Being called “hormonal” is top of a list of 20 expression women would like banned along with ‘drama queen’, ‘bitchy’, ‘high maintenance’ and ‘hysterical’.
Little wonder that the audience at a recent WDF meeting on hormones in the workplace were concentrating on strategies to combat PMS and menopausal symptoms.
Our very helpful female doctor was giving out copious amounts of useful information, which I was ticking off in my head – then she got to the slide that said
“Psychotropic – SSRI’s” – that’s when I sat up!
Hang on a minute – doctors are prescribing Prozac types drugs for PMS!
Drugs that are noted to have side effects that include: – nausea and vomiting, weight gain, diarrhoea, sleepiness, sexual problems, feeling numb etc.
Drugs that can be difficult to stop taking once you get started!
That’s when it dawned on me, what the heck is happening here – we’re not sick we’re women!
But we work in a system that doesn’t allow us to have mood swings, up days and down days, cry when we’re upset, or occasionally snap back when we’re angry.
To do any of these things is seen as weakness and liable to attract one of the hated monikers, so we head off for a prescription instead!
Which got me thinking –
if this were a predominantly female lead business world would men like the Donald take themselves off to the doctors for a Big Pharma drug to make them nicer to be around?
Actually that’s not such a bad idea …..