Many feminist critics argue that premenstrual changes, an ordinary experience of menstruating women, was problematised as part of the negative cultural construction in North America, Western Europe and Australia to change the status and role of women. Women were prevented from holding positions of power on account of premenstrual behaviour being erratic and irrational, rendering them unfit for responsibility.
A research conducted on 48 women concluded that Indian women rarely report PMS because Premenstrual changes are positioned as normal bodily functions as part of a cultural narrative. There is an increasing chance that a negative depiction of menstrual physical and behavioural changes by the media in the Indian context can also lead to undermining of women’s agency and then being termed ‘crazy and irrational’.
Such media representation can also be held responsible for the negative emotions felt by women during their premenstrual phase. Problematising PMS also furthers the idea that women need to rely on something for their expression of general irritability and anger that is otherwise seen as unacceptable in the eyes of society.
There are many examples of misrepresentation in pop culture. It merely takes one to search of ‘Girls while PMSing’ on YouTube to find a plethora of comedy sketches pop up. A lot of them have millions of views and thousands of comments, validating the representation in it. For instance, a video by the YouTube channel of ‘POPXO’ shows a distinction between when a person is PMSing and when a person is not — depicting the characteristics of the former as formal, calm and logical, and the latter as irrational, informal and angry. Even a little anger that a person shows in everyday life, regardless of gender, is attributed to PMS in this sketch. This is to give the idea that women are incapable of showing anger and if they ever happen to do so, it is because premenstrual syndrome is insidious.
There are numerous videos titled ‘Every girl on period’, portraying women as irritable, nasty and moody because of PMSing — making it a misfortune for the men around them. Any such physical symptom portrayed is limited to bloating of stomach and craving for ice cream and chocolates, as opposed to various symptoms menstruators go through as a part of their menstrual cycle such as Edema, transient weight gain, scanty urination, breast fullness and pain. Such representations end up limiting the portrayal of PMS to emotional symptoms. This can attribute the cause as being voluntary behaviour instead of a physiological phenomenon, leading to a dismissal of any thoughts of medical treatment.
The whole focus of this media representation shifts from the menstrual struggles of women to inconvenience caused to men while dealing with a woman who is on her period. For instance, a parody by Timelines titled ‘When guys PMS’ shows a reversal of characters when on PMS to make the point that women “behave badly” when they are PMSing. This creates a negative impact and blames women for their menstrual symptoms.
To conclude, it is necessary to understand that such inaccurate portrayal of PMS and periods can lead to people forming their beliefs and attitudes as per the information that is provided to them, even if such sketches fall under the category of comedy. Given the lack of any other kind of representation of periods, these representations can lead to the audience identifying with the characters and being indoctrinated with a misrepresentation and an inaccurate portrayal of PMS. Thus, it is crucial for sketch writers to deal with the topic of menstruation sensitively and accurately.