Female writers: menstrual cycle and writing patterns?

[redzinger]

This occurred to me this last month: that I write more risque scenes and plots when I'm pre-menstrual or at the start of my period. Whereas other times of the month, I lean towards more plot-heavy or emotional scenes.

Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern?

(Apologies if this has been covered before.)

 

[Acktion]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqeWx-9TaMk

Actually, that makes a great deal of sense considering the amounts and types of hormones and other neurotransmitters flooding the system.

By the by, there is some scientific "evidence" that males also experience this phenom. Just thought I'd toss that out there.

 

[redzinger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqeWx-9TaMk

Actually, that makes a great deal of sense considering the amounts and types of hormones and other neurotransmitters flooding the system.

By the by, there is some scientific "evidence" that males also experience this phenom. Just thought I'd toss that out there.

Yeah, was wondering if there was a male cycle too which couldn't be put down purely to mood.

 

[StrangeLife]

Yeah, was wondering if there was a male cycle too which couldn't be put down purely to mood.

I think the cyclic mood swings is a female characteristic. The only "male cycle" I know of is made by Harley Davidson Motor Company...

 

[Acktion]

Actually, the studies about male testosterone cycles seem to indicate that it follows a twenty-four hour cycle rather than twenty-eight days. Both male and female cycles are actually bio-feedback loops, but the male cycle doesn't have the obvious indicators that can be pointed at to say "aha, right there and right there".

There is also some research to indicate that men go through something similar to "menopause" which is referred to as "andropause".

A lot of the problems with the research about male cycles is that there are other factors during a twenty-four hour period that someone could point to and say, "well, it could be THIS instead of THAT" during the circadian rhythm.

http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-good-life-do-men-have-a-monthly-cycle/

to get started for the curious.

 

[StrangeLife]

Actually, the studies about male testosterone cycles seem to indicate that it follows a twenty-four hour cycle rather than twenty-eight days...

So you're saying that men are insufferably moody once a day instead of once a month?

http://s15.postimg.org/zby62ggx3/hot.gif Take it back or I'm gonna cry, break some china and stomp off somewhere to sulk until you buy me new clothes or an expensive dinner... http://s27.postimg.org/c2119olgf/774_6cryinganim.gif

 

[patientlee]

So you're saying that men are insufferably moody once a day instead of once a month?

http://s15.postimg.org/zby62ggx3/hot.gif Take it back or I'm gonna cry, break some china and stomp off somewhere to sulk until you buy me new clothes or an expensive dinner... http://s27.postimg.org/c2119olgf/774_6cryinganim.gif

Wait a few minutes. It will pass.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Only girly-men suffer the girly stuff. Real men don't have the luxury of funky sparkly moods.

 

[StrangeLife]

Only girly-men suffer the girly stuff. Real men don't have the luxury of funky sparkly moods.

You're mean! Just because we're big and hairy and know how to use power-tools we still have feelings y'know...

 

[patientlee]

You're mean! Just because we're big and hairy and know how to use power-tools we still have feelings y'know...

In your case, wait 10 minutes.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

You're mean! Just because we're big and hairy and know how to use power-tools we still have feelings y'know...

One of the best compliments I ever got was when I was under my car cussing its muffler; my uncle and his guests observed the performance, and my uncle said, YOUD NEVER GUESS HE'S A POET.

Yes, I'm mean. Ruffles on my boxers change nuthin.

 

[Bert_Fegg]

Only girly-men suffer the girly stuff. Real men don't have the luxury of funky sparkly moods.

You should read Memoirs of an Infantry officer, Siegfried Sassoon had funky, sparkly moods and he loved cock as much as the next girl, but that didn't stop him from making it through world War one from start to finish. As far as qualifying as a "Real Man" goes, I think we can let him off the written part of the test

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

You should read Memoirs of an Infantry officer, Siegfried Sassoon had funky, sparkly moods and he loved cock as much as the next girl, but that didn't stop him from making it through world War one from start to finish. As far as qualifying as a "Real Man" goes, I think we can let him off the written part of the test

He was Vidal's brother, right?

 

[Bert_Fegg]

He was Vidal's brother, right?

his Great Uncle, I believe. I'm not sure they ever met as adults, but I know as a boy, VS was given one of his trench journals, which contained the haunting "Bad Hair Day in No-Man's-Land" [unpublished]. I understand that reading it affected the young Sassoon deeply, leading him to search for ways of maintaining volume and condition, even under the most concentrated artillery barrage.

 

[StrangeLife]

In your case, wait 10 minutes.

So no expensive dinner? Awww... I hate to waste a good tantrum.

 

[Privates1stClass]

Apparently the female menstrual cycle affects more than their writing mood.

In college I took a quality control course. The professor told a story about an electronics manufacturing company where several women made parts for a particularly delicate electronic instrument. Quality control maintained records which indicated a higher than normal failure rate of the part about once a month for each woman. They finally determined the higher failure rate occurred during each woman's menstrual cycle, so their solution was to give each woman a different task for about a week during her menstrual cycle. Problem solved.

So if your oatmeal tastes different for a few days a month, she may be riding her menstrual cycle.

 

[Bert_Fegg]

Apparently the female menstrual cycle affects more than their writing mood.

In college I took a quality control course. The professor told a story about an electronics manufacturing company where several women made parts for a particularly delicate electronic instrument. Quality control maintained records which indicated a higher than normal failure rate of the part about once a month for each woman. They finally determined the higher failure rate occurred during each woman's menstrual cycle, so their solution was to give each woman a different task for about a week during her menstrual cycle. Problem solved.

So if your oatmeal tastes different for a few days a month, she may be riding her menstrual cycle.

I remember reading about a similar thing with SOE cipher clerks during WWII. The guy in charge of the department noticed a spike in clerks' error rates occurring regularly - he spoke to the [female] supervisor, who gave him a crash course in the female reproductive system.

The memoir I read this in was Silk or Cyanide by Leo Marks

 

[redzinger]

Every month, I have a 24-48 hour period when I'm just so damned tired, all I want to do is sleep. My bad hip goes mental, I have to up the painkillers and I've noticed I'm lacklustre on rides during that time. Can never figure out why.

Then my period starts.

 

[Athalia]

This occurred to me this last month: that I write more risque scenes and plots when I'm pre-menstrual or at the start of my period. Whereas other times of the month, I lean towards more plot-heavy or emotional scenes.

Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern?

That is a damned good question.

In my PMS phase, I don't really feel like writing much of anything. Once my period is underway, though, I do tend to focus on the erotic aspects of the story, a little bit. It's usually to "spice up" a story I'd already written at another time. It's never occurred to me that other women might have the same experience.

 

[Athalia]

So you're saying that men are insufferably moody once a day instead of once a month?

I have absolutely no problem believing that.

 

[Brunne]

This occurred to me this last month: that I write more risque scenes and plots when I'm pre-menstrual or at the start of my period. Whereas other times of the month, I lean towards more plot-heavy or emotional scenes.

Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern?

(Apologies if this has been covered before.)

You might find this TEDx talk interesting - Alisa Vitti at TEDxFiDiWomen, "Loving your lady parts as a path to success, power & global change"

 

[patientlee]

Every month, I have a 24-48 hour period when I'm just so damned tired, all I want to do is sleep. My bad hip goes mental, I have to up the painkillers and I've noticed I'm lacklustre on rides during that time. Can never figure out why.

Then my period starts.

Isn't it funny how it happens every month, and we still don't figure out why? PMS is like childbirth. It comes with amnesia-inducing hormones. (I just made that up, but it seems to be true.)

 

[Ewobbit]

Only girly-men suffer the girly stuff. Real men don't have the luxury of funky sparkly moods.

... And then there's the ones who stay cranky 24/7 Zinger.

 

[someoneyouknow]

I'm a bit late to the discussion but I'm not sure why people are surprised at the cycles we all go through, women especially. In addition to the studies sited above there have been numerous studies on what type of partner a woman wants based on where she is in her monthly cycle.

When at their peak (most) women prefer the bad boys while at other times they prefer the "nice" guys.

As to men, I've known about this aspect for years (2 decades?). I even mentioned it to some women I knew and they gave me the, "No way!" look or response.

As far as what passes for my writing, there are definite periods (no pun intended) when I really want to write. I'm more creative, I work on multiple stories and things just seem to flow. Then I head down into the trough where I may not touch anything for a week or more and when I do try to write, it's only on one story and takes much more effort to come up with a few paragraphs (if I'm lucky).

 

[Elle_Charlotte]

Being hormonal can make me incredibly emotional or aroused. I don't know how other women experience it, but for me my cycle has much more effect on my mind than the weather or tiredness or something.