Kristen Bell Exposes Her Internalized Misogyny by Claiming She Has to ‘Self-Regulate’ on Her Period to Avoid Losing Control
Kristen Bell’s internalized misogyny is showing.
While joining her husband Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert, Bell said that women are expected to “self-regulate” when menstruating, adding, “If I acted like I ‘wanted to,’ every time I’m on my period, we would 100 percent not be married.”
She made the comments while discussing the HBO Max documentary Woodstock ’99: Peace, Love, and Rage, in an effort to argue that men should learn to control themselves when hormonal, as women have learned to when on their periods.
“I self-regulate, and women do on their period. Some women lose control, 100 percent, but what I saw in that documentary was so far crazy,” she continued, referencing the sexual assaults and riots that derailed Woodstock ’99.
The claim may seem harmless — or even masquerade as an astute take on male rage — but Bell fed into stereotypes still used to deem women, and those with uteruses, as incapable emotional messes.
How can we give a woman access to the Gold Codes if she could flip a switch and launch a nuke whenever her feelings get hurt?! Can women really lead if they are so busy suppressing their true insanity 12 times a year?!
By claiming she’s forced to “self-regulate,” she has fueled the same stigma Donald Trump used when claiming Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” in an effort to paint her as aggressive and crazy while she moderated the 2015 Republican presidential debate.
Bell even labeled the menstruation process as “debilitating,” later explaining that the reason she suppresses her emotions once a month is, “I have been brought up with socialization that has told me, ‘You will feel bananas a couple days before your period.'”
Hmm, that sounds a lot like internalized misogyny to me.
Bell is also highlighting the same sentiment that’s sourced years of “Are you on your period?” jokes used to belittle feelings of discomfort, anger, or any emotion other than pure joy — which women should, of course, exude at all times.
Sure, those who menstruate do experience hormonal changes throughout their cycles, but guess what? So do those who don’t.
Most men actually experience a daily rise and fall of testosterone, and while Bell is encouraging those to learn about these fluctuations, she’s ignoring the key fact that a man’s emotional changes have never been used to suppress the community or question their capabilities.
“Don’t scream at everyone, even though that is what you want to do, you can’t do that,” she added. “What is happening to you is in your brain chemistry and your hormones. And you have to know that knowledge is power.'”
While the intention is there, her entire statement validates the notion that women’s hormones are so out of whack, we could lose control at any given moment.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
