Resisting the mantle of the monstrous feminine : women's construction and experience of premenstrual embodiment

The female reproductive body is positioned as abject, as other, as site of defciency and disease, the epitome of the ‘monstrous feminine.’ Premenstrual change in emotion, behavior or embodied sensation is positioned as a sign of madness within, necessitating restraint and control on the part of the women experiencing it (Ussher 2006). Breakdown in this control through manifestation of ‘symptoms’ is diagnosed as PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome) or PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder), a pathology deserving of ‘treatment.’ In this chapter, we adopt a feminist material-discursive theoretical framework to examine the role of premenstrual embodiment in relation to women’s adoption of the subject position of monstrous feminine, drawing on interviews we have conducted with women who self-diagnose as ‘PMS sufferers.’ We theorize women’s self-positioning as subjectifcation, wherein women take up cultural discourse associated with idealized femininity and the reproductive body, resulting in self-objectifcation, distress, and self-condemnation. However, women can resist negative cultural constructions of premenstrual embodiment and the subsequent self-policing. We describe the impact of women-centered psychological therapy which increases awareness of embodied change, and leads to greater acceptance of the premenstrual body and greater self-care, which serves to reduce premenstrual distress

Panel VI: Masculinities and Relationships

Moderator: Terrill Pollman Panelists:Sam Jones: The Invisible Man: The Neglect of Men and Boys in the Publicity and Prosecutions Regarding Human TraffickingDwight Fee: Democratizing Masculinity?: Towards a Relational Ethic Among MenReginald L. Robinson: Dark Secrets II: Masculinity, Down-Low Phenomenon and the Myth of Mother-Son Lov

Panel VI: Masculinities and Relationships

Moderator: Terrill Pollman Panelists:Sam Jones: The Invisible Man: The Neglect of Men and Boys in the Publicity and Prosecutions Regarding Human TraffickingDwight Fee: Democratizing Masculinity?: Towards a Relational Ethic Among MenReginald L. Robinson: Dark Secrets II: Masculinity, Down-Low Phenomenon and the Myth of Mother-Son Lov