Is PMS a Weapon Against Women?

Is PMS only a social construct that causes more harm than good? This seems more than likely ...

 

 

PMS didn't prevent women from playing a central part in World War II. (PhotoXpress)

 

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Women's periods are considered a strange phenomenon. If we add PMS (premenstrual syndrome) to this picture, we get a complete confusion. Alas, this chaos turns into the belief that women are destined to be not only confusing, but also confused, and thus the weaker gender. You don't think this is true? Well, when a woman experiences “those days of the month”, or has PMS, she needs "understanding" because she’s weak, absent-minded and above all irritable solely due to the fluctuation of hormones.

PMS is a well sold “product” that is largely used against women. It's marketed in magazine articles and adverts, by pharmaceutical companies and others that feed on the women's lack of self-confidence.

PMS as an excuse

Menstruation and PMS are often given as an excuse for not offering women more responsible job positions, since it’s uncertain how they would behave in those days of the month. Men who stick to such claims usually present themselves as women’s defenders - as those who understand women. Well, it's interesting how, despite the whims and absent-mindedness which women experience every month, they nevertheless managed to be a “crucial force” behind the military industry during the Second World War. After the war, sexual revolution should have followed, but unfortunately women again became housewives as if nothing happened. In fact, it was then that the greatest myths about women’s absent-mindedness due to PMS and menstruation started to appear (were practically invented at the time) - men came home and were unwilling to help around in the kitchen.

Women act "crazy" during PMS

The concept of PMS is negative because it encourages the belief that women are crazier and less rational than men. Yes, women can have unpleasant feelings prior to their menstrual period, but that doesn’t mean that they lose their sanity. If a woman really loses her sanity, this occurs irrespective of the stage of her menstrual cycle. We also shouldn't forget that the proportion of emotionally unstable women is equal to the proportion of such men.

Women are taught to recognise certain symptoms, pay attention to them and thus be more aware of them, while men don’t dwell on the mood swings caused by their hormones.

Men’s mood swings

Women are easy to discredit because there’s a general belief that PMS is only known to women, whereas there are no processes in men that could be compared to a woman’s menstrual cycle. But this isn’t entirely true. Although men don’t have periods or PMS, they still experience monthly mood swings. People talk about them much less than about women’s mood swings.

Men have five different testosterone cycles

Of course, men also have hormones and their production fluctuates, just as in women. In men, hormone fluctuations occur on five levels. Men experience hormonal fluctuations that occur three to four times an hour, then daily fluctuations of hormones (the largest quantity is produced in the morning and it starts dropping around noon), monthly fluctuations of hormones that occur approximately every four to six weeks, hormonal fluctuations on a yearly basis (the highest levels of testosterone are produced in October), and we also have to mention the last stage of the testosterone ups and downs - the andropause. Individuals differ from each other in terms of sensitivity to these hormonal changes.

In conclusion, perhaps women sometimesreally are the weaker gender - they’re not weaker in reality, but they allow other people to impose on them negative beliefs about themselves.

 

Read more about sex and sexuality in our Lover's Guide.

 

 

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