The Problematic of 'Experience

A Political and Cultural Critique of PMS

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2369244
AutoresSusan Marken (0000-0003-1040-7659, University of California, Los Angeles, autor de correspondencia)
Año1996
Volumen10
Número1
Páginas42-58
Fecha de publicación1996-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGender & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0891-2432 • E-ISSN: 1552-3977
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/089124396010001004
OpenAlexW2119627733
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas28

This article examines a select sample of popular magazines and self-help books to address the question: How is premenstrual syndrome (PMS) constructed discursively as a legitimate disease worthy of medical attention and public discussion? The author finds that some women have been active participants in the construction of PMS as a medical disease. In particular, she finds that accounts of women's experiences of premenstrual symptoms figure prominently in the rhetorical legitimation of PMS as a medical phenomenon in the popular press and self-help books. At the same time, the author examines the gendered assumptions about gender, health, and normality that underlie how women's 'experiences' are incorporated into the construction of PMS. In particular, she asks whose experience is part of the medical legitimation of premenstrual symptoms and argues that the case of PMS illustrates the need for feminists to problematize biological as well as social experiences

Art · Epistemology · Legitimation · Literature · Normality · Phenomenon · Political science · Public health · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Medicine · Menstrual Health and Disorders · Nursing · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology