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Hasson provides an examination of menstrual suppression technologies and the implications they have on understanding menstruation as both quintessentially natural and socially constructed, and even what ‘counts’ as menstruation. Taking the case of birth control pills, Hasson studies menstrual suppression by analyzing medical journal articles, FDA a...
Citations
... In workplace settings, ME is increasingly framed through the provision of menstrual concealment (i.e., pads and tampons) and suppression (i.e., hormonal contraceptives) technologies as baseline supports (Weiss-Wolf 2020). However, hormonal contraceptives for menstrual suppression are more often than not encouraged as 'solutions' to menstrual management altogether (Hasson et al. 2020), especially in high-performance maledominated sectors like the military, which raises critical questions about choice, agency, and institutional design. Rather than assuming access to products and suppression technologies is inherently equitable and inclusive, critical menstruation studies scholars argue that ME must also address the broader structures that normalize menstrual erasure and bodily discipline Winkler et al. 2020;Wood 2020). ...
With its roots in second‐wave feminism and entrance into the limelight during the mid‐2010s, the “menstrual equity movement” continues to garner global momentum through combined efforts of grassroots activism, academic research, and social media, which has resulted in legislative and policy (re)formation across many contexts, inclusive of public and private workplace sectors. Critical menstrual studies scholars (Bobel & Fahs, 2020) have raised concerns about how this movement and related policy and legal reforms have become narrowly synonymous with reducing economic barriers to accessing menstrual products, rather than transforming cultural attitudes surrounding menstruation altogether. Within Canada, grassroots activism for menstrual equity has led to legislative changes nationwide (Weiss‐Wolf, 2017). As of December 2023, the Canadian federal government amended the Canada Labour Code (SOR/2023‐78) to mandate the provision of free menstrual products to employees across all federally regulated workplaces as a means to ‘improve equity, reduce stigma, and create healthier, more inclusive workplaces.’ Yet while this legislative change appears to be progressively centering menstrual health as a matter of DEI workplace policy, it remains set against a larger historical backdrop of feminist inquiry that has and continues to explore tensions of menstrual products and hormonal contraceptives, which are used to conceal and suppress menstruation, as both technologies of control and empowerment. In light of these complexities, we argue that menstrual equity policy and related DEI discourse within militarized institutions, as federally regulated workplaces, function as mechanisms of soft coercion which discipline assigned female at birth (AFAB) soldiers into alignment with masculine ideals of the soldier‐worker under the guise of “inclusion.” We examine how menstrual concealment and suppression technologies are made available to AFAB soldiers as military technological solutions for occupational health that simultaneously expand participation and reinforce cultural beliefs that menstruation is a logistical problem to be minimized and/or erased in service of operational readiness.
... Menstruation is a "natural" and "biological" phenomenon (Hasson, 2020;Poly & Eyemoon, 2020;Sultana, 2011) that every woman has to face at their reproductive age, regardless of their social, religious, economic, cultural, and racial differences. Since a woman menstruates for most of the second half of her life, on average for about 7 years during her lifetime (UNICEF, 2018), maintaining menstrual health can be considered a fundamental part of her overall physical and mental health system. ...
The images and messages of a particular advertisement can influence consumers’ perspectives about a product, even for menstrual products like sanitary napkins, irrespective of what social class or position they belong to. In the context of Bangladesh, the number of advertisements produced for sanitary napkins is small, and in most cases, the advertisements that exist portray content based on a higher or middle-class lifestyle and affairs, thus creating the ideology that sanitary pads as a product are only made for higher or middle-class women. This study empirically analyses the sanitary pad advertisements in Bangladesh with a focus on the underrepresentation of poor women. It also raises important questions, including whether the media consciously denies the reality of poor women in the pad advertisements. Taking nine sanitary pad advertisements into consideration, the content analysis method has been used to scrutinize these advertisements and later to determine the significance of connected advertisements. The means of grandiloquence in terms of the represented casts’ attire, professions, and lifestyles are identified from the content analyses of the sanitary pad advertisements. The presence of poor class women’s menstrual affairs in the sanitary pad advertisement is a necessity to influence their attitude. Social Science Review, Vol. 40(2), December 2023 Page: 127-142
... Indeed, the institutionalization of menstrual symbolism and social imagery have already been theorized as means to the social surveillance and regulation of women (Erchull, 2020;Ussher, 2004Ussher, , 2011. For instance, menstrual suppression through the generalized commercialization and prescription of hormonal contraception, meant a challenge to gender norms and embodiment, hence leading to an institutionalized redefinition of menstruation (Hasson, 2020;Valls-Llobet, 2009). Then, both the menstrual cycle and menstruation became "controllable" through the generalized medicalization of menstruating bodies (Blázquez Rodríguez & Bolaños Gallardo, 2017). ...
Menstrual imagery and embodied menstrual experiences are greatly modulated by androcentric biomedical systems. Given that menstruating is not only a biological phenomenon but also a sociocultural and political action, women and people who menstruate (PWM) must actively participate in redefining how menstruation and menstrual health are understood and addressed. Taking a situated knowledge perspective, this study aims to investigate how women and PWM conceptualize menstruation and menstrual health in the Barcelona area (Spain), to offer a critical reflection on how social meanings of menstruation and menstrual health may be embodied and shape the menstrual experiences of women and PWM in our context. A qualitative study with 31 women and 3 PWM was conducted, using semi-structured photo-elicitation interviews and framework analysis. Menstruation was often perceived and experienced as a burden, as it was seen as intrinsically linked to identity and stereotyped femininity. Menstrual health was strongly framed within a biomedical and androcentric lens. At the same time, some participants took a critical stance, highlighting the importance of body literacy and self-care. Definitions of menstruation and menstrual health should take into account how women and PWM experience and embody menstruation, to promote menstrual education and health in a way that responds to the needs of women and PWM. Challenging institutionalized ideas about menstruation could also support community-based actions and transform menstrual policymaking into participatory processes.
... Despite the wide variety of methods that can be used and be effective (e.g., physical activity) [86], medicalization is usually the most common strategy within healthcare services [87], especially via hormonal contraceptives or painkillers [2,88]. Narrowing down the options for menstrual pain management can greatly contribute to pathologizing the menstrual cycle and menstruation [89], rather than considering menstruation and the menstrual cycle as indicators of health [90,91]. Consistent with another study in the Spanish context [92], premenstrual symptoms reports were also high, since these were experienced by most women and PWM (68.2%) in most menstrual cycles. ...
... This links with the abovementioned medicalization of menstrual related health issues [2,87], frequently treated by default with hormonal contraception [87,88]. Alternative approaches (e.g., natural remedies, nutrition, or physical activity) are rarely offered, partially as their adequacy and efficacy is often unknown by healthcare professionals, perpetuating a medication-based model to address menstrual issues [2,89,97]. Another explanation could be due to the lack of time health professionals often have to approach menstrual health in a more holistic way and to focus on menstrual education. ...
Background
Evidence on how menstrual characteristics may differ based on socioeconomic factors and self-rated health is significantly scarce. The main aim of this study was to investigate the associations between menstrual characteristics, sociodemographic factors and self-rated health among women and people who menstruate (PWM) aged 18–55 in Spain.
Methods
This cross-sectional study includes data from an online survey collected in March–July 2021 across Spain. Descriptive statistical analyses and multivariate logistic regression models were performed.
Results
The analyses included a total of 19,358 women and PWM. Mean age at menarche was 12.4 (SD = 1.5). While 20.3% of our participants experienced a menstrual abundance over 80 ml, 64.1% reported having menstrual blood clots; 6.4% menstruated for longer than 7 days. 17.0% had menstrual cycles that were shorter than 21 days or longer than 35 days. Reports of moderate (46.3%) and high (22.7%) intensity menstrual pain were common. 68.2% of our participants experienced premenstrual symptoms in all or most cycles. The odds for lighter menstrual flow, shorter bleeding days and menstrual cycles were higher as age increased, and amongst participants with less educational attainment. Caregivers presented higher odds for abundant menstrual flow and longer menstruations. Reporting financial constraints and a poorer self-rated health were risk factors for abundant menstrual flow, menstrual blood clots, shorter/longer menstruations and menstrual cycles, premenstrual symptoms, moderate and intense menstrual pain.
Conclusions
This study suggests that age, educational attainment, caregiving, experiencing financial hardship and a poorer self-rated health may shape or mediate menstrual characteristics. It thus highlights the need to investigate and address social inequities of health in menstrual research.
... J'étais furieuse. (Évelyne, 64 ans, 40 années de règles) 30 On peut supposer que cette diversité des resubjectivations psychologiques et sociales à partir d'une modification physiologique notable est l'une des conséquences des errements du discours médical, d'une part sur ce que veulent les femmes, comme en témoignent les gynécologues mises en cause par Catherine et Évelyne, d'autre part quant à la qualification des saignements restants avec les traitements hormonaux, qui ne sont pas, biologiquement parlant, des menstrues, mais en présentent toutes les apparences (Hasson 2020). La pause des règles que provoquent les traitements hormonaux rencontre alors les représentations de la ménopause elle-même, si peu verbalisée encore dans la sphère sociale et dont la prise en charge est depuis longtemps similaire à celui d'une maladie à traiter, du moins dans le monde occidental (Oudshoorn 1998, Charlap 2019 pendant la grossesse et l'allaitement, selon la plupart des témoignages. ...
Sex hormones feature prominently as both contributor's to, and treatment of, discomfort and illness. Sex hormones contribute to the production of femaleness and maleness, femineity and masculinity.
In this concluding chapter, I consider what lies outside MHM’s current discursive frames, including a link between menstrual health and reproductive justice and a privileging of local voices and local knowledges. I urge a reframe of the fundamental problem to focus more squarely on menstrual stigma and, accordingly, channel more resources to teaching menstrual literacy in what I call a 360-degree approach that engages not just the girl, as most MHM programs do, but family members, boy classmates, teachers, teacher trainers, community and religious leaders, health workers, government officials, NGOs, and product makers, as well as media, policy advisors, and funders. Quality menstrual health education, I argue, must be delivered by trained and trusted educators who teach the entire menstrual cycle as the fifth vital sign and gateway to embodied agency and decision-making across the lifespan.
