Menstruation: The need for a far more nuanced view

Menstruation is a process as old as human history, and yet if our earliest foremothers were to witness menstruation today, they would likely struggle to understand the transformation this process has undergone.

Menstruation is so much more than the process of discharging blood and the uterine lining, at regular, usually monthly intervals. Sure, that may be a very basic explanation of what goes on inside a person’s body. But outside of the body, menstruation has transformed into a constructed bio-political and social script which has drastically evolved in recent history and is still changing.

A huge factor that reconfigured notions about menstruation was the discovery that birth control methods, including the pill and the IUD could lessen the flow, length, frequency or even halt the existence of the menstrual cycle in its users.

An advertisement from Mirena's website. Retrieved Nov. 2018

Following this discovery, the bio-political construction of menstruation as a “burden” was by no means accidental. 

In her book, Takeshita describes the viewpoints of several of the developers of the hormone-releasing IUD, who paint menstruation as “an unnecessary, avoidable, byproduct of the human reproductive process” and who propose that “biologic differences hold women down” and that birth control will “liberate them from their innate imperative”. In fact a woman “could suppress her menstruation to free herself from an unnecessary burden” (Takeshita 2012).

Did this completely new construction of menstruation as “unnecessary” and a “burden” spring forth from a wealth of new research finally interested in learning about women’s bodies? No, these claims arose to make companies a profit. Convincing women that menstruation was an obstacle to their full actualization as liberated women was all a marketing scheme. Ideas about the marketing of hormone-releasing IUDs centered around which populations could be “educated to appreciate decreased menstrual bleeding”. As the wording suggests, there was a strong focus on telling women how they should feel about their periods. Those construct menstruation as a roadblock to a woman’s freedom stand to gain much from the sale of products which halt menstruation. This extends beyond IUDs too. Seasonale, an oral contraceptive, used its marketing campaign to “construct menstruation as an inconvenience and an obstacle” (Takeshita 2012).

Is the biologic process of menstruation inherently an obstacle to women’s liberation and freedom? Or in some ways, is it culturally constructed to be one? If hygiene products such as tampons, pads, and menstrual cups were easily accessible in all schools, work places, and public places, and were free or inexpensive would it be such an obstacle? If women’s pain was taken seriously and gynecological conditions like endometriosis received enough funding to be studied and treated appropriately would it be a such burden? If there was no societal shame or stigma to menstruation would it feel like such a hindrance?

There are plenty of powerful, independent, successful and self-actualized women in the U.S. Have they all achieved their success primarily because they were able to free themselves from the “biologic differences” which “hold women down” and rid themselves of the menace of menstruation (Takeshita 2012)? No, of course not. Granted, there are many individuals who chose to use birth control methods and embrace the halt of their menstrual cycles, and that’s completely their prerogative.

However, this narrative of menstruation presented by birth control companies needs to be further examined. There is far more nuance to this situation.

First, it is ridiculous to paint menstruation as an obstacle and a burden without acknowledging the social and political factors that have have contributed to it being so. A prime and recent example of the factors is the “tampon tax”. Currently, all but 10 states tax tampons and pads as “luxury goods”. They are not given the same sales tax exemptions that “necessities” such as food, medicines, and sometimes clothing, receives. Considering estimations that individuals menstruate for an average of 40 years of their lives, costs add up quickly.  

Second, menstruation is very important to some individuals. Some people see menstruation as part of a sacred process or a clear definition of them becoming and being a woman, linked to their childbearing abilities. For others, menstruation has important cultural or religious implications. Yet, the development of the IUD and its marketing narrative completely belittled these perspectives. A WHO investigation of attitudes about menstruation from 14 different cultures examined the cultural and religious reasons that people may not be willing to accept longer periods or irregular bleeding, as it interfered with their daily household tasks and religious activities. The study concluded that the majority of the women interviewed did not want their menstrual periods to be altered in any way, and yet the authors took a condescending tone and belittled these opinions. Takeshita describes how the report characterizes people who change daily and religious activities in accordance to their menstrual cycle as “older, less educated, rural women” and “a woman who was “prepared to accept” amenorrhea [absence of a menstrual period] was reportedly “younger, better educated, [and] urban”. For a report meant to study the nuances of cultural and religious perspectives on menstruation, it cast a very damning and judgmental light on people whose opinions differed from those of the authors.

A photo of Sawyer from a short series on Thinx. 

Third, an often ignored point in discussions about menstruation are that trans men and non-binary individuals who menstruate. A social construction of periods as “femininity” do not acknowledge these individuals and can be harmful. Only recently has society began to begin to talk about these demographics in their scripts about menstruation. One recent moment of recognition was when the company Thinx (which sells underwear which replace the need for pads or tampons) launched new underwear boy shorts. Its tagline? “Underwear for people with periods”. Its spokesperson is an artist named Sawyer DeVuyst, who is a transgender man. On the website, his words and photographs shed some light on his experiences menstruating as a transgender man.

When it comes to menstruation, we don’t need to reach a consensus about its significance or its positives and negatives. On the contrary, we need to create and hold space for the nuances of menstruation and its social and cultural significance, and realize it goes far beyond “becoming a woman” and then facing it as a burden and obstacle.

For some people menstruation is a point of shame or a topic which isn’t openly discussed. For some it’s a brief annoyance. For others it can be excruciating and debilitating (for example: for some people who have endometriosis). For some, it is sacred and honored, and part of their ritual.

What it is not?

Unnatural.

Something to be ashamed or embarrassed to talk about.

Something which is should be a burden to manage because products are so expensive or inaccessible or there is not enough research on pain management for conditions such as endometriosis.

We need to strive to construct a bio political script about menstruation that gives space to each person to define their relationship to menstruation. We need to create a society which makes menstruation easy and affordable to manage and acceptable to talk about. We need to make it okay for all people to halt menstruation if they need or want to.

 All individuals deserve the autonomy to manage and perceive menstruation as they wish. And to the pharmaceutical companies? We don’t need you to tell us how we should feel about it.

• Takeshita, C. (2012;2011;). The global biopolitics of the IUD: How science constructs contraceptive users and women's bodies. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.