologically unstable, and the ovaries and uterus to be the cause of a great number of diseases and disorders, both physical and psychological” (Young 56). This fear surrounding the female body and refusal to learn about and normalize processes of the female body has had devastating and long lasting effects. One such issue is the tendency of many doctors to ignore women’s medical problems, refusing to listen to women’s claims about their own bodies. This problem disproportionately affects women of color.

It's My Body, 2014
Crying has since been utilized in performance art as a means of validating women’s experiences and emotions. One such example is Karen Finley’s It’s My Body, a spoken word performance in which the artist conveys powerful emotions of desperation, rage, sadness, and determination.

She opens with the line, “Last night I heard crying - it was a piercing cry- and I awoke, and in my room were hundreds and hundreds of women. And they were all crying, all weeping, all marching”. Finley goes on to assert that these women are fighting for bodily autonomy, for control of themselves, for abortion rights. She speaks specifically about two women close to her who died because of illegal abortions. Even as women are killed for seeking control over their bodies, they are still seen as “[hysterical].. Out of control, crazy, hell-bent, over-emotional, PMSed, [and] irrational”. These terms, however, are used to keep women submissive, keep women from asserting themselves. Finley reinterprets these terms as signifiers of power, telling the audience that women are going to fight back against the Far Right “patriarchal disorder”. 

Crying: A Protest, 2015
Crying: A Protest was a performance started by Jennifer Tamayo that included 15 performers. This performance took place at Dia: A Retrospective for artist Carl Andre. Andre was Ana Mendieta’s husband, who pushed her out of a window, killing her. Although the circumstances were extremely suspicious, Mendieta’s death was ruled a suicide, her performance work cited as evidence that she was unstable. Other big name male artists at the time came to Andre’s defense. Carl Andre not only walks free, but also still gets to show his work and is still celebrated in the art world. In Crying; A Protest, the performers enter the show in groups of two, spaced out so that they will not draw attention to themselves before necessary. As the pairs file in, they cry silently while browsing Andre’s bare, minimalist work. When all the performers have entered the space, everyone gathers in the exhibition's main room and begin crying more loudly, more violently, more passionately. Tears are utilized as weapons as the sobs and wails of 15 women overwhelmingly fill the space. The presence of these women as well as the tears themselves are threatening a culture and institution that allows men to get away with committing horrendous acts, blaming the victim instead. These women make themselves and their emotions seen and heard, and are making it known that they see the injustices happening, and they refuse to be silent. Guards escort the performers out of the building, but the performers drop tiny slips of papers with the sentence, “We wish Ana Mendieta was still alive” (Hyperallergic).

Women's emotions have long been negated, written off as displays of hysteria and over-dramatics. When tears become performance, demanding attention from viewers, the audience is forced to listen. Women artists who present their tears in protest and anger are telling viewers that their feelings are valid; they should be enraged. Rape, murder, restrictive abortion legislation, ignoring medical problems, femicide- these atrocities are just the beginning of the list. The world must listen to women who are suffering under patriarchal oppression; and women are demanding that they be heard.