That sneaky, sexist patriarchy is at it again! Where do these guys live? Where do they meet and plan this stuff? Perhaps in a dark castle in the Alps? Whatever. In one of their biggest schemes ever, they're sexually abusing and harassing women in order to create false readings of PMDD and thereby sell lots of drugs women don't need.Now, while I DO agree that the sociopath pharma culture does indeed load Americans with too many chemicals they don't really need (not just women!!!), I cannot agree that it is conspiring to create a worldwide myth of PMDD.
Who could believe such absurdity?
Answer: speaking with forked tongue and loaded with sexist insinuation, Paula J. Caplan, a clinical and research psychologist from Harvard and DuBois University, has written a tabloid article for Ms. Magazine entitled, "Pathologizing Your Period." While the article at first appears to be sane and thoughtful (especially noting that the DSM includes categories not based on solid science--so true!) it soon degenerates into the kind of counter-productive, anti-male sexism that skews and taints even the best of articles in Ms. Magazine.
Ms. Magazine can't let its readers forget even for a moment that for every female problem, there is a troll of the patriarchy lurking in the background as the cause. I've used the comparison many times, but Ms. always reminds me of Fox News running orange alerts all day across the bottom of the TV screen, frightening the dumb and gullible into believing there are terrorists behind every bush in every town in America.
Without a reference to a single study or statistic, Paula states emphatically:
The absence of science leaves a void into which every conceivable kind of bias has been found to flow—including sexism.And so, Paula insinuates that the decision to identify symptoms of PMDD and place them in the DSM is a sexist plot. But of course, she can't prove it.
Furthermore, with our dear Paula J. Caplan, resident psychologist celebrity looking for attention, we see a form of Orwellian doublespeak coming into play. While Paula can't deny studies that have surveyed women countless times that prove they do report "feeling worse" before their periods (as she notes: "Do some women report feeling worse before their periods than at other times of the month? Certainly ...") she goes on later to say:
Hundreds of researchers have tried unsuccessfully to prove that women are more likely to have mood problems premenstrually than at other times.Huh? ... But she is working on an answer. The "mood problems" are not caused by PMDD, but by MEN! Why didn't I think of that? As follows:
Premenstrual discomforts are also more often reported by women who were sexually abused as children, are struggling with abuse or harassment ...Right, thank you Paula! That solves it all. But wait ... You are a scientist, so why don't you quote a viable study that supports this keen observation of yours? You have the opportunity, why not use it? Where is the proof that sexual harassment creates a false reading of PMDD?
But Paula J. Caplan doesn't need facts, or solid science to support her wild claims. Is she no different than the DSM that she condemns? Can we diagnose hypocrisy then? No? It must be evident beyond need of proof that PMDD appears to exist only in women who have been sexually abused or harassed by men. Follow the big money if you don't believe it.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT = PMDD = BIG PHARMA DOLLARS.
The math is simple. And before I forget, one final quote from Paula:
Another study showed that men identified PMDD symptoms in themselves as commonly as women did.I can't stop laughing! Paula has gone from disingenuous to tabloid mental, all in a few hundred words. Again, she fails to quote this pivotal study that proves men have PMDD symptoms even though they don't have periods. Were they also the victims of sexual harassment then? I mean, it follows, right? Joe Palooka Jones of Jonestown, Ohio is all grumpy-wumpy-slumpy because the 7-Eleven clerk told him she liked his buns.
I encourage any and all women who read this piece to write Paula J. Caplan directly and tell her what an ass she is and how lying about PMDD for the sake of an article in Ms. Magazine only punishes women who really do suffer from PMDD and who must deal with the problem realistically, and without being told they're dupes or dummies of the patriarchy.
Thank you for your support.
