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From: mazur@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: 60 Minutes on Rape - (nf)
Message-ID: <788@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 25-Jan-84 23:56:27 EST
Article-I.D.: inmet.788
Posted: Wed Jan 25 23:56:27 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jan-84 12:14:28 EST
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#R:houxu:-28800:inmet:10900034:000:768
inmet!mazur    Jan 24 18:31:00 1984

Let's get this one straight right away.  The woman in England did not use
"cramps" as a defense for her trial.  The real word for cramps is
dysmenorrhea, and includes cramps, back pain and nausea.  What this woman
claimed to experience was premenstrual syndrome (PMS).  PMS includes
emotional changes like irritability and depression.

A recent episode of St. Elsewhere contained a storyline about PMS, where 
the woman had been experiencing these moods of irritability.  Her husband
left her because he was afraid of what she would do to the kids.  In the
wonderful world of TV, the doctors diagnosed PMS, gave her some drugs, and
let her go back to her family.

In the real world, we women still have difficulty convincing some people
that "cramps" aren't imagined.