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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscripthas been reproduced from the microfilmmaster. UMI films the text directly from the original or copysubmitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from anytype of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrationsand photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely.event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuingfrom left to right in equal sections withsmall overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. U-M·I University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. M148106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9334925 Waging hormones: An analysis of the premenstrual syndrome in America Lovaas, Karen Elizabeth, Ph.D. University of Hawaii, 1993 Copyright @1994 by Lovaas, Karen Elizabeth. All rights reserved. V·M·I 300 N. Zeeb Rd. AnnArbor, MI48106 WAGING HORMONES: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME IN AMERICA A DISSERTATIONSUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIl IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOcrOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN AMERICAN STUDIES AUGUST 1993 By Karen Elizabeth Lovaas Dissertation Committee: David E. Stannard, Chairperson Meda Chesney-Lind Floyd W. Matson Deane Neubauer Haunani-Kay Trask ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of people were helpful to me in the process of researching and writing this dissertation. Members of my committee offered ideas from varied perspectives. My chair, David Stannard, discussed the overall design with me and helped focus the argument. Floyd Matson read the historical sections closely and brought interesting parallels in popular culture to my attention. Haunani-Kay Trask provided excellent feedback on the interview analysis. Meda Chesney-Lind graciously agreed to replace a departing committee member and gave very good advice from a social science perspective. And Deane Neubauer lived up to all the wonderful things I had heard about him; his expertise and empathy proved extremely valuable. I was fortunate to work with a committee of suchhigh caliber. I' am grateful to the women I interviewed for this research who were willing to discuss intimate aspects oftheir lives and, in the process, educated me enormously. How many dissertations would be written without supportive personal relationships? My husband Erich Hunt exhibited unfailing love and belief in me and assisted in numerous other concrete ways. Constance Fournier has been my comrade throughout the long process of earning a doctorate, from coursework to comprehensive exam to dissertation writing and defense. lowe a special debt ofgratitude to Dawn Mills, who also recently completed a dissertation on PMS; she was my colleague, editor, ally, and friend. It would have been much lonelier without her. Many other friends and family members also offered encouragement. This work is dedicated to my beloved sister, Catherine Carol Lovaas, who died on January 15, 1993. The example ofher life will always be a rich source ofinspiration. 11l ABSTRACT Research stressing menstrual cycle-linked pathology occurs at times of demographic opportuneness, medical expansion, and sociopolitical advantage. Despite the failure ofmedical science to validate the cultural belief that biological functions determine women's capabilities and shape her appropriate social roles, efforts to do so continue. The premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, is a contemporary example of this effort. The primary conclusion of this research is that the PMS phenomenon has been two-edged in terms of what it represents and its consequences. On the positive side, women with severe cyclical symptoms, whose concerns were previously dismissed, gained confirmation that they were neither alone nor crazy. As better research on premenstrual symptoms evolves, chances for efficacious treatment improve. Women have been active participants in the debate over PMS, asserting their health needs, critiquing the inadequacies of the research, and challenging the classification "premenstrual syndrome." Some PMS support groups and non-profit organizations provide an opportunity for raising women's consciousness about the cultural denigration of the menstrual cycle and their shared experience of gender discrimination as women. Many women are apparently more able to express interpersonal and social concerns premenstrually that they may suppress at other times. The negative aspects ofPMS are significant. Although medical attention to PMS IS in part a result of organized pressure on the institution of medicine, it is also a consequence of the fact that when remedies (purported or real) for female problems become profitable, interest grows. PMS propaganda has successfully persuaded many women to pathologize cyclical changes they had considered normal. Some of the groups organized to assist women with PMS have lent uncritical support to the use of ineffective and sometimes hazardous treatments. The medical profession has largely studied PMS IV outside the context of women's lives, thus entirely ignoring social causes of women's distress in a sexist society. Women's justifiable anger about inequitable conditions is easily discounted by women themselves, their families, their employers, and society at large when women are medically designated irritable and "bitchy" due to raging hormones. This in tum lessens the chances for structural changes to improve the conditions of women's lives. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 111 Abstract IV Preface viii CHAPTER ONE Introduction.................................................................................. 1 Background 4 The Current Study 6 Outline of Chapters 11 Notes 12 CHAPTER TWO Theoretical andHistorical Foundation 16 Theoretical Background 17 The Body asMachine 21 Menstruation in the Victorian Age 24 Summary 32 Notes 34 CHAPTER THREE The 1920s - 1930s: Consumer Cultureand Sex Hormones 40 The Social Setting 41 Feminine Psychology 45 Medical Science 47 Sex Hormones Research and the Emergence of Premenstrual Syndrome 49 Summary 56 Notes 58 CHAPTER FOUR The 1940s - 1960s: From Rosie the Riveter to the FeminineMystique...................... 62 The Social Setting 63 Psychology 70 Medical Science 75 Menstrual Cycle Research 77 PMS Research in the Sixties 84 Summary 88 Notes 90 CHAPTER FIVE The 1970s - 1990s: From Liberation to Backlash 97 Demographic and Cultural Trends 98 Feminism and the New Right 105 VI Backlash: ThePolitically Conservative 1980s and Early 19905 """"""""",.... 107 ThePolitics of Science 109 Summary' 117 Notes 119 CHAPTER SIX Contemporary Review ofthe Literature on PMS 127 Popular Discourse on PMS 129 Medical Science 136 Feminist Analyses ofPMS 146 Summary 159 Notes 161 CHAPTER SEVEN How Women View PMS 179 Description of the Groups Studied 181 HowMHF Participants View PMS 184 HowWomen From WNC and PWFC ViewPMS 198 Summary 208 Notes 209 CHAPTER EIGHT Waging Hormones. Part I: Control andHormones 210 Control 212 Hormones 220 Summary 231 Notes 233 CHAPTER NINE Waging Hormones, Part II: Stress, Shame. andAnger 235 Stress 237 Emotions 247 Summary 267 Notes 269 CHAPTER TEN Conclusion 274 Notes 285 APPENDIX A: PlvlS Symptom List 286 APPENDIXB: Methods Used In This Dissertation 288 APPENDIXC: Interview Questions 300 APPENDIXD: Demographic Information Form 304 APPENDIXE: Consent Forms 306 APPENDIXF: Questionnaires 308 APPENDIXG: Summary ofQuantitative Results , '............... 314 REFERENCES 317 VII PREFACE Chapter One ofthis dissertation explains that in feminist research, it is appropriate for the researcher to account for herself Therefore I have included this short preface to offer a personal perspective on the subject ofthe premenstrual syndrome and hormones. Like manygirls, my primary sources ofinformation about the menstrual cycle were an "educational" movie in elementary school, pamphlets inside boxes of menstrual pads or tampons, and the ideas of my mends. This information amounted to a vague notion of a mysterious biological event that was supposed to signal womanhood. My mother's strange, resigned tone of voice as she signed the form allowing me to attend a sex segregated school session about puberty registered without dampening my curiousity. In fact, the atmosphere ofsecrecy about the subject heightened my anticipation ofmenarche. My first menstruation arrived and passed without fanfare; the secrecy on the subject continued. As a young woman, I had a rather "macho" attitude about menstrual cycle changes. Though I was mortified on occasions when I discovered too late that my period had come, I was pleased that, other than bleeding, the cycle usually did not intrude on my awareness. I was slow to pick up on the regularity