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Crusty Curmudgie McCrankypants sez:
It really irritates me when PMS is portrayed as a likely reason that a woman is cranky; it also really irritates me when, as a joke, women on PMS are portrayed on a murderous rampage.
For one thing, there are PLENTY of things to get legitimately angry about. I don't have to have PMS to be pissed off.
For another thing, whenever I do have PMS (which was ages ago, thank you birth control) I get melty and weepy and so do many of the women I know. PMS may also translate into being snappish; but really, is a woman getting angry such a rare and surprising thing that being snappish is seen as a short step away from a violent maniac?
And this joke often comes from female comics, or other people that in all other ways are extremely progressive.
Anyways. I think there are probably a lot of my friends who could care less, or who think these jokes are very funny, but they always leave Crusty Curmudgie McCrankypants feeling a little sour.
I am leaving comments on, but I am about to embark, starting tomorrow, on a week and a half of winter concert craziness, so keep in mind I may not respond to comments until the weekend after next.
It really irritates me when PMS is portrayed as a likely reason that a woman is cranky; it also really irritates me when, as a joke, women on PMS are portrayed on a murderous rampage.
For one thing, there are PLENTY of things to get legitimately angry about. I don't have to have PMS to be pissed off.
For another thing, whenever I do have PMS (which was ages ago, thank you birth control) I get melty and weepy and so do many of the women I know. PMS may also translate into being snappish; but really, is a woman getting angry such a rare and surprising thing that being snappish is seen as a short step away from a violent maniac?
And this joke often comes from female comics, or other people that in all other ways are extremely progressive.
Anyways. I think there are probably a lot of my friends who could care less, or who think these jokes are very funny, but they always leave Crusty Curmudgie McCrankypants feeling a little sour.
I am leaving comments on, but I am about to embark, starting tomorrow, on a week and a half of winter concert craziness, so keep in mind I may not respond to comments until the weekend after next.
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I read somewhere (Shakesville? Bitch PhD? Hoyden About Town?) about how maybe it's not so much that PMS makes women cranky, it's that PMS erodes a woman's ability to just take all the crap the way she does the other 3 weeks of the month. The irritants are legitimate and there all the time, but women just suppress their anger most of the time.
Also, I really hate the way PMS is used against female political candidates. "OMG, she'll have access to nukes while PMS-ing!". What a load of hooey. First of all, most women running for the higher offices are post-menopausal, and have been for some time. They don't have PMS. Second, even if they are menstruating, they are still likely to be in their 40s. So they've had periods for about 30 years. Doesn't it occur to anyone that after three decades, a woman would have her cycle all figured out and be quite the expert at dealing with its effects? It's all just a bunch of sexist claptrap.
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