Here's a question
Since I haven't irritated sufficient numbers of people yet today:
In college I was told (by women) that PMS and its effects were mostly something men made up to support the "fallacy" that women are more emotional; a tactic to discredit women and make them seem less able, less rational.
And yet as men, we spend our lives listening to women say they shouldn't be held accountable for their words/moods/whatever because of PMS.
Anyone want to help me reconcile those two ideas?
posted by Rob @ 1:48:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
no.
;-)
hah. sound of crickets, yes...
PS. a cpl interesting related things i came across recently:
1) the reason it's verboten to mention PMS when it's happening, and the reason women will deny it's happening until afterward, is that the subtext of "You're just PMS-ing"" is "You don't need to be taken seriously." But the feelings a woman has at that time are as intense & real as any other feelings she ever has, and no one wants to be blown off. She many not need you to agree with her point (eg, you are Satan because you agreed her friend is attractive) but rather that you take seriously how she is *feeling* at this time. Remember how (for some reason) feelings count as much as sports or beer with women? Well, when you say "It's just PMS", it sounds like "Your feelings are suspect/faulty/wrong/irrelevant." And while they *may* be suspect/faulty, feelings aren't right/wrong, and shouldn't be irrelevant.
2) Part of PMS is about elevated testosterone, which (among other things) tends to make humans less tolerant, patient, & kind, and more horny, aggressive, competitive. Since men average about 10 times the testosterone level that women do, some of what you feel when you're PMSing is how we feel every day. Just saying.
okay, i like the reasoning better in your comment.
yes, having feelings taken seriously is always a prudent tactic. :) even tho we/i can look back on pms-ing episodes and cringe, it is never a wise thing to point out at the time, or make light of at a later date, from the male perspective.
it's best to not question or try to make rational -- imo.
:-)
I don't think the women who presented the fallacy theory are the same ones who demand get out of jail free cards for their lady hormones, but I might have just missed our collective stance on this issue at the latest board meeting :(
afaik some women don't even get weepy or cranky at all when they're pmsing so it seems sort of patronizing to make the assumption "___ is being irrational because she's a woman" vs "____ is being irrational because i know her personally to be bad at handling pms". Unless you're trying to say that most women get weepy and irrational no matter what and thusly it isn't really an unfair generalization? idk about that but it sounds dodgy to me. Thats just my two cents.
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