Yesterday I found out about a wonderful new ad campaign for milk which, according to NPR, stems from the "Got Milk?" campaign. This time, though, the ads ask men if they've "Got Milk" as a way to cure their apparently enraged girlfriend, sister, or wife of PMS. Um, "Got Douche Bag?"
I have news for the world: women menstruate as a result of their biology. Really, we don't do it on purpose. So why do we have to take so much crap for it?
PMS stems from the various hormone fluctuations that occur during a woman's cycle. These may have effects on the brain (or they may not, depending on each woman's biology), causing a woman to potentially become more emotional for a few days each month. The campaign is claiming that milk may be able to reduce these PMS symptoms while also sending the message that PMS turns women into raving lunatics every month who must be calmed down with a nice, tall glass of milk.
If you look on the bottom of the campaign's website (I mean wayyy down) on http://everythingidoiswrong.org, you will find the nice, tiny disclaimer stating, "Milk helps reduce a majority of women's symptoms after 3 months of taking 1,200 mg Calcium/day."
NPR took a look into the claim of the ads by speaking with epidemiologist Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, the lead author of the 2005 paper cited by the milk group. The following are her quotes given to NPR:
"The site overstates the prevalence" of the PMS problem, she says. Clinically significant symptoms — those severe enough to have a real negative effect on daily functioning — affect about 15 to 20 percent of menstruating women.
"It's true that the majority of menstruating women have symptoms of some sort," she says, "but if they're not having an effect on daily life then it's probably not severe enough to be considered clinical PMS."
According to Bertone-Johnson, only 15-20 percent of women are affected in a truly negative way by PMS symptoms. Despite this fact, our culture constantly accuses all women of having it and becoming over-emotional, angry, and generally a huge bummer to be around because of it. It's an excuse to berate women, to put them down, and to disregard real emotions they may be feeling. Often times men may write off what a woman says completely by blaming it on her "PMS."
I would like to live in a world where I don't get made fun of for being a woman. One where the joke "What bleeds for seven days and doesn't die? A woman!" doesn't exist. One with more men willing to go out and buy me a box of tampons if I need them, like my boyfriend did the other day. That was actually really sweet, but only because i'm so used to guys acting like they just ran into Freddy Krueger when a girl even mentions the word "period" or "PMS."
I understand these ads are meant to be humorous, but mainly they are humorous for men because they are not the ones who are the butt of the joke. And not only are women the butt of the joke, but they end up being the butt of many jokes every single month if a guy finds out Aunt Flo has arrived.
If we look at social expectations and gender roles/norms set for women, we know that anger is seen as unfeminine. Many women cry when they are angry because sadness is a more acceptable outward show of emotion for women than anger is (on the flip side, anger is more acceptable for men to show than sadness). Claims that all women have PMS and it is what makes them angry or unreasonable only allow men to ignore women's genuine emotions and not have to deal with them. I know there have been plenty of times when I have expressed anger and a man's first response is "wow, somebody's on her period!" Very original, boys...and somehow it's still not funny.
I'm pretty sure medically proven PMS symptoms are less prevalent than the anger caused by men making jokes while women are simply trying to make--can you believe it--a real point.
