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Cecilia Wallis

Scot Johnson

Eng 1201-519

27 March 2022

Why is menstruation stigmatized?

A few months ago, I was grabbing a drink and playing some arcade games at a bar with

my sister, her husband, my boyfriend, and a group of his friends. This friend group was

composed of males aside from my sister and me. We somehow breached the topic of

reproduction and started discussing womens’ reproductive systems, specifically menstruation. As

we conversed, I came to the realization that the men I was talking to knew some basic facts about

female reproduction, but their lack of in-depth knowledge was astounding. They knew what a

tampon was but were unfamiliar with pads or menstrual cups. They knew about cramping during

menstruation but didn’t know that those and many other symptoms could begin up to a week

before a period starts. While I was grateful for the opportunity to teach them, I wondered how

none of these topics had come up in their past. Most of these friends had sisters and all of them

had girlfriends in the past. Surely, they had learned from some woman in their life. If not,

shouldn’t they have learned this in school? I began to ponder what other parts of the female

reproductive system were not commonly known. I thought about a woman I had come across on

TikTok who had recently given birth. She often posted about her experience throughout her

pregnancy, labor, delivery, and even postpartum. She would bring up concerns about what was

happening with her body and only when she began to verbalize it, did other women tell her that

those were common, normal, and nothing to be concerned over. As I watched and listened, I

found myself asking the same question: “Why don’t we know about these things?” It all seemed
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to boil down to one word: stigma. Why is there an abundance of stigma surrounding this topic? I

set out to explore this topic and found that menstruation and the female reproductive system are

stigmatized because of their history, lack of research, lack of education, and because of the effect

of cultural norms and standards in society.

(Note: I acknowledge that not all uterus owners identify as women but for the sake of

clarity they will be referred to as women, girls, or females in this paper.)

Women have experienced periods for the entirety of existence, so why does this stigma

exist? Women make up about half the population globally which means that half the population

has experienced or will experience a period in their lifetime. We know that stigma is created by

society so let's start there. Society is largely run by men, so men determine much of what is

socially accepted by creating the norms and standards of appropriateness. Historically, women

were below men in the household and in society which meant they adhered to and obeyed the

rules set by their fathers, brothers, and husbands. Women (and their bodies) existed to serve men.

They were expected to cook, clean, and, most importantly, bear children. With pregnancy being

one of the main societal expectations of a woman, it was shameful to have a period because it

revealed a woman was not pregnant and had failed in her duty to reproduce. This shame coupled

with the common view influenced by Aristotle “that menstruation blood was impure (Karlsson)”

contributed to creating a stigma that held women’s reproductive systems as unclean unless they

served a purpose that society deemed acceptable. As time went on and women took other roles in

society, many of these deeply rooted ideas remained. Women in the workforce today will tell

you that they have faced discrimination at the hands of society and their employers. Even today

if a woman decides to start a family, she is celebrated and honored, however if that same woman

chooses not to have children, she is questioned and made to feel like less of a woman.
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But why does reproductive shame continue in a world that

claims to value women for their worth rather than their

bodies? In addition to the history of period stigma, we

must also address the current societal avoidance of the

topic. A common finding for stigmatization is a vast lack

of research on the female body. A prime example of this takes center stage in “Tightly Wound,”

a short film written, directed, and produced by Shelby Hadden. Her story of suffering from

vaginismus with no answers, diagnoses, or treatment for decades brings to light a stumbling

block in the medical field. While women have suffered from this condition for decades, it was

dismissed as a sensitivity or weakness when, in fact, it was a debilitating disorder. Only once

enough women came forward to apply pressure was research conducted to diagnose the

condition. Even now, there is no medical cure beyond learning to relax the pelvic floor muscles

and physical therapy. This is not an isolated disorder. Consider other conditions such as

endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) that cause women to suffer with

unanswered questions for those who should have the answers. Both of these conditions affect

girls and women around world and yet have no known cure or treatment. Women also fight

embarrassment and the fear of disbelief in the offices of nurses, doctors, and other medical

professionals because of the history of their symptoms and concerns being taken lightly and

being brushed off. These fears contribute to their hesitation to present the full information and

prohibit them from receiving the help they need (Carroll). So, while research is an integral need,

it is also of utmost importance for medical professionals to truly listen to their patients, believe in

their patients, and think out of the box for solutions. This lack of research lays a shaky
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foundation on which embarrassment and frustration with one's own body grow and has been

acknowledged as a human rights issue (Zivi).

Another solution that goes hand-in-hand with research is education. Over the years, the

feminist movement has identified and illuminated the issue of period stigma. One of their

courses of action was to encourage general education to cover this topic more in depth and to

start at an earlier age. Lack of education is a major failing and contribution to the thoughts, ideas,

and misconceptions surrounding periods. While this is in part to the lack of research, it is also

due to feelings of discomfort and awkwardness around teaching the topic. In a study done by

Benshaul-Tolonen (2020) in sub-Saharan Africa it is shown that stigmatization in the form of

“period teasing” begins as early as secondary school. Period teasing is the teasing of girls

surrounding their periods such as cramping, leaking, smelling, and more. His research found that

a combined 63% of boys participated in period teasing because they thought periods were

embarrassing or because they thought periods were unnatural (p. 8). If these boys had been

taught the function and purpose of a period, would they have viewed periods as embarrassing or

unnatural? While some of the boys may have still carried those views, many wouldn’t if they

were given proper education on the matter and a chance to ask questions without embarrassment

or shame.

This lag in education causes setbacks when it comes to learning and future prospects of

girls and women. Benshaul-Tolonen also states that “13% of girls have experienced period

teasing, and more than 80% fear being teased (p. 1).” Research shows that when girls and

women are teased and embarrassed about their period, they avoid being in public where others

might notice. This avoidance of public spaces includes school and work. If girls are missing days

of school each month, they miss out on academic lessons, social opportunities among peers, and
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the ability to network and build rapport for their future. But even when girls decide to attend

school when on their periods, they have been shown to exhibit lower levels of both participation

and focus in the classroom due to the fear of leaking or smelling. Imagine trying to test but

having the fear of being teased if you go to sharpen your pencil and someone sees blood.

Imagine the amount of information you miss as you constantly use the restroom in order to

prevent this leaking. This yields lower test scores and lower academic performance. What is the

long-term effect of this? If the opportunities girls miss out on contribute to lower grades, lower

education rates, and worse career prospectives. It is common knowledge that lower education

rates lead to higher teen pregnancy rates, higher poverty rates, and higher unemployment rates.

This is not unique to school aged females; women take days off work due to the shame,

embarrassment, or the pain of their periods. These absences contribute to an increase in write

ups, a decrease in the chances of promotions or raises, and ultimately an increase in the already

high rate of women in poverty. We know that a disparity already exists between men and women

in the workforce both in pay and power imbalance without adding to those the physical and

emotional effects of period stigma.

While some people may argue that women have perpetuated the stigma and hold the

power to break it, I implore them to take a deeper look. When a woman was not permitted to

have her own bank account until 60 odd years ago, how was she to survive without a man? Why

would she speak about a period which is considered dirty, when she needs to find a man to have

and keep her? As times have changed and women have more opportunities to become self-

sufficient, they have taken the power to break the stigma back into their own hands. However, in

some countries and cultures women still do not have the privilege to do that which is why
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feminist across the globe fight for their rights through education, research, and fighting cultural

norms.

Another important aspect to point out is cultural and religious differences in the

regulation of female bodies. A common misconception surrounding female reproductive stigma

is that the stigma is the same across the globe. For example, in majority Sinhala-Buddhist Sri

Lanka shame “denotes modesty, purity, innocence, and self-effacement (Marecek, 2019),” thus

making it a positive trait. Whereas in the United States of America shame is known as a negative

trait and something to be avoided. Also, unlike most western cultures, Sri Lanka had long placed

the negative version of shame primarily on men as their responsibility since they were more

commonly in the eye of the public meaning that men held shame for the way they looked at

women and spoke of them in their absence. This shifted once women were permitted to be in

public spaces more regularly. While most of the research in this paper was conducted in the

United States of America and Tanzania, we know that norms and stigmas vary from culture to

culture and from country to country. While some versions of stigma exist in each country, the

extent and specifics vary.

In her article “From Embodied Shame to Reclaiming the Stain: Reflections on a Career in

Menstrual Activism,” Quint believes that the one of the ways to fight the cultural norms is by

being more open and honest about periods. The more women talk about their periods and

symptoms publicly, the less taboo and shameful the topic will become. She reflects on her

experiences as a period-haver and on her years as an activist on the topic in her article as she

suggests specific ways to destigmatize periods, even going as far as sewing fake period stains on

her clothes.
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As touched on by Carroll (2020), women can help propel breakthroughs in medicine by

giving medical professionals the full range of their symptoms rather than holding back in fear of

judgement or disbelief. Medical professionals must also be willing to listen to their patients and

not operate under false pretenses or assumptions. Public policy and better education on anatomy

can also help to combat these stigmas and views. Further research into the history of the stigma

is needed to discover the root causes of stigma and lead the direction of long-lasting solutions for

empowering women and strengthening society.

On a personal level, a way to combat period stigma is to abstain from the belief that

periods are abnormal and gross and remember that they are a normal and healthy bodily function

that serves a purpose. A recent surge on social media has helped women to come together and

realize the similarities in their experiences. Women are finally realizing that period diarrhea is

common, that large clots and consistently painful periods are a cause for concerns, and that

sleeping changes are to be expected, among other things. This is already creating much needed

change, especially for the younger generation that is now on social media and learning about

their bodies at a younger age. This goes to show the importance of openly talking about

symptoms and difficulties you may or may not experience as a period-haver, as well as the

importance of the reactions to those conversations as a non-period haver. Consider the way you

react when someone brings up their period in conversation. Do you squirm in your seat? Do you

go silent or change the topic? Or do you accept it as a natural part of life? The more we treat

periods as the normal experience they are, the less stigma will surround them. So let’s have those

conversations in the middle of bars, arcades, hallways, or anywhere else they come up. We need

to begin to react to them as the bodily function they are. In order to begin to break down period

stigma we need to understand why the stigma was created and what in society is perpetuating it;
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we need better research on female reproductive systems and more in-depth education for our

youth; and we need to dismantle the societal norms and standards that uphold this stigma.
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Works Cited:

Benshaul-Tolonen, Anja, et al. “Period Teasing, Stigma and Knowledge: A Survey of

Adolescent Boys and Girls in Northern Tanzania.” PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 10, 2020, pp.

1–21. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239914.

Carroll, M. “Conditions in Women That Are Hard to Diagnose.” Healthline, 2020.

https://www.healthline.com/health/endotough/conditions-women-hard-diagnose.

Accessed 9 April 2022

Hadden, S., director. “Tightly Wound.” Tightlywoundfilm, https://www.tightlywoundfilm.com/.

Accessed 9 April 2022.

Johnston-Robledo, Ingrid, and Chrisler, Joan C. "The menstrual mark: menstruation as social

stigma." The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies, 2020, 181-199. DOI:

10.1007/s11199-011-0052-z.

Karlsson, Amanda. “A Room of One’s Own? Using Period Trackers to Escape Menstrual

Stigma.” NORDICOM Review, vol. 40, 2019, pp. 111–23. DOI: 10.2478/nor-2019-0017.

Marecek, Jeanne, et al. “Embodied Shame and Gendered Demeanours in Young Women in Sri

Lanka.” Feminism & Psychology, vol. 29, no. 2, 2019, pp. 157–76. DOI:

10.1177/0959353518803976.

Newton, Victoria Louise. “Everyday Discourses of Menstruation: Cultural and Social

Perspectives.” Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-48775-9.

Quint, Chella, et al. “From Embodied Shame to Reclaiming the Stain: Reflections on a Career in

Menstrual Activism.” Sociological Review, vol. 67, no. 4, 2019, pp. 927–42. DOI:

10.1177/0038026119854275.
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Yang, Jenny. "Women's reproductive health - Statistics & Facts.” Statista, Aug. 19, 2021.

https://www.statista.com/topics/8336/women-s-reproductive-health-in-the-us/.

Zivi, Karen. “Hiding in Public or Going with the Flow: Human Rights, Human Dignity, and the

Movement for Menstrual Equity.” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 1, 2020, pp.

119–44. DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2020.0003.