PMS is a Feminist Issue - How The Patriarchy Gaslights Women Into Ignoring Their Premenstrual Truth

As I’ve gone on my journey to heal PMDD and gain a different, less pathologising perspective on my menstrual cycle, I’ve come to see that PMS is in fact a feminist issue.

The menstrual cycle taboo

Let’s face it, the menstrual cycle is a wildly taboo topic. Look the comments on any instagram post talking about it and you’ll see things like “ew gross” or “you really shouldn’t be talking about that in public”. It’s something to be kept behind closed doors. Even amongst women, have you ever noticed the awkward shift that happens when someone mentions their period out loud, in public, in front of men? It’s like a known fact of life we aren’t allowed to acknowledge publicly.

So when it comes to even having a conversation about PMS or PMDD, it’s going against that patriarchal norm to keep the menstrual cycle hush hush.

Then on-top of that, you have the mad woman trope.

No one likes a mad woman 

The patriarchy loves a quiet, docile, soft, well-behaved woman.

Everything we are not in the luteal phase.

Women who express strong emotions, particularly anger or dissatisfaction, are often labelled as irrational or hysterical—even when those emotions are entirely valid. Hysteria—a so-called disorder characterised by emotional instability in women—was only removed as an official diagnosis from the DSM in 1980. Before that, women exhibiting symptoms of PMDD could have been locked up in asylums. Many were. And even today, medical misogyny persists—how often are women dismissed with a casual “it’s probably just anxiety” when seeking help for hormonal or mental health concerns?

Historically, powerful women have been met with the same suspicion. Anti-suffragists in the 19th and 20th centuries argued that women shouldn’t vote because they were too emotional to make rational decisions. In the 1970s, U.S. President Gerald Ford suggested that a female president would be dangerous due to her menstrual cycle, saying, "I don’t think a woman should be president… because once a month she’d have these days."

Margaret Thatcher faced scrutiny over her supposed "emotional" nature when running for office. Similarly, Hillary Clinton endured relentless sexist commentary, with critics suggesting she was too bossy, too shrill, too emotional. Meanwhile, male leaders displaying the same traits—assertiveness, ambition, decisiveness—are seen as strong and authoritative. A man is a Boss, but a woman is bossy.

The problem isn’t that women are more emotional—it’s that we are punished for emotions that men are praised for. And here’s where the premenstrual phase becomes radical.

A premenstrual woman is a threat to the status quo because she sees through the bullshit. She questions, she calls things out, she refuses to tolerate what she normally lets slide. And because we haven’t been taught how to harness this power, we often experience it as suffering instead.

The real problem isn’t that the premenstrual phase makes us overly sensitive. It’s that we haven’t been given the tools to work with our premenstrual truth serum. Because if we did? If we knew how to channel that power? We’d be unstoppable.

A low tolerance for bullshit 

Have you ever noticed how when you’re premenstrual things that wouldn’t usually bother you make your blood boil? The hormonal changes that occur shift something within us.

That my friend is the premenstrual truth serum. That rage is highlighting all the crap you normally put up with (because you have been socialised as a woman and conditioned to be the sacrificial caretaker at all costs, including your own wellbeing), and saying “yeah we’re done with this”.

Now there is some nuance to this for two reasons:

1. It’s often not about the seemingly trivial thing you blew up over, BUT it is pointing to something deeper. (PSA: this applies to most arguments in relationships.)

2. Sometimes the thing the rage is pointing to is a projection - something unhealed within yourself that is being highlighted to you through another person.

Our premenstrual phase is a potent time for highlighting shadows and wounds within ourselves that need resolving as well as unmet needs or desires.

Now I want to acknowledge that many people with PMDD struggle with extreme thoughts during their luteal phase, including suicidal ideation. Obviously I’m not saying you should off yourself because that’s your premenstrual truth serum. I’m also not saying you should dump your boyfriend if you get insecure or want to break up every month.

What I am saying as someone who has absolutely been there is that there is a reason you feel that way.  It is not because you're broken and it is not because you are crazy.

There is a part of you highlighting something really really important that needs attention. It just doesn’t always have the best solution.

In other words - “this is shit, I don’t want to do this anymore” but it can’t see any other way out. So yes, even extreme PMDD symptoms like that are still a signal that something needs to change - whether that’s trauma resolution or external circumstances.

But that’s not the point of this particular post (if you’re curious I’d recommend listening to my podcast.)

The point of this particular post is to show that PMS is a feminist issue, not just a personal one.

With the premenstrual truth serum we are painfully aware of the misogyny, both institutionalised, at home and even within ourselves.

We see it in weaponised incompetence.

We see it in how much emotional labour we are expected to do for those around us.

We see how our boundaries aren’t respected.

We see how we aren’t taken as seriously as our male counterparts.

And if you are a member of any other marginalised community - the oppression you experience as a result of that will also become painfully clear.

And that is not a bad thing. Unless of course you seek to uphold the structures that oppress us.

When we’re premenstrual our tolerance for bullshit is at an all time low. Including the patriarchal bullshit most of us deal with on the daily. So yes. PMS is a feminist issue.

So where do we go from here? 

Am I saying that every luteal phase you need to take on the worlds issues and single-handedly undo 10000 years of patriarchy?

No. Obviously not.

What I am saying is to tend your own garden.

Look at your relationship to your menstrual cycle.

Look at how you talk to yourself about PMS or PMDD.

Learn how to work with your cycle rather than against it.

Learn to speak the language of your premenstrual symptoms so you can understand them and reclaim your premenstrual power, as well as get relief from the intensity of your symptoms.

When you do, you are a dangerous woman in the eyes of the patriarchy.

Remember that the next time you go to call yourself crazy.