Marilyn Monroe Sociology

While for many, Marilyn Monroe was and still might possibly be one of the most enduring sex symbols of all time, behind her perfect curves and seductive personality, lay a dark and troubled woman ridiculed by her own mental state. What is clear however, is that Monroe suffered from severe mental distress which was later diagnosed in her rise to fame and was identified as a borderline personality disorder, severe anxiety, and depression. Possible causations of her complex mental state during that time can be defined by her past family history and upbringing, struggles with addiction, and identity disturbance.
Marilyn Monroe grew up as Norma Jean, never knowing her father and knowing that her mother was committed to a mental institution due …show more content…
It was said by those who knew her best that they felt that she always had a deep insecurity because of her troubled life of bouncing from foster home to foster home which ultimately made her feel that she was unlovable and unwanted. Growing up in such an invalidating environment no doubt affected her self-image and her views on life and the world in general. As a young woman, she bounced from one tumultuous love affair to another, marrying quickly and repeatedly, and never finding the security that she so desperately hoped marriage would bring. “She discusses her desire to be loved, and inability to find this but also to the many men that are drawn to her she is no more than an object, and later a disappointment when they find she is not Marilyn the temptress, but Marilyn, an ordinary person filled with doubts and misgivings like so many others.” (Goal Auzeen Saedi, 2012, p.3). She is also rumored to have had affairs with both President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert (among many, many others) shortly before her …show more content…
The personality traits that Monroe portrayed were based upon the facets of neuroticism, her lack of self-esteem from events in her life, like sexual abuse, the absence of her father, depression, and lack of ability to express herself are also what may have led to her untimely death. One author stated that, “It was a tough time – one in which the star’s increasingly erratic behavior and dependence on alcohol and medication plunged her glittering movie career into drastic decline.” (“The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe: The Shocking True Story”, Badman, p.133). Monroe’s puzzling death to this day has not been proven, however, due to her psychological state towards the end and the presence of an empty pill bottle at her bedside, her death was deemed a suicide. Marilyn is still remembered as an icon and for who she was and who she became rather than her tragic