I was just thinking about how when I was a teenager, it felt like the universally accepted feminist standard of behavior to not endorse the idea that periods made women irrational. it was like THE standard misogynist line to say that a woman could never be president because she'd send the nukes out when she was PMSing or whatever! Lots of women I knew treated PMS jokes (rightfully, I think) like misogynist slurs. It's been so surreal and bizarre to see the line seemingly completely reverse on that
Completely! That really was the bare minimum of feminist discourse in the 2010s, it’s really strange to see the opposite opinion with so few batting an eye
Thanks, I hate it. I feel like cycle-syncing, while being "innocent" in its premises, has this whole "lady brain" mindset where women can only be strong during X amount of days, for the rest, they're basically physically and intellectually impaired feral animals.
Also, for everyone, please take birth control if you need it. it's not bad for you.
not to add to the Discourse. but I have a theory a lot of these women who are really vocal about cycle syncing just have undiagnosed PMDD.
to help people manage their pmdd symptoms, doctors often prescribe self-care tools that looks VERY similar to cycle-syncing. my personal experience is that I need as much exercise and sleep and deep breathing as I can convince myself to do in order to combat my pmdd symptoms. I also need my prescribed medication. yes, lots of cycle-syncing advice works GREAT for me, but many people who menstruate just do not need to be cycle-syncing. and most women NEED to be building muscle, which is waaayyy harder to do if you’re just doing light yoga half of the month.
Yesss!! That’s such a great point. I’m so glad that PMDD has become a more recent diagnosis/women have been able to get more comprehensive treatment for it these days.
Yes!! As someone with PMDD and other chronic illness that can worsen my period symptoms, cycle syncing has helped my cramps immensely and has made it easier for me to notice when I should pay closer attention to my body. HOWEVER not everyone has these chronic illnesses and the rhetoric of being “weaker, more irrational” during your luteal phase is extremely harmful. It’s not for everyone so we shouldn’t be treating it as truth for every woman because every one has a different body with different experiences
Thanks for making this point. The perimenopause influencers are also getting out of hand, and I can see how a similar generalization could be made about women going through peri not being able to make good decisions.
I really appreciate that there’s so much more information out there now. I have directly benefited from people speaking more openly about it. But the essentialist views on it, not to mention the blatant money grab for products that “support” you in peri, are getting gross.
Also- what does this mean for women who no longer ovulate whether through menopause or surgery or other causes? Or for trans women? These spaces don't really welcome everyone.
I’ve been talking about it ever since I started seeing this cycle syncing content online and yessss!!! It’s insane and it’s misogyny at its finest. What scares me tho is that it’s not obvious misogyny that you can clearly distinguish and dismiss on the first sight, but the one that is so deeply hidden. What makes It worse is that it pretends to be pro-women, supposedly helping us tap into our “feminine power” and claim spaces for ourselves but at the end it’s only trapping us in the same cage we try to escape.
I appreciate you pointing out the issues, but I wanted to add a different perspective to this discourse. I see the issue from a slightly different perspective of not necessarily being misinformed, but from a standpoint of actual lack of studies and long-term investment into gender-specific studies of bodies and hormones and that includes cycles. So out of lack of information, people might create stories that may or may not be true.
It’s true that the body and hormone levels change with the cycle and its phase, it’s true that the diet changes, the weight changes, mood changes and with that, there is a different ability and exercise needs are presented.
And respectfully, your point of “men and women are fundamentally more similar than different” is a bit on the edge of following the same logic of modern medicine as seeing women as “small men” when medically, physiologically, hormonally and physically we’re very different.
I definitely see where you’re coming from; medical sexism prevents comprehensive studies about female biology from happening, we don’t know enough yet to know about the conclusiveness of cycle-syncing (except perhaps for PMDD patients). I think that recognizing how similar men and women are isn’t to say that women are “small men” but to acknowledge that the uterus isn’t this mystical, separate entity that controls women’s behavior/mood/destinies. Very early research thought differently - “hysteria” was born from the theory that uteri can wander around the body. Women require different medical attention/research but acknowledging the many ways we are similar is important to avoid being cast aside too.
I have so many thoughts on the topic of cycle syncing. First, I loved your article; I think that it had great points.
But I’ve also BEEN one of those tiktokers; I used to post about cycle syncing and marathon running. I am a marathon runner, but I also have PMDD. My mood swings are so bad, my cramps are debilitating, and I have had such little help from doctors. I have even been misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. This journey — one that made me feel unheard — inspired me to start training for marathons in a way that reduced the stress I put on my body so consistently. I wasn’t coming from a place of sexist capitalist maximalism, and I like to give the cycle syncing world the benefit of the doubt. But I also know it can get exhausting.
Ultimately,, I think there is a fine line between pseudo-science & people finding things out for themselves because they aren’t researched. I don’t think it’s enough to cast cycle syncing aside because it hasn’t been studied, given that many marginalized groups aren’t included in studies, and largely men have dominated the scientific sphere. However I also agree with this:
“.. broadcasting pseudo-science surrounding sex and gender to a conservative Western public is a dangerous game, given how false science claims have been historically used to justify race- and gender-based violence, from phrenology to hysteria”
It takes a lot of care to do it in a way that isn’t repackaged misogyny, hypercapitalist, and transphobic.
This is such an insightful take! And a great example of the kind of intuitive lifestyle that I am trying to advocate for in this piece, not living rigidly in accordance with a nebulous calendar of when energy rises and falls, but living in tune with how your body actually responds to different periods of your cycle.
Yes, totally agree that intuition is key when it comes to this. I think that can really help people break free from the perils of cycle syncing discourse online lol
also the idea that we can all optimise and energise and be the most efficient with our cycle and sync it rather than actually just listening to ourselves more (which often just includes a big dose of rest). all the advice about how to improve makes me rage. can't we just be?
Exactly! Even though cycle-syncing postures as being against a "one-size-fits-all" approach to diet and exercise, it still seeks to create a rigid, always-on framework of eating/moving, rather than living truly intuitively.
Stuff about luteal phases started popping up right around the time I was trying to get pregnant in 2024, I'd see it when I was trying to learn more about cycles and pregnancy. I was tracking the number of days in my luteal phase bc you need at least 10 luteal days to have a chance at getting pregnant and I was tracking only 9 days from ovulation to my period until I started medication. It all had a weird vibe then so I ignored it in favor of listening to my gyno. A year and a half later and various friends mention they're eating this or that "because they're luteal." Girl what, listen to yourself, you're literally an engineer. Only in late stage capitalism, in our hyper individualist society, would the next cure-all be a consumer choice, eating the perfectly right thing during your luteal phase. Put that in a box with "Wild Pregnancies" for things women and girls are doing to generate any sense of agency while our rights are eroded.
another thing that infuriates me about this is the common misconception that women should not work out or only do light work on their periods. some studies show that female bodies benefit from exerting more energy during their periods. working out during menstruation can, in some cases, even alleviate certain period symptoms. perpetuating the belief that biological women cannot or should not work out during that time is patently false. it's one thing if someone opts for lighter workouts because they are feeling poorly, but another thing entirely that so many of us are told when we should and shouldn't work out, like it's a rule. I think it would benefit so many of us to take the time to tap into our personal capacities rather than let the internet hive mind tell us what's right when it can't truly know
I really, really appreciate this piece. I have felt sketchy about this certain genre of woo-woo wellness for a while, that promises complete transformation by getting your “hormones balanced.” As if everything in a woman’s life, including her thoughts, needs, opinions, and decisions are policed by her body. That is such a thinly veiled way to call women hysterical and strip them of authority.
Anyways you said all this sooo clearly and thoughtfully!!
omg there's a disclaimer in my scheduled post about this exact phenomenon. shit is crazy. thank you for writing this you're the voice of our generation truly
Thanks for sharing this. Yet another Handmaid's Tale dystopian nightmare brewing with this sort of pseudo-scientific discourse. Hopefully it will be a short lived fad.
I too enjoyed the article but also was going to write a comment about I think there is a happy medium. I do think the "I am just a girl" concept is debilitating for us but I also think it's a harm to us to ignore our hormone fluctuations. 1 in 8 women have PCOS (now PMOS) and is highly misdiagnosed / ignored. I am one of them. Also suffer from mild PMDD. People with mood disorders tend to also have more irregular periods. For me it was liberating to stop adhering to the male's 24 hour cycle and allow myself compassion during the cycle transitions. Maybe people with PCOS are hyper aware of their bodies. I know when I had an IUD I felt like a man aka someone with no period and getting off of it was eye opening how much the IUD (although helpful) was masking my PCOS. It took 2 years and what had the most impact was changing my eating habits and taking Myoinisitol. So I do agree that "luteal phase" marketing isn't for everyone but for the ones where we feel it more intensely due to reproductive / metabolic disorders it feels very supportive. But I do agree it can feel weaponized.
I felt so neglected from healthcare which just wanted to put me back on birth control (which is fine if you don't want to conceive) but for me it was not a solution and eating differently (not strict) but eating more Whole Foods like sweet potatoes during luteal phase and beets during menstrual phase and taking Vitamin D totally improved my cycle by a lot. I think as a society we eat a lot of processed food (which is another talk) and I found myself gravitating more towards information that helped changing my eating habits to have healthier periods which I now have. I don't think it was the silver bullet but the concept of "cycle syncing" definitely supported me but again I do not follow it to a T and just eat certain foods during a certain phase and that has worked the best for me.
I was just thinking about how when I was a teenager, it felt like the universally accepted feminist standard of behavior to not endorse the idea that periods made women irrational. it was like THE standard misogynist line to say that a woman could never be president because she'd send the nukes out when she was PMSing or whatever! Lots of women I knew treated PMS jokes (rightfully, I think) like misogynist slurs. It's been so surreal and bizarre to see the line seemingly completely reverse on that
Completely! That really was the bare minimum of feminist discourse in the 2010s, it’s really strange to see the opposite opinion with so few batting an eye
Thanks, I hate it. I feel like cycle-syncing, while being "innocent" in its premises, has this whole "lady brain" mindset where women can only be strong during X amount of days, for the rest, they're basically physically and intellectually impaired feral animals.
Also, for everyone, please take birth control if you need it. it's not bad for you.
birth control sucks
Not necessarily, but u might have to do some trial and error
not to add to the Discourse. but I have a theory a lot of these women who are really vocal about cycle syncing just have undiagnosed PMDD.
to help people manage their pmdd symptoms, doctors often prescribe self-care tools that looks VERY similar to cycle-syncing. my personal experience is that I need as much exercise and sleep and deep breathing as I can convince myself to do in order to combat my pmdd symptoms. I also need my prescribed medication. yes, lots of cycle-syncing advice works GREAT for me, but many people who menstruate just do not need to be cycle-syncing. and most women NEED to be building muscle, which is waaayyy harder to do if you’re just doing light yoga half of the month.
Yesss!! That’s such a great point. I’m so glad that PMDD has become a more recent diagnosis/women have been able to get more comprehensive treatment for it these days.
Yes!! As someone with PMDD and other chronic illness that can worsen my period symptoms, cycle syncing has helped my cramps immensely and has made it easier for me to notice when I should pay closer attention to my body. HOWEVER not everyone has these chronic illnesses and the rhetoric of being “weaker, more irrational” during your luteal phase is extremely harmful. It’s not for everyone so we shouldn’t be treating it as truth for every woman because every one has a different body with different experiences
as a PMDD-haver (diagnosed) who does recognize myself in the online content, I agree. There's some nuance
Thanks for making this point. The perimenopause influencers are also getting out of hand, and I can see how a similar generalization could be made about women going through peri not being able to make good decisions.
I really appreciate that there’s so much more information out there now. I have directly benefited from people speaking more openly about it. But the essentialist views on it, not to mention the blatant money grab for products that “support” you in peri, are getting gross.
Also- what does this mean for women who no longer ovulate whether through menopause or surgery or other causes? Or for trans women? These spaces don't really welcome everyone.
Agreed!
Goes hand in hand with anti hormonal BC sentiments. Directly supports the argument that preventing pregnancy by preventing ovulation is unnatural.
I’ve been talking about it ever since I started seeing this cycle syncing content online and yessss!!! It’s insane and it’s misogyny at its finest. What scares me tho is that it’s not obvious misogyny that you can clearly distinguish and dismiss on the first sight, but the one that is so deeply hidden. What makes It worse is that it pretends to be pro-women, supposedly helping us tap into our “feminine power” and claim spaces for ourselves but at the end it’s only trapping us in the same cage we try to escape.
It’s interesting to me that she really said we shouldn’t trust our decisions in this phase.
In my luteal phase I feel more attuned to everything that is/isn’t working. If anything, it reveals more—not less.
I’m definitely a luteal phase/cycle synching truther.
But I wholeheartedly agree with watching how we navigate this conversation especially at such a a precarious and unsafe time.
That study you linked exposing the lack of credited research presented among these prominent cycle synching gurus is also compelling.
From a moody girl on her luteal phase—amazing article!
I appreciate you pointing out the issues, but I wanted to add a different perspective to this discourse. I see the issue from a slightly different perspective of not necessarily being misinformed, but from a standpoint of actual lack of studies and long-term investment into gender-specific studies of bodies and hormones and that includes cycles. So out of lack of information, people might create stories that may or may not be true.
It’s true that the body and hormone levels change with the cycle and its phase, it’s true that the diet changes, the weight changes, mood changes and with that, there is a different ability and exercise needs are presented.
And respectfully, your point of “men and women are fundamentally more similar than different” is a bit on the edge of following the same logic of modern medicine as seeing women as “small men” when medically, physiologically, hormonally and physically we’re very different.
I definitely see where you’re coming from; medical sexism prevents comprehensive studies about female biology from happening, we don’t know enough yet to know about the conclusiveness of cycle-syncing (except perhaps for PMDD patients). I think that recognizing how similar men and women are isn’t to say that women are “small men” but to acknowledge that the uterus isn’t this mystical, separate entity that controls women’s behavior/mood/destinies. Very early research thought differently - “hysteria” was born from the theory that uteri can wander around the body. Women require different medical attention/research but acknowledging the many ways we are similar is important to avoid being cast aside too.
I definitely agree with that, and I appreciate you expanding on your thought!
I have so many thoughts on the topic of cycle syncing. First, I loved your article; I think that it had great points.
But I’ve also BEEN one of those tiktokers; I used to post about cycle syncing and marathon running. I am a marathon runner, but I also have PMDD. My mood swings are so bad, my cramps are debilitating, and I have had such little help from doctors. I have even been misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. This journey — one that made me feel unheard — inspired me to start training for marathons in a way that reduced the stress I put on my body so consistently. I wasn’t coming from a place of sexist capitalist maximalism, and I like to give the cycle syncing world the benefit of the doubt. But I also know it can get exhausting.
Ultimately,, I think there is a fine line between pseudo-science & people finding things out for themselves because they aren’t researched. I don’t think it’s enough to cast cycle syncing aside because it hasn’t been studied, given that many marginalized groups aren’t included in studies, and largely men have dominated the scientific sphere. However I also agree with this:
“.. broadcasting pseudo-science surrounding sex and gender to a conservative Western public is a dangerous game, given how false science claims have been historically used to justify race- and gender-based violence, from phrenology to hysteria”
It takes a lot of care to do it in a way that isn’t repackaged misogyny, hypercapitalist, and transphobic.
This is such an insightful take! And a great example of the kind of intuitive lifestyle that I am trying to advocate for in this piece, not living rigidly in accordance with a nebulous calendar of when energy rises and falls, but living in tune with how your body actually responds to different periods of your cycle.
Yes, totally agree that intuition is key when it comes to this. I think that can really help people break free from the perils of cycle syncing discourse online lol
Girl me too 😭
Sorry it cut off haha I edited it and finished my thought!!☺️
also the idea that we can all optimise and energise and be the most efficient with our cycle and sync it rather than actually just listening to ourselves more (which often just includes a big dose of rest). all the advice about how to improve makes me rage. can't we just be?
Exactly! Even though cycle-syncing postures as being against a "one-size-fits-all" approach to diet and exercise, it still seeks to create a rigid, always-on framework of eating/moving, rather than living truly intuitively.
its so depressing honestly — anti women / intuition at it’s core. great article, perfectly put.
Stuff about luteal phases started popping up right around the time I was trying to get pregnant in 2024, I'd see it when I was trying to learn more about cycles and pregnancy. I was tracking the number of days in my luteal phase bc you need at least 10 luteal days to have a chance at getting pregnant and I was tracking only 9 days from ovulation to my period until I started medication. It all had a weird vibe then so I ignored it in favor of listening to my gyno. A year and a half later and various friends mention they're eating this or that "because they're luteal." Girl what, listen to yourself, you're literally an engineer. Only in late stage capitalism, in our hyper individualist society, would the next cure-all be a consumer choice, eating the perfectly right thing during your luteal phase. Put that in a box with "Wild Pregnancies" for things women and girls are doing to generate any sense of agency while our rights are eroded.
another thing that infuriates me about this is the common misconception that women should not work out or only do light work on their periods. some studies show that female bodies benefit from exerting more energy during their periods. working out during menstruation can, in some cases, even alleviate certain period symptoms. perpetuating the belief that biological women cannot or should not work out during that time is patently false. it's one thing if someone opts for lighter workouts because they are feeling poorly, but another thing entirely that so many of us are told when we should and shouldn't work out, like it's a rule. I think it would benefit so many of us to take the time to tap into our personal capacities rather than let the internet hive mind tell us what's right when it can't truly know
I really, really appreciate this piece. I have felt sketchy about this certain genre of woo-woo wellness for a while, that promises complete transformation by getting your “hormones balanced.” As if everything in a woman’s life, including her thoughts, needs, opinions, and decisions are policed by her body. That is such a thinly veiled way to call women hysterical and strip them of authority.
Anyways you said all this sooo clearly and thoughtfully!!
Thank you so much <33!!
omg there's a disclaimer in my scheduled post about this exact phenomenon. shit is crazy. thank you for writing this you're the voice of our generation truly
Omg! Great minds, thanks Valerie <3
Thanks for sharing this. Yet another Handmaid's Tale dystopian nightmare brewing with this sort of pseudo-scientific discourse. Hopefully it will be a short lived fad.
I too enjoyed the article but also was going to write a comment about I think there is a happy medium. I do think the "I am just a girl" concept is debilitating for us but I also think it's a harm to us to ignore our hormone fluctuations. 1 in 8 women have PCOS (now PMOS) and is highly misdiagnosed / ignored. I am one of them. Also suffer from mild PMDD. People with mood disorders tend to also have more irregular periods. For me it was liberating to stop adhering to the male's 24 hour cycle and allow myself compassion during the cycle transitions. Maybe people with PCOS are hyper aware of their bodies. I know when I had an IUD I felt like a man aka someone with no period and getting off of it was eye opening how much the IUD (although helpful) was masking my PCOS. It took 2 years and what had the most impact was changing my eating habits and taking Myoinisitol. So I do agree that "luteal phase" marketing isn't for everyone but for the ones where we feel it more intensely due to reproductive / metabolic disorders it feels very supportive. But I do agree it can feel weaponized.
I felt so neglected from healthcare which just wanted to put me back on birth control (which is fine if you don't want to conceive) but for me it was not a solution and eating differently (not strict) but eating more Whole Foods like sweet potatoes during luteal phase and beets during menstrual phase and taking Vitamin D totally improved my cycle by a lot. I think as a society we eat a lot of processed food (which is another talk) and I found myself gravitating more towards information that helped changing my eating habits to have healthier periods which I now have. I don't think it was the silver bullet but the concept of "cycle syncing" definitely supported me but again I do not follow it to a T and just eat certain foods during a certain phase and that has worked the best for me.
Appreciate this perspective Monica and completely agree! One size does not fit all, there is usually always a happy medium