The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation by Janice Delaney; Mary Jane Lupton; Emily

Toth
Review by: Mona Eliasson
Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jul., 1990), pp. 175-177
Published by: University of Texas Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704480 .
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 BookReviews 175

sexualdescriptionsin existencebeforeDarwinwrote.4Birkenalsoignores
mostofthe sexologists ofthelastpartofthenineteenth andfirstpartofthe
twentiethcenturies,suchasMagnusHirschield anclIwanBloch,bothsem-
inalfiguresin the development of sexology,simplybecausehe saysthey
were not known in English versions as were Freud,Krafft-Ebing, or
HavelockEllis.He rescuessome minor economic but
theorists ignores
othertheoristswhowouldcontradict them.Thelistcouldgo on.
In short,Birkenis thought-provoking, a neededcorrective to someof
but as a historicalworkthe bookis highlyselectiveof
his predecessors,
whatideologyBirkenchoosesto discuss.StillI wouldgive him strong
marksforforcingmeto rethinksomeof myownviewsandwouldrecom-
mendhimto allinterested in thehistoryof sex.
VERN L. BULLOUGH
DepartmentofHistory
svNr ColteyeatBuffalo

TlyeCurse:A CulturalHistoryofMenstruation.By JANICE D ELANEY,

MARY JANE LUPTON, and EMILY TOTH- Revisededition withI
new afterwordsby MARY JANE LUPTON and JANICE D ELANEY.
of IllinoisPress,1988.Pp.xv+334.
Urbana:University

The feministmovementplaceda numberof new itemson the academic

agenda,amongthemthestudyof women'sreproductive cyclesasnolturoD
and normal partsof women'slives.The experience of menstruation is
uniqueforwomen,butit is a phenomenon whichis notregarded within-
differenceby eithersex.Mostknowncultureshaverulesandrestrictions
placedon menstruating women,particularly withrespectto sexuality.
Basedon descriptionsfromnon-Western culturesmadeby Western
(mostlymale)anthropologists, the authorsdeveloptheirargumentthat
womenaredevaluedandcircumscribed in theirlivesbytaboosoriginating
fromthefactthattheymenstruate.
In additionto anthropologicalreports,the authorsdrawon sources
fromdivergentfields:socialscience,philosophyr medicine,andliterature,
aswellaspopularreports.Therearepresentations of physiologicalandpsy-
chologicalchangesduringthemenstrual cycle,menarche, arldmenopause,
andthe problemscommonlyexperienced. Thesetopicsarefollowedby
chapterson menstruation or menstruation-related themesin the arts,
4See, for a brief study of this, Vern L. Bullough,'CThePhysicianand Researchinto
HumanSexualBehaviorin Nineteenth-Century Germany,"BulletinoftheHistoryofMedicine
63 (1989): 247-67.

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176 B OOK REVIEWS

drama,and fiction, as expressionsof culturalmythology)broadeningour

picture.
The authors,who are professorsof English literature,maintainthat
womenstillhaveto livetheirlivesunderthe influenceof manyancientmen-
strualtaboos,whichcontinueto serveasmotivationsfor the oppressionof
women. Alen regardwomen and especiallymenstruatingwomen as dan-
gerous and/or mysticaland have create(ltaboos to keepwomen separate
andsubordinatein orderto protectthemselvesandthe restof societyfrom
harmfulinfluence.Hence the custom of secludingwomen during men-
struationobeginningatmenarche(thefirstmenstrualperiod,whenwomen
areperceivedas sexuallymature)andrepeatedthroughoutwomen'sfertile
life. In some culturesthese proceduresapproachtorture,with the women
treatedlike outcasts.In other societies a milderform of taboo is main-
tained: the women are not allowed to take part in ordinarywork or to
associatewith theirhusbandsin anyway,andparticularlythey arenot al-
lowed to havesexualrelations.If one believesthatsuchviews andcustoms
areonlyof historicalinterest,it is soberingto readabouttwentieth-century
scholarswho claimedto havedemonstrateda specialpowerof menstrual
blood-in medicaljargona chemicalsubstancenamedmenotoxin as late
as 1950.
In modernsocietythese extremeshavebeenmitigated,but women are
still expectedto hide the fact that they aremenstruating,andthe taboo is
still observedin manyareas,but mostlyregardingsexuality.Moderncou-
ples may not believethe manwill be deprivedof his virilityif intercourse
takesplaceduringthe woman'smenstrualperiodor that a menstruating
womanturnsinto a witch possessingsupernatural powers,but the stated
reasonof hygienefor abstainingmaybenothingbut anunrecognizedform
of taboo, accordingto Delaney,Lupton, and Toth. Menstruationstill is
"unclean."
The Bible and modernsex manualsas well haveexplicitrecommenda-
tions regardingsexualrelationsduring menstruation,reflectinga male
ambivalencetowardmenstrualblood. Manyauthorsof medicaltextstreat
menstruationas disease)and beliefsthat sexualintercourseduringmen-
struationcould causegynecologicalhealthproblemsareprobableexpres-
sions of the sameprejudices.
This importanttreatiseon the meaningof menstruationsummarizesan
impressiveamountof workin a clearandaccessiblemanner.However,the
authorsaresomewhatuncriticalin theirtreatmentofthe customsof distant
peoples.The menstrualseclusionperiodasrelieffromhardworkis not dis-
cussed.A deeperunderstandingof how socialstructuresgive meaningto
customsandorganizebehavior,especiallysexualbehavior,couldhavebeen
attainedby includingsome of MaryDouglas'swork (for example,Purity
and Danger [1966; reprint,London: Routledge& KeganPaul, 1979]).

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 BookRevtews 177

Thepresentation is alsomarred byminormistalQes, whichshouldhavebeen

correctedin therevisededition.Humanbodytemperature is lovverin the
morning(p. 267), anda biologicaleventcorresponding to the menarche
does occurin the pubertaldevelopment of boys,the firstspontarleous
nightlyemissionof semen(p.265), to mentioIl two examples.
Muchof whatwasnewin 1976,whenthefirsteditionappeared, is now
partof manywomen'sstudiescourses.Thenewpartsof the 1988edition
consistof chapteraftenvords(withsomeexceptions)supplementing and
correctingtheoriginalchapters. Scholars mayfindthatthe qualityof the
addenda doesnottnatchthatof theoriginal,testifyingto therapiddevel-
opmentsin thefield.
Thecloseaffiliation of menstruation arldsex::uality
governsourpercep-
tions of sexualrelations.Sexualityis one of the most complexand
problem-laden aspectsof gcnderrelations. Anunderstandingofmenstrua-
tion beyondthe basicbiologicalfactsbecomesveryimportantfor the
interpretation (3fgender relations.
Anessentialcontribu£ion of TheCurseis
to makethisso obvious.
Oneprecondition forpercciving arlother groupasinferiorto ones own
is to regardit as(iifferent. Thus,the factof menstruation alnvays projects
discussions of maleoppression onto a biologicalbackground. It is indis-
putablethatthe findamentaldifferences betweenthe genderslie in their
reproductive biology-relatedfilnctions.The gendersdifir in sexualex-
pressionsandin someaspectsof thcparental role;org;ariization
of human
lifeandsocietyis basedon this.Theaccountsof the varyingculturalin-
terpretationsof menstmalpollutionand subsequentreg;ulations of
sexuality givenin thepresentvolumercmindusneverto overlookthecul-
turalandsocialcontextswhendealingwithhumanbehavior.
MONA ELIASSON
CenterforWomenScholars
andResegrchon Women
UppsalaUniversity

BloodMgic: The Axthriolosgyof Menstruation.Editedby THOMAS

B U CKLEYandA LMA G OTTLI EB. Berkeley andLosAngeles:Univer-
sityof California
Press,1988.Pp.viii 326.

Anthropologists havelong been intriguedand challengedby cultural

responsesto menstruation, reg;ardedhereasan"apparently ordinarybio-
logicalevent[that]hasbeensubjectto extraordinary symbolicelaboration
in awidevarietyof culturest';
yet,in theviewof ThomasBuckleyandAlma
Gottlieb,"littlehasbeenfirmlyestablished" (p. 3). Thisallegedlackof
progresstheyattribute largelyto thrcefactors:"apaucityof detailregard-

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