Zietal, Bianca (Author)
Hurlbut, James Benjamin (Advisor)
This is a project about medicine and the history of a condition called premenstrual syndrome (PMS), its “discovery” and conceptual development at both scientific and socio-cultural levels. Since it was first mentioned in medical literature, PMS has been explored empirically as a medical condition and conceptually as non-somatic cultural phenomenon. Many attempts have been made to produce scientific, empirical evidence to bolster the theory of PMS as a biological disease. Some non-medical perspectives argue that invoking biology as the cause of PMS medicalizes a natural function of the female reproductive system and shallowly interrogates what is actually a complex bio-psycho-social phenomenon. This thesis questions both sides of this debate in order to reveal how criteria for PMS were categorized despite disagreement surrounding its etiology. This thesis illustrates how the concept of PMS developed and was informed by the discovery of hormones and the resulting field of endocrinology that provided a framework for conceptualizing PMS. It displays how the development of the medical diagnostic category of PMS developed in tandem with the emergence of the field of endocrinology and was legitimized and effectively medicalized through this connection. The diagnosis of PMS became established though the diagnostic techniques like questionnaires in spite of persistent disagreement over its definition. The thesis shows how these medical concepts and practices legitimated the category of PMS, and how it has become ubiquitous in contemporary culture.
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Article
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(2001)
The Assault on Ignorance: Teaching Menstrual Etiquette in England, c. 1920s to 1960s
(/isis/citation/CBB000770467/)
Article
Stukenbrock, Karin;
(2008)
Der Krieg in der Heimat: “Kriegsamenorrhoe” im Ersten Weltkrieg
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Book
Cathy McClive;
(2015)
Menstruation and Procreation in Early Modern France
(/isis/citation/CBB727827348/)
Article
Eraso, Yolanda;
(2007)
Biotypology, Endocrinology, and Sterilization: The Practice of Eugenics in the Treatment of Argentinian Women during the 1930s
(/isis/citation/CBB000830252/)
Book
Claudia Pancino;
(2021)
Storia della nascita
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Article
Feltrin, Rebeca Buzzo;
Velho, Lea Maria Leme Strini;
(2014)
Between the Country and the Laboratory: The Dynamics of the Production of Knowledge at the Menopause Outpatients Clinic at Caism, Unicamp
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Article
Florence Bourbon;
(2017)
Traces de controverse dans les traités gynécologiques hippocratiques (Maladies des femmes 34, 63, 65, et 114)
(/isis/citation/CBB670381090/)
Article
Steinert, Ulrike;
(2012)
K. 263+10934: A Tablet with Recipes against the Abnormal Flow of a Woman's Blood
(/isis/citation/CBB001211308/)
Article
Camilla Mørk Røstvik;
(2019)
Blood Work: Menstrual Cycle Scholarship Comes of Age
(/isis/citation/CBB069399373/)
Article
Caballero Navas, C.;
(2008)
Mujeres, cuerpos y literatura médica medieval en hebreo
(/isis/citation/CBB000931875/)
Article
Knaapen, Loes;
Weisz, George;
(2008)
The Biomedical Standardization of Premenstrual Syndrome
(/isis/citation/CBB000830442/)
Chapter
Linton, David;
(2013)
The Menstrual Masquerade
(/isis/citation/CBB001552405/)
Chapter
Stolberg, Michael;
(2004)
Deutungen und Erfahrungen der Menstruation in der Frühen Neuzeit
(/isis/citation/CBB000670156/)
Article
Anabella Esperanza;
(2021)
Medicalising the Jewish Ritual Bath: Women, Health and Purity in the Late Ottoman Empire
(/isis/citation/CBB781450711/)
Book
Shail, Andrew;
Howie, Gillian;
(2005)
Menstruation: A Cultural History
(/isis/citation/CBB000930580/)
Book
Vostral, Sharra Louise;
(2008)
Under Wraps: A History of Menstrual Hygiene Technology
(/isis/citation/CBB000831088/)
Article
Brookes, Barbara;
(2006)
“The Glands of Destiny”: Hygiene, Hormones and English Women Doctors in the First Half of the 20th Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000930215/)
Book
Freidenfelds, Lara;
(2009)
The Modern Period: Menstruation in Twentieth-Century America
(/isis/citation/CBB001020418/)
Book
Walle, Etienne van de;
Renne, Elisha P.;
(2001)
Regulating Menstruation: Beliefs, Practices, Interpretations
(/isis/citation/CBB000650738/)
Article
Arata, Luigi;
(2008)
Due emmenagoghi in Sulle malattie femminili I 74
(/isis/citation/CBB001000046/)
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