Body image concerns are a prominent issue among women, with detrimental consequences for mental health and well-being. Women’s body shame and body dissatisfaction is heightened during the premenstrual phase of the cycle, associated with premenstrual distress. Body management behaviours also fluctuate across the menstrual cycle, manifested by premenstrual food cravings and reduced exercise. However, the meaning and consequences of premenstrual body dissatisfaction and changes to body management remains underexplored. How women construct and negotiate negative premenstrual embodiment in relation to cultural discourse, and factors contributing to premenstrual body shame and dissatisfaction, require further examination. The purpose of the research presented in this thesis was to explore how women who report premenstrual body dissatisfaction construct and experience their premenstrual bodies. A mixed method design was employed, utilising a survey and the arts-based method body-mapping, followed by an interview. In the statistical analysis of standardised survey scales, body shame was associated with higher premenstrual distress and self-objectification. Self-objectification was associated with higher premenstrual emotional/reactivity. Women who reported disordered eating attitudes reported lower premenstrual distress, body shame and self-objectification. Thematic analysis of qualitative data identified that negative physical and emotional premenstrual changes were interrelated, associated with construction of the premenstrual body as abject, out of control, separate to the self, and to blame for women’s distress. Drawing on cultural discourse associated with feminine embodiment, constructions of the abject body as fat and leaking were associated with increased self-policing and body scrutiny. Premenstrual changes disrupted women’s usual strict management of their bodies, associated with negative feelings towards the premenstrual body and the self. Many women demonstrated agency and resistance of negative cultural discourses around premenstrual embodiment. Participants critiqued and challenged cultural discourses that negatively construct the premenstrual body, dressed for comfort rather than fashion premenstrually and took a break from restrictive eating and rigorous exercise practices during this phase. Findings of this thesis provide insight into women’s subjective experiences of negative premenstrual embodiment. These findings emphasize the need to acknowledge changes in body dissatisfaction and body management across the menstrual cycle, and the consequences for women’s feelings about the body and the self. The broader implications of these findings suggest that premenstrual body dissatisfaction is complex and multi-layered and plays a role in women’s premenstrual distress
