QHow many times, when faced with a nervous, sad or simply tired woman, has someone thought – or said – «It will be the cycle. Maybe it’s the hormones»? There has been a real one on the web for a while now collective obsession with hormones. One in three posts on social media talks about how hormonal fluctuations affect women’s mood, body, productivity. In short, if what circulates online is true, then hormones are a real nightmare: absolute masters of female thoughts and emotions. A biological condition that makes women less reliable, strong, stable. Is this really such a new thought? Doesn’t it sound like you’ve heard it before?
The female body is used to being exploited
Fixed point: it is undeniable that hormones have a real impact on mood and health. But, as an investigation by Dazed, these processes are much more complex than that. The risk of getting carried away by TikTok? Delivering an ancient script to science, which belittles female pain and ends up exploiting their behavior. Hormones are certainly not an invention of social media. Estrogens And progesterone“directors” of the menstrual cycle, really act on the brain, metabolism and emotions.
But much of what goes online — from cycle-syncing (synchronize training and nutrition with the phases of the menstrual cycle) to those who advise abandoning the contraceptive pill in the name of an alleged return to “natural” – it is, to use the doctor’s words Jan Toledanofemale hormone specialist and founder of London Hormone Cliniclittle more than a «marketing trick».
What science says about hormones
The intensity of the hormonal effects varies greatly from woman to woman, and even in the same woman from one month to the next: there is no identical script for everyone. For the most part, these changes remain mild and manageable, a normal part of life. However, when the symptoms become disabling – to the point of interfering with work and relationships – we speak of endometriosis or premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or, in more serious cases, of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD): real clinical conditions, which deserve a diagnosis and treatment, not just “it’s normal, it happens”.
Hormones influence, not determine
The critical point is precisely this border. Knowing that estrogen affects serotonin is science. Saying that every woman is “dumber” before her period, or “irresistible” during ovulation, is a logical leap that science doesn’t support. Hormones they influence, not determine: They can explain greater sensitivity on certain days, but they do not reduce an entire person — his character, his choices, his competence — to a level of progesterone in the blood.
A script that repeats itself, obviously written by a man
Here is the answer to the question in the first paragraph: the idea that women are governed by their hormones is not a recent discovery, but the return to an ancient script, obviously written by a man. For centuries, medicine has attributed every “inexplicable” female discomfort to the uterus and ovaries. — from hysteria to supposedly uncontrollable mood swings — using the body as a pretext to justify exclusion and control. Today the same mechanism presents itself in a new guise, made up of apps, devices and wellness.
But the underlying message doesn’t change much: women need to “manage” their hormones to be up to par, productive, presentable. So women are weaker than men. An idea that often arises from good intentions – such as the legitimate desire to better understand a body ignored by medicine for centuries – risks leading women themselves into a trap. Reducing a woman to a monthly hormonal swing means, in fact, insinuating that she is less lucid, less reliable, less “stable” than a man: an idea as old as the world. Maybe it’s time to change it.
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