The displacement of blame of PMDD onto the fecund body: Medical gaslighting, or just gaslighting?

Abstract

The methodology of this study was the qualitative method, employing content analysis as the technique and working within a social constructivism theoretical framework to deconstruct women’s experience of PMDD, considering that they are subjected to socially preassigned scripts of femininity. Accordingly, I analyzed women’s position within society, particularly how the social construction of PMDD functions to segregate women and focuses not on their experience but on their perceived negative effect on others. Analyzing the position of women within society posed a counter to the medical discourse which aims to readapt women into their socially assigned roles, redirecting the blame for their unaccepted behavior to their "hormonally imbalanced" bodies, and consequently dismissing their claims as products solely of biological processes. Alternatively, I propose we should attempt to approach women’s emotions and behaviors not ascribed to the ideal femininity without immediately villainizing and irrationalizing her, instead by restituting a space for her voices and her experiences to be acknowledged.