Lesbians Have Less Distress with PMS
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Lesbians have less

distress with PMS

SYDNEY -- Most women have physical and psychological changes in the premenstrual phase of the cycle, but only some experience distress, an Australian researcher says.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 36 British and 64 Australian women, Jane M. Ussher, director of the Gender Culture and Health Research at the University of Western Sydney, argues that women's experience of distress or anger premenstrually is connected to the self-policing practices which women are expected to engage in order to fulfill their role as a "good" wife or mother.

Premenstrually, when many women feel more vulnerable, and their repressed frustration or anger comes to the fore, their self-control is ruptured, and they can lash out, or want to withdraw from the caring role, often followed by increased self-surveillance, leading to guilt, shame and blaming of the body, according to Ussher.

She says women in lesbian relationships were found to report less distress associated with premenstrual changes, greater acceptance on the part of their partner, and less self-policing.

Ussher concludes that the identification of self-policing is of particular concern for heterosexual women.

Ussher is presenting her findings at an international conference for psychologists held at the University of Leicester.

United Press International ** Lesbians have less distress with PMS