Healthy Skepticism Library item: 9812

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Figert AE.
Premenstrual syndrome as scientific and cultural artifact.
Integr Physiol Behav Sci 2005 Apr-Jun; 40:(2):102-13
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17393679&query_hl=12&itool=pubmed_DocSum

Abstract:

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) has been defined in a variety of scientific and cultural ways over the years, but there is no consistent or agreed upon definition. For some women, the public legitimization of PMS and its symptoms as a real and natural part of the female body have led to a positive sense of vindication. However, a more negative image of PMS as something that controls women once a month, that makes them “crazy” and subject to their hormones, is much more pervasive in our contemporary Western culture. In this essay, the author explores the various definitions: PMS as a medical condition, as a social scientific and feminist issue, as an explanation for women’s behavior and moods in the popular culture, and, finally, as something bought or sold in a market. The author shows how PMS is real because, if for no other reason, various people in different situations choose to define it as such.

Keywords:
MeSH Terms: Adult Artifacts Culture* Drug Industry Female Feminism Humans Menstruation/psychology Premenstrual Syndrome/psychology*