Brag on the Rag: The Anthropology of Menstruation

Photo Source: Sarah Ainslie

 

There has been a great deal of anthropological study of gender and all aspects related to gender.  One such area that has been widely studied is menstruation, which has been and can be understood through all four subfields of anthropology.  This blog post is going to take a singular subfield perspective by examining the sociocultural aspects of menstruation.

 

Menstruation is the process in which a woman releases blood and other uterine materials once a month.  Occurring at puberty and ending at menopause menstruation is a key part of a woman’s identity in many cultures.  There are various ways that menstruation has been examined through the sociocultural anthropological lens, and the majority of early study often focused on the negative views, specifically the taboos against menstruation.  There is, indeed, quite a bit of mysticism associated with menstruation and menstrual blood.  In many cultures, including our own American and Westernized cultures, menstruation is viewed as a poisonous, dangerous, and disruptive time.  Cultural ideals connect menstrual blood with being able to poison or castrate men, thereby leading to taboos against sexual intercourse during menstruation.  Menstruation is also associated with lunacy, hysteria, and insanity in women, and any strong emotional response in women is often linked to menstruation (e.g., Donald Trump’s disparaging menstrual-inspired statements against Megyn Kelley during the 2016 Presidential Debates).  Women have also been sequestered and isolated during menstruation because of their power and ability to harm men and disrupt everyday life.

 

The negative views of menstruation are quite commonplace in the anthropological literature.  They remain appropriately at the center of many human rights discussions today since girls and women are unfairly taken out of society due to their inability to secure and use appropriate menstrual products.  This leads to a net loss of income and educational attainment for girls, women, and their families, particularly harming single girls and women with families most.  Many anthropologists and human rights advocates are using their platforms to call out these injustices and advocate on behalf of girls and women in the form of receiving necessary menstrual products, as well as driving down the monetary costs and stigma surrounding menstruation.

 

There is, however, another side to menstruation that is more recently being touched on by anthropologists: how menstruation is celebrated across cultures.  Anthropologists have noticed a trend where more positive views of menstruation occur where and when menstruation is not as frequent, a result of longer periods of breastfeeding and/or more frequent pregnancies.  As a result menstruation is viewed favorably and associated with women’s power.  Women as child bearers are viewed as a link between the supernatural realms between the living and the dead, resulting in women being elevated in status.

 

There are various examples of how menstrual huts, often viewed as a means of removing girls and women from society, are actually places of sisterhood and bonding among women.  Several cultural groups use menstrual huts as places where women can relax as they are not expected to work or cater to their husband’s needs (often times the only time they get to do so).  Others use menstrual huts as places to educate girls about sex, pregnancy, conception, and child birth.  Ultimately, there is also the situation that as women’s menstrual cycles link up and they menstruate at or about the same time they gather together in the menstrual huts to reconnect with each other, create and foster friendships, and more. 

 

Also, girls who have their first menstruation are often celebrated in various cultural groups.  This event is seen as a natural rite of initiation, marking a girl transitioning to womanhood.  Various cultural groups celebrate this transition with complex rituals and community celebrations.  This trend has begun to take shape here in the US with the growing “period parties” trend, which are parties tied to a girl’s first period.

 

Ultimately, the anthropological perspectives of menstruation show that this is a natural phenomenon that happens among women across the globe, but that the cultural perspectives, rituals, views, beliefs, and more all vary.  There are definitely challenges that have and continue to exist for women, challenges specifically related to menstruation, but there are also victories and ways that this process is used to uplift rather than degrade women.  Through the anthropological lens we can gain a better understanding of menstruation and what it means to be human.

 

Works Cited

Brink, Susan. "Some Cultures Treat Menstruation With Respect." NPR 11 August 2015. Electronic.

Gil, Natalie. "This Is What Periods Look Like For Women Around The World." 12 April 2019. Refinery29. Electronic. 14 December 2020.

Hoskins, Janet. "Blood Mysteries: Beyond Menstruation as Pollution." Ethnology (2002): 299-301. Print.

Martin, Wednesday. "Menstruation: The View from Anthropology." Psychology Today 5 August 2013. Electronic.

Power, Camilla. "If the body isn't sacred, nothing is: why menstrual taboos matter ." The Guardian 11 February 2017. Electronic.