the Female Body GOVERNING

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joshua gunn & mary douglas vavrus
6. Figert (1996) notes that the damaging stereotypes of women associated with
PMS can be found in discussions of women and their menstrual cycles since
ancient Greek times. She points out that more recent discussions of PMS have
focused on remedying PMS symptoms so that women can return to their
rightful place as stabilizers of their homes and families, and can get back to
doing any wage labor that might be expected of them. In other words, PMS—
and its female sufferers—are viewed as disruptors of the social, familial, and
even economic order (pp. 8–10).
7. Like so many pharmaceutical ads in print media, Eli Lilly’s name is nowhere
to be found in the text of the ad; it appears only at the bottom of the following
page, along with the pagelong list of possible side effects and cautions.
8. See Rivers (1996, chap. 3) for a discussion about men reporting PMSlike
symptoms in themselves—as long as they are not referred to as PMS
symptoms.
9. As of 2004, Seasonale advertisements began to appear regularly on both
network and cable television.
10. However, its use may cause breast cancer to spread, according to a recent study
(Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2003).
11. Interestingly, this same Web site includes information about Remifemin,
stating that it is one of the commercialized preparations for black cohosh
root. The numerous other commercial preparations of it listed from a Google
search are not displayed on this page of the National Institute of Health’s
(NIH) Web site.
12. This labyrinth has become even more diffi cult to navigate with the news that
HRT trials have revealed that replacing lost estrogen with synthetic estrogen
and other hormone blends can have serious side effects, such as conditions
leading to stroke and heart disease. Thus, Remifemin’s play for second-wave
feminists may not be necessary as more women—feminism-sympathetic and
otherwise—look to non-HRT treatments for their menopause symptoms.
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Center for Science in the Public Interest. (2003, October). Black cohosh warning.
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