The Myths of PMS and how it affects women

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You Probably Don’t Have PMS

PMS is a cultural catch-all for everything from eating a whole tub of ice cream to discrediting women in places of power. PMS is given unfounded weight to validate certain behaviors and make people victims of their biology. In reality, the premenstrual experience varies dramatically from person to person, ranging from one or two mild complaints to several near-debilitating symptoms.

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Myth #1: All women have PMS.
This myth comes from the popular mistake to attribute any symptoms occurring before the period directly to PMS. In truth, dealing with premenstrual symptoms does not necessarily equate to PMS. Premenstrual syndrome is a medical diagnosis.

Myth #2: The premenstrual phase is all about bad moods.
The way we’re taught culturally and talk socially about the premenstrual experience affects how we identify with it ourselves

Myth #3: Bad moods in your premenstrual phase can be blamed exclusively on hormone fluctuations.
Overall mental and physical health have a greater impact on mood than menstrual cycle phase.
The conclusion was surprising; data did not support the idea of a negative mood prevailing in the premenstrual phase.

Dr. Taylor explains that while the premenstrual experience varies from culture to culture, this variation also reminds us that the the term “premenstrual syndrome” is a medically constructed label, and has no equivalent in many parts of the world. To put it another way?—?while premenstrual symptoms occur more or less universally, negative mood doesn’t.


Published by Kayleigh Teel, Mike LaVigne, Erica Avey, Lisa Kennelly

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You already know your boy Pecker is a lover of women. I think they're fantastic, interesting and sometimes beautiful creatures. This is a strong message. A message that tells us to stop judging women and viewing their biological processes as a disadvantage in the business world or life in general. This is a message I can get behind!

That said, I'm having some difficulty processing this message of empowerment. Because I've been told my entire life (by women) that for one week out of every month I need to allow for mood swings, irritability, appetite changes and food cravings, headaches, tension or anxiety, and just general unpleasantness. I was told that women need special and delicate treatment during these times (even more so than usual) and that we need to allow for behavior that would otherwise be considered strange or unacceptable. And I don't think I'm alone in being taught that. But now I'm being told to forget all that because PMS is, for most women, little more than a minor inconvenience, and that men and women are, by and large, not very different from one another. So which one is it?