“Stop being so dramatic!”

“You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“I don’t understand why you’re crying.” 

“Oh my God, you’re so hormonal!”

If you’re a woman, you’ve likely heard some version of these sentiments before. I know I have.

Yes, maybe I am being a little dramatic. Yes, maybe I am getting worked up over something inconsequential. Yes, maybe I am crying over something meaningless. 

But before you roll your eyes and blame it on my hormones, you have to understand: I, like most women, have a monthly hormone cycle. 

Hormones are more than just a buzzword; they’re chemical messengers integral to our bodies’ physiological processes. 

There’s a common conception that women are far more hormonal than men — reflected in the sentiments above that are often used to blame women’s emotions on their hormones. But this is not true. Instead, women only seem to be more hormonal than men because their hormone cycle operates on a monthly basis, rather than the 24-hour rhythm seen in men. 

This misrepresentation of basic biological functions and grouping of complex subject matter into one word — hormonal — reduces women’s feelings to a single word, trivializing them and undermining their identity.

What’s important to note is that both men and women produce the same set of sex hormones, although they do so in varying degrees to achieve different biological ends. 

Estrogen and progesterone play an important role in a woman’s monthly cycle, while testosterone is key to a man’s daily rhythm.

For a woman, the amount of their key hormones being produced in the body depends on the day of the month. 

The monthly cycle — which is roughly 28 to 31 days — is broken into two parts: the follicular phase and the luteal phase.

The follicular phase typically starts on the first day of a woman’s period. During this time, while she is bleeding her guts out, her estrogen and progesterone levels are low but begin to gradually increase.

Next, after the period has finished, the body starts ramping up for ovulation, elevating estrogen levels. With extra estrogen running rampant in the body, women may become more sociable and confident.

So yes, the secret ingredient behind confidence is estrogen. And, yes, I will be taking some of that special sauce to give me the extra boost I need to feel like I can take on the day and ace my test.

But with every high, there is always a low.

At the cusp between the follicular phase and the luteal phase, estrogen peaks and then drops. 

Onward to the luteal phase, otherwise known as pure misery!

This is about the time that most women start PMSing — often instigating a mood swing nightmare. This is because estrogen gets a second wind, rising only to fall again. Progesterone soon follows estrogen, dropping off at the tail end of the luteal phase.

With both hormones back to low levels again, women often find themselves with greater levels of sadness, irritability and anxiety — characteristic of sad girl vibes.

So, during this time of the month, you might see a girl crying in the frozen dessert aisle because her favorite pint of ice cream isn’t in stock in H-E-B  — RIP my strawberry Van Leeuwen. 

All of this hectic mess is contrasted with a man’s daily rhythm, where testosterone is steering the hormonal ship in place of estrogen.

Similarly, testosterone can also influence a man’s mood. Low levels of this “happy” hormone are associated with higher levels of sadness, irritability and anxiety. Sound familiar?

For men, testosterone levels peak in the morning and decline throughout the day. 

So if men appear snappier at the end of the day, their lack of testosterone might be a factor.

Ultimately, the basic biological reality is that both men and women have hormones, with the main difference being their respective cycles.

A woman may appear more hormonal than a man, but to say she is hormonal when comparing the two is too simple of an explanation — it misrepresents the actual physiological processes happening inside both women and men. 

Further, it reduces the woman to a single word, dismissing her actions and her feelings. She is no longer an individual: Instead, she is just hormonal.

This narrative needs to change.

So next time you encounter a woman sobbing in the grocery store, don’t stick her with the hormonal label and move on. That’s reductive. 

Instead, approach the situation with empathy.

Her feelings are valid — they deserve to be met with understanding, not rejection.

Gabriela Gomez is a biomedical sciences senior and opinion writer for The Battalion.