But really, this post goes out to any man who tries to discount what women experience.
Yes, Bures’ excerpt in Slate had a very clickbait-y title but that doesn’t mean a travel writer, who also happens to be a person that has never experienced a period, is trying to explain PMS as a “cultural symptom.” Of course women in different cultures experience PMS differently. I also experience PMS differently than my next door neighbor, than my mom, than pretty much every other woman ’cause bodies are complicated. Especially during that time of the month. WHEN HORMONES CHANGE AND RAGE.
But I digress.
I’m not a doctor (nor have I played one on TV, casting directors) so I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty. But I will say there’s no way someone is going to chalk up the many miserable cycles I have dealt with in my lifetime to “culture”.
Oh and the paragraph about menstruation having a positive meaning in some cultures? Let’s not forget all the places where it doesn’t.
So, naw dude. You don’t get to talk to me about PMS.
I would also like to point out a few other things from this excerpt:
- “Penis Thieves” is in his subtitle, which he apparently spends a lot of his book on.
- He brings up how, in Papua New Guinea, men “menstruate” by slicing their penis with crab claws, you know, in case you forgot about the penis.
- His wife is a saint.