The Sydney Feminists

What is Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder? (Trigger warning: Suicide section) What is PMDD? Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), is a hormonal mood disorder which causes disabling psychological and physical symptoms. It is a cyclic condition which onsets between the ovulation and menstrual period (1-2 weeks) before each period. It effects about 3-8% of menstruating women and is often self-diagnosed. It is found to disrupt women’s social, personal and work lives. There is no cure but there are treatment options.   [Image 1] History and Classification of PMDD PMDD was identified relatively recently (1994), and was only added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2013, and to WHO’s International Classification of Disease index in 2010 [1]. The AIFC summarised PMDD from the 2007 UNS Health Care Newsroom as [2]: “Women who have PMDD were found to have variants in the oestrogen receptor alpha gene catechol-O-methyl transfera...

Note: review tickets provided by Transmission Films. Review contains mild spoilers. I have to start this review by saying I am not religious. I may have missed the meaning of some scenes/themes as I know very little about religious stories and figures, but I was interested in how they would reimagine such an old story, e.g. Jesus’s crucifixion, in what’s being lauded as a feminist version. Basically,  Mary Magdalene  is a fictional story set around the time Jesus is rocking about performing miracles and being crucified, mainly from the perspective of Mary Magdalene. Before researching for this review, I thought Mary was a repentant sex worker, but this is apparently false, and the movie goes to lengths to tell us that this rumour was started and perpetuated by the church. That a woman, or woman figure, was slandered (at least in the eyes of those at the time) and revisionist history minimised her role and relegated her to the sidelines does not exactly surprise me b...

Alienation and delegitimization of queer identities within the LGBTQ+ community is nothing new. From isolating members who are not ‘gold-star’ lesbians or gays, to doubting the legitimacy of transsexuality and genderfluidity, and completely ignoring the identities of asexual or agender people. And these examples do not even address the extending layers of oppression that people from intersectional backgrounds face. Bisexuals (focusing on but not ignoring the others), unlike monosexuals, suffer stereotyping from both within and outside the queer community. This is unique to other subgroups of the LGBTQ+ community, because dominant stereotypes which exist in straight or hegemonic narratives, also oppress individuals within the queer community. Some stereotypes include: bisexuals are confused, promiscuous, opportunistic, ‘actually’ gay or ‘actually’ straight and carry STI’s. These ideas create suspicion and doubt of bisexuality and mistrust of individuals identifying as bi. This ...

W hen I was asked that exact question, I laughed. I truly laughed out loud. A man posed the question and I laughed because he just seemed so bloody confused about the whole thing, about the constant vocal discussion from people about having periods. Not to take anything away from him, I mean, it’s true: a lot of feminists want to talk about menstruation. So, why is that? I can only answer for me. Feminism means different things to different people, and everyone’s focus for their feminism can be different, made up of a multitude of beliefs. So, the reason I talk about periods is because people don’t want me to talk about them. Though I suspect others feel the same.   It’s the shame, you see, it’s the shame that’s attached (as if with sticky wings) to the forced silence about the topic. The shame is multi-layered and strangling and it comes from a variety of reinforcing sources. It’s definitely getting better, but when I was going through puberty menstruation was seen as...