grrr... this made me angry

[baratron]

I found an article about premenstrual dysphoric disorder online which was written by a woman who had somehow entirely failed to get the point. Despite writing about the disorder in detail, including the fact that it can make a sufferer suicidal, she had still failed to understand that it's a real condition.

Whether or not PMDD is just another "hot diagnosis" and whether or not millions of women are indeed suffering from it, (...), millions of people will continue to "buy" the notion that the days prior to the onset of menses are a problem that needs fixing.

I have always loved sensing the cyclical changes in my body. Nothing makes me feel more like a woman that the breast tenderness and swelling I experience right before my period. I love telling my partner, "Be gentle. They're extra sensitive now. I'm getting my period." I say it with an air of authority I take on during those days. (...)

According to DSM-IV criteria, I might have a bit of PMS, but nothing that would require treatment. I think of a friend of mine, who says she suffers terribly, both emotionally and physically, the week before her periods. She might call it a disorder and gladly swallow a little pink and purple pill just to get through that week. But me, I'd rather call it one of the joys of being female and swell and cry and cramp up and bleed without pharmacological intervention.

For fuck's sake! Feeling so awful and ugly and useless that you want to die is "one of the joys of being female"? What is this bloody woman on?

Comments

Like so many

[hiddenpaw.livejournal.com]

It never ceases to amaze me how so many people seem to be under the delusion that deep down everybody feels everything the same way they do with regard to everything and anybody who claims not to is just in denial. and believe me this doesn't just apply to physical things.