The Ground on Which We All Stand: A Conversation About Menstrual Equity Law and Activism

This essay grows out of a panel discussion among five lawyers on the subject of menstrual equity activism. Each of the authors is a scholar, activist or organizer involved in some form of menstrual equity work. The overall project is both enriched and complicated by an intersectional analysis. This essay increases awareness of existing menstrual equity and menstrual justice work; it also identifies avenues for further inquiry, next steps for legal action, and opportunities that lie ahead. After describing prior and current work at the junction of law and menstruation, the contributors evaluate the successes and limitations of recent legal changes. The authors then turn to conceptual issues about the relationship between menstrual equity and gender justice, as well as the difference between equity and equality. The essay concludes with consideration of the future of menstrual equity and menstrual justice work. The authors envision an expanded, inclusive group of individuals working for greater gender justice

Challenging Menstrual Norms in Online Medical Advice: Deconstructing Stigma through Entangled Art Practice

This article analyses three examples of online medical advice provided by UK based health websites on the topic of menstruation, and reflects on my artistic practice as a critical response to notions of menstrual normativity. The article considers to what extent these online platforms — now part of the cultural fabric of contemporary healthcare advice — sustain dominant Western cultural perceptions of menstruation. Through thematic and comparative analysis, the article explores how these texts reflect cultural discourses around menstruation through reinforcing cis and heteronormative standards, presenting menstruation as failed pregnancy, and as a largely problematic rather than positive experience. The article also reflects upon autobiographical and performative artworks as spaces developed alongside the analysis of the online medical advice texts, which propose and explore resistance to the social stigma still associated with menstruating

Characterizing physiological and symptomatic variation in menstrual cycles using self-tracked mobile health data

The menstrual cycle is a key indicator of overall health for women of reproductive age. Previously, menstruation was primarily studied through survey results; however, as menstrual tracking mobile apps become more widely adopted, they provide an increasingly large, content-rich source of menstrual health experiences and behaviors over time. By exploring a database of user-tracked observations from the Clue app by BioWink of over 378,000 users and 4.9 million natural cycles, we show that self-reported menstrual tracker data can reveal statistically significant relationships between per-person cycle length variability and self-reported qualitative symptoms. A concern for self-tracked data is that they reflect not only physiological behaviors, but also the engagement dynamics of app users. To mitigate such potential artifacts, we develop a procedure to exclude cycles lacking user engagement, thereby allowing us to better distinguish true menstrual patterns from tracking anomalies. We uncover that women located at different ends of the menstrual variability spectrum, based on the consistency of their cycle length statistics, exhibit statistically significant differences in their cycle characteristics and symptom tracking patterns. We also find that cycle and period length statistics are stationary over the app usage timeline across the variability spectrum. The symptoms that we identify as showing statistically significant association with timing data can be useful to clinicians and users for predicting cycle variability from symptoms or as potential health indicators for conditions like endometriosis. Our findings showcase the potential of longitudinal, high-resolution self-tracked data to improve understanding of menstruation and women's health as a whole.Comment: The Supplementary Information for this work, as well as the code required for data pre-processing and producing results is available in https://github.com/iurteaga/menstrual_cycle_analysi

Our Lips are Sealed: a Social Constructionist Approach to Understanding Menstrual Concealment at Menarche

At menarche, menstruators receive messages from various sources that urge them to conceal evidence of their menstruation. Concealment refers to the notion that menstruation is to be hidden, especially from men. This belief is often exploited and/or expressed in interactions between menstruators, mothers, and peers, in advertisements, educational materials, day-to-day conversation, and personal disciplinary actions. Themes of concealment are analyzed within a social constructionist framework to understand how narratives develop over time to guide human behavior and maintain social order. This paper argues that the menstrual concealment taboo is a social construction that has been institutionalized into the fabric of American society and mediates experiences of menstruation to promote body shame

Free to Bleed or Free to Buy? The Postfeminist Transformation of Menstruation

From innovative new products to cheeky advertisements to period politics, menstruation appears to be having its moment. This thesis serves to offer some skepticism towards the changing cultural attitudes towards periods, categorizing many of these recent developments as a consequence of a postfeminist cooptation. To support this process, this thesis first identifies menstruation as a political issue with implications for both gender politics and anti-capitalist efforts, identifying the stakes at play with this paradigm shift. Then, it deconstructs the consequences of the changing corporate narratives and advertisements and of the most recent mainstream political engagement with menstruation, the menstrual equity movement. Ultimately, I argue that the growing political consciousness surrounding menstruation and its various social issues has, through these cultural sites, been redirected towards more palatable and accommodating neoliberal channels, diminishing the radical and intersectional potential of the bodily process as a site of political struggle

Normalizing the Topic of Menstruation through the #Prideintheperiod Campaign

Since shame is embedded in the discourse of menstruation, the researcher chose to naturalize the conversation of menstruation since it is an innate bodily function that menstruators should not be embarrassed about. Granted the improper sex education and the continuous genderization of menstruation promoted societal menstrual shame, the researcher found that both genders needed to be re-educated on menstrual stigma and be included in menstruation conversations. Through a needs assessment, the researcher created five campaign messages that allowed participants to see varying perspectives on periods. Both a questionnaire and a survey evaluated if the campaign changed the participants’ perceptions of menstruation. The campaign results vocalized that participants previously viewed menstruation as ‘embarrassing’ based on being uninformed of the other gender’s relationship to menstruation. To normalize menstruation, participants stressed that education and conversations need to value both genders’ perspectives and display menstruation realistically

The Flow: Educate. Empower. Change

Menstruation is often misrepresented, stigmatized, and ignored. A lack of education and distorted view of periods in society greatly impacts young menstruators as they begin to have periods and can have long-term negative effects on their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. In order to design a project that effectively addressed this global problem, we used the Human Centered Design approach. This process has three steps: Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation. During the Inspiration phase, we conducted expert interviews with professionals in the field of menstrual health and completed a literature review to further our understanding of the issues facing menstruators. After completing the stage of Inspiration, we decided to develop strategies to educate, empower, and change attitudes towards menstruation. During the Ideation stage, we worked with consultants to develop a website and social media campaign that allowed us to reach our target audience efficiently and effectively. During our Implementation phase, we completed our website and obtained feedback from our partner organizations, experts, and a sample of our target audience, and used this information to improve our website. Next, we published our website and began the social media campaign. After this, we used questionnaires to gather feedback from our target audience as a way to evaluate our progress. We assessed our outcomes by looking at the quantitative indicative from our social media followings and website interactions. We assessed our impact by conducting a content analysis of shared stories and discussions through brand based hashtags and social media posts. Our goal is to empower menstruators, and through them everyone, to take control of their bodies and break the cycle of silence through increasing and normalizing conversation surrounding menstruation

The Social Exclusion of Homeless Menstruators within the Sanitary Dignity Framework and its Implementation

The Sanitary Dignity Framework (2019) is a policy that aims to preserve and maintain indigent girls' and women's dignity during menstruation. In South Africa, the term “sanitary dignity”, can be equated to what the rest of the world recognizes as menstrual hygiene management (MHM). Sanitary dignity or MHM is centred around the provision of menstrual health hygiene products (MHPs) such as tampons and sanitary pads to anyone who menstruates and cannot afford to purchase MHPs for themselves. Limited of access to MHPs, water and sanitation facilities, and privacy make it impossible for vulnerable menstruators to achieve sanitary dignity. This policy excludes street-based homeless menstruators as it only makes provisions for those who have access to state-funded institutions such as; quintile 1, 2, and 3 schools, mental institutions, hostels, places of care, and prisons. Street-based homeless menstruators are marginalized twofold; they reside on the streets and they menstruate. This dissertation discusses how the social exclusion of street-based homeless menstruators within the Sanitary Dignity Framework strips them of their fundamental right to dignity by denying them access to the sanitary dignity they are entitled to

Menstrual Inequality in Women\u27s Correctional Facilities

The purpose of this analysis is to examine how those who menstruate while incarcerated experience menstrual inequality within correctional settings. This research focuses on vulnerable populations of menstruators most likely to experience menstrual inequality and the underlying causes of this systematic inequality within the prison industrial complex in the United States. The content of this work will focus on how menstruating bodies face stigma, discrimination, and punitive treatment within correctional institutions throughout the United States. Based on the lack of access to feminine hygiene products and adequate restroom facilities within correctional institutions, menstruators face potential issues of privacy, concealment, and additional shame and stigma. This research suggests potential avenues where menstrual injustice could be remedied through future legislation centered around basic human rights and access to products for all incarcerated menstruators

Empower voices, enhance dignity A Study on Menstrual Hygiene Management among Internally Displaced Menstruators in Wassa IDP Camp, Abuja, FCT.

Nigeria’s humanitarian crisis has led to prolonged internal displacement, with many people forced to flee their homes due to armed conflict and communal violence. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) number in the millions and face numerous challenges that leave them vulnerable. Among those affected are menstruators, who face unique challenges related to managing menstruation in these dire circumstances. Despite significant research on various aspects of life within Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, there remains a notable gap in addressing menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in this space. This study focuses on understanding and enhancing health literacy of MHM through a life-centered embodied system of products and information in Wassa IDP Camp in Abuja, FCT, Nigeria. By emphasizing collaboration, dialogue, equity, empathy, learning, diversity, and sustainability, this research strived to explore MHM challenges within the Wassa IDP camp. This research delves into the barriers menstruators face and the potential impact of design to foster understanding, consider cultural factors, and promote gender equity through tailored and ample information. Many factors were considered in this work, including community-centered approaches, cultural sensitivity, and continuous learning to promote dignity, health, and well-being. This research makes evidence-based recommendations to improve health literacy MHM practices and policies using mixed methodologies, including a literature review, interviews, health impact assessments, cultural analysis, case studies, and program evaluation. These recommendations can benefit IDP community members and leadership, policymakers, humanitarian organizations, and designers/educators, contributing to broader efforts to address the complex challenges displaced populations face