\n<\/p>\n
E<\/span>mily Rae Detrick, a health coach, wants women to be more in touch with their menstrual cycle in its entirety. This, she said on an October episode of Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark, a podcast popular among \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d (Maha) adherents, is \u201ca way that you honor God and the way we were created\u201d. It also serves her self-assigned mission to help \u201cmake America fertile again\u201d.<\/p>\n In the episode and on social media, Detrick speaks at length about the luteal phase, the 14-ish days between ovulation and menstruation when women are more likely to experience irritability, bloating and food cravings. If a woman does not get pregnant after ovulating, or so Detrick\u2019s line of thinking goes, her body becomes upset. \u201cDuring the luteal phase, the reason why your stress threshold is so much lower is because this is the time your body would be incubating a potential baby,\u201d she said. No baby, and you might turn into a frazzled, nagging shrew.<\/p>\n This interpretation might seem retrograde, conjuring ancient medical theories of female hysteria or wandering wombs. (Plato wrote that a childless woman ultimately goes mad because of her angry, empty uterus.) But for some women, the luteal phase \u2013 a real scientific term \u2013 has become a kind of catchall used to explain feminine malaise.<\/p>\n Thousands of posts on TikTok are tagged \u201c#lutealphase\u201d, with women sharing memes or humorous videos about their temperament changes during this period. \u201cI won\u2019t tell anyone I\u2019m in my luteal phase but there will be signs,\u201d one woman captioned a closeup of her blistering acne. In another video skit, a woman washes dishes at home. Her husband comes up to give her a light, affectionate butt slap. She shouts, recoils and sprays him with soap. Blame it on her luteal.<\/p>\n The clip has almost 100,000 likes. \u201cI don\u2019t even want to be PERCEIVED during my luteal phase,\u201d reads one comment. A man chimed in: \u201cI don\u2019t think my wife ever gets out of her luteal phase.\u201d<\/p>\n Google searches for \u201cluteal phase\u201d have risen 300% in the past five years, likely due to these kinds of videos. Other popular searches include \u201cluteal phase workout\u201d (low impact cardio, pilates and yoga are good for stress management, according to infographics); \u201cluteal phase meal\u201d (sweet potato nachos satisfy cravings, according to one influencer); and \u201cluteal phase mood\u201d (rancid, according to everyone).<\/p>\n double quotation markExplaining what happens in the luteal phase provides a way for people to understand why they feel the way they doDr Karen Tang<\/p>\n This content traffics in hyperbole \u2013 and even pronatalism in the hands of influencers such as Detrick and Clark. But growing interest in the luteal phase does gnaw at an ugly truth. Americans have long received inadequate sexual health education, especially when it comes to women\u2019s health, and it\u2019s getting worse. Abortion misinformation flooded TikTok after the supreme court\u2019s reversal of Roe v Wade, and \u201cdon\u2019t say gay\u201d laws in states such as Florida and Texas ban discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. It makes sense that women might find empowerment in talking about their luteal phases.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about wanting to take control and learn more about their bodies,\u201d said Dr Karen Tang, a Pennsylvania gynaecologist. \u201cPeople are saying: \u2018I had no idea that other people had these similar patterns.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWomen\u2019s bodies are understudied, underfunded, under-researched,\u201d added Mariah Wellman, an assistant professor at Michigan State who studies influencers and wellness culture. \u201cBy no fault of their own, women are lacking information and not getting it from their healthcare providers.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Tang, the luteal phase describes what happens on a physiological, biological level: progesterone rises and estrogen lowers, and these hormonal swings result in physical and emotional symptoms until menstruation happens. Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, refers to the symptoms that flare up \u2013 moodiness, bloating, breast tenderness, hunger and sluggishness, for example \u2013 during someone\u2019s luteal phase.<\/p>\n \u201cExplaining what happens in the luteal phase provides a way for people to understand why <\/em>they feel the way they do, so it\u2019s not as confusing or mysterious why their physical and mental health seems to change so drastically,\u201d Tang said.<\/p>\n Tang says she has noticed an uptick in women coming into her practice who are potentially experiencing premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which they first heard about on social media \u2013 sometimes through luteal phase posts. An intense hormonal sensitivity, PMDD affects about 6% of people who menstruate, according to the American Psychological Association. It wreaks havoc \u2013 one study found that 72% of individuals with PMDD reported \u201clifetime active suicidal ideation\u201d \u2013 and often goes undiagnosed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see those patients go from being absolutely miserable almost a quarter of their life, where [PMDD] is affecting their relationships,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they\u2019re able to get treatment, they\u2019re themselves again.\u201d<\/p>\n double quotation markThe wellness industry has a big incentive to commercialize the luteal phaseMariah Wellman<\/p>\n Haley Martinez, 29, is an energy-healing and breath-work coach living in Clinton, New Jersey. She used to bodybuild but quit the sport because it was too hard on her body. \u201cI had missing cycles on and off for years,\u201d she said. \u201cI just felt disconnected from that part of me as a woman.\u201d Martinez says her doctor \u201cdismissed\u201d her concerns, so she began studying holistic health. When she started to get her periods back after quitting bodybuilding, she felt heightened emotions, which she later learned occurred during her luteal phase. She wondered why her doctors or health teachers had never mentioned it.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a relief having an explanation, but there\u2019s also an anger at not being taught this at all,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n Luteal phase is a genuine medical term. This gives credence to influencers to talk about it, even if they are not licensed medical professionals. \u201cThey seem more credible and educated,\u201d Wellman said.<\/p>\n But Tang warns against their tendency to make generalizations. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of verbiage and absolutes, as if it were astrology, where a Taurus or a Virgo is prone to this sort of behavior,\u201d she said. For instance, TikTok users joke about their sense of self totally derailing once the luteal phase sets in; every month, without fail, they believe they have turned into \u201cthe ugliest person alive\u201d or a \u201cforest shrew\u201d. Detrick, the guest on Clark\u2019s podcast, claimed that working out is inevitably harder: \u201cYou\u2019re like, \u2018Am I weak? What is wrong with me?\u2019\u201d Clark agreed: \u201cI always<\/em> feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey have latched on to these little kernels of truth about the phases of the cycle and turned it into almost a prescription,\u201d Tang said. \u201cNone of this is so absolutely universal that you have to live your life based on these principles.\u201d<\/p>\n Most women who post online are not politicizing their luteal phases. Talk of women\u2019s cycles among Maha evangelists, however, easily lends itself to conservative viewpoints about pronatalism, traditional gender roles and <\/strong>restricting access to reproductive healthcare such as birth control.<\/p>\n Hormonal birth control methods such as the pill prevent ovulation from taking place, which means that there is no luteal phase. This might sound like a positive change for people who deal with intense discomfort in this part of their cycle, and many take birth control at least partly for this exact reason. (Along with preventing pregnancy, hormonal birth control can ease cramps and symptoms of PMDD, and help treat hormonal acne.)<\/p>\n That does not sit well with Clark, a self-described \u201ccuteservative\u201d, who has said she wants to get women off of birth control and experience their \u201cnatural\u201d hormonal cycle \u2013 even if that means they suffer a couple weeks every month. In an episode of Clark\u2019s podcast earlier this month, Kylah Smook, a content creator who runs retreats for women getting off birth control, said that ovulation is a \u201cvital sign\u201d that indicates whether a woman is in good health: \u201cIf you\u2019re not ovulating [due to birth control], it\u2019s your body telling you: \u2018Hey, we\u2019re not feeling good. Like, I don\u2019t feel safe to make a baby.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It is true that ovulation can be an indicator of general health, and irregular cycles might indicate an issue, but millions of people do not ovulate while safely using birth control. Smook and Clark\u2019s skepticism evokes a common thread of pronatalism: getting people to question and quit birth control would probably lead to more babies being born and women becoming mothers, signaling a return to conservatives\u2019 beloved nuclear family structure. \u201cMe and the man who loves me through my luteal phase,\u201d Clark captioned an Instagram photo of her fiance, Maha blogger Vance Voetberg, implying that the perfect couple won\u2019t let a mood swing scare them if it\u2019s in service of procreation.<\/p>\n In this way, telling women to embrace the luteal phase helps sell Maha ideology. It\u2019s also being used by the adjacent wellness industry to market products such as \u201cPMS bars\u201d, aromatherapy oils and many, many teas. \u201cThe wellness industry has a big incentive to commercialize the luteal phase as something you can purchase your way out of,\u201d said Wellman.<\/p>\n And while familiarity with the luteal phase has been helpful to women, it also can be easily caricatured.<\/p>\n Sharon Cancio is a full-time YouTuber who lives in Florida and makes what she calls \u201cbig sister content\u201d \u2013 the sometimes awkward conversations you might have with a sibling about bodies, health and sex. Before learning about the luteal phase around five years ago, Cancio assumed she was depressed. \u201cWhy did I feel so crappy and depleted most of the time?\u201d she said. \u201cIs it my boyfriend who\u2019s ruining my life?\u2019\u201d (It wasn\u2019t; they\u2019re still together.)<\/p>\n Knowing about the luteal phase has not magically fixed Cancino\u2019s mood issues, but it has helped her deal with them. \u201cI hate to admit that I do get very mean,\u201d she said. \u201cNow knowing that it\u2019s a thing my body actually goes through, and it\u2019s not just me suddenly hating everyone, I can prepare for it when it comes around.\u201d<\/p>\n double quotation markIt\u2019s another way women can be torn down by men for something that is natural and that they have no control overMariah Wellman<\/p>\n Women\u2019s partners often gird themselves, too. <\/strong>Boyfriends and husbands frequently make appearances in luteal phase TikToks, often painting themselves as longsuffering and subject to the wild whims of a woman. In one video, a husband reads off a list of things his wife said to him during her luteal phase. Samples: \u201cShut up,\u201d \u201cCan you not breathe on me,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t even, that\u2019s just gonna piss me off.\u201d (\u201cSounds like clear communication to me,\u201d one presumably female user quipped.)<\/p>\n In another skit, a group of men muse on ways they could annoy their wives during the luteal phase, including loudly playing video games while they\u2019re trying to read, watching football all day and then complaining about being tired, and leaving dirty utensils in the sink.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen are the butt of the joke,\u201d Wellman said. \u201cIt\u2019s another way women can be torn down by men for something that is natural and that they have no control over. And then they are being told by other women \u2013 wellness influencers \u2013 that they can be \u2018fixed\u2019 if they buy this product.\u201d<\/p>\n Women who pathologize their luteal phase struggles may find comfort in social media sisterhood. That does not belie the fact that women\u2019s health can easily be co-opted to poke fun, sell products or advance political agendas. Ultimately, it is up to individuals to come to terms with how they want to engage with this content.<\/p>\n Martinez, the former bodybuilder, finds humor in the unpredictability that comes with hormonal shifts. \u201cI\u2019ll joke with my boyfriend if I\u2019m feeling especially sensitive about something and I can recognize it\u2019s because of my luteal phase,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I always want to say: be careful not to dismiss yourself, because our feelings are always valid to some degree.\u201d<\/p>\nA better understanding of cycles<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Selling Maha ideology<\/strong><\/h2>\n