“Kiss Your Period Good-Bye”: Menstrual Suppression in the Popular Press

The purpose of this study was to analyze the content of popular press articles about menstrual suppression, a relatively new and controversial health care option. Twenty-two American and Canadian articles, published before the FDA approval of Seasonale, were coded for basic information about and indications for menstrual suppression, viewpoints included, and coverage of risks and benefits. Menstrual suppression was most often recommended for women with menstrual disorders but was also recommended to menstruating women in general as a matter of convenience. Advocates of menstrual suppression were quoted twice as often as opponents. Monthly menstruation was frequently described as messy, inconvenient, bothersome, unhealthy, and unnecessary. From this analysis, we concluded that popular press coverage of menstrual suppression is insufficient and biased. The articles reflect and reinforce the taboo status and medicalization of menstruation. This coverage may have primed potential consumers to anticipate the FDA approval of Seasonale eagerly, to evaluate it uncritically, and to pursue it as a birth control and menstrual health option. Implications for research, health care providers, and menstrual activists are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the June 2003 meeting of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, Pittsburgh, PA.     

The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma

In this theoretical paper, we argue that menstruation is a source of social stigma for women. The word stigma refers to any stain or mark that renders the individual’s body or character defective. This stigma is transmitted through powerful socialization agents in popular culture such as advertisements and educational materials. We demonstrate, in our review of the psychological literature concerning attitudes and experiences of predominantly American girls and women, that the stigmatized status of menstruation has important consequences for their health, sexuality, and well-being. We argue that the stigma of menstruation both reflects and contributes to women’s lower social status and conclude with suggestions for ways to resist the stigma.     

Positioning Periods: Menstruation in Social Context: An Introduction to a Special Issue

The menstrual cycle is often conceptualized in the biomedical literature as a unidimensional, biological, and pathological aspect of women’s bodies and health. Feminist social science scholars recognize that the biological event of menstruation is experienced and perceived within a broader sociocultural context. The authors of articles in this special issue address the myriad ways menstruation is positioned within this social context, and the consequences for women’s well-being, cognitive functioning, health, sexuality, and social status. Authors examine menstruation as a social stigma, the positioning of menstruation in popular culture, contextual factors relevant to menstruation across the lifespan, the ways women negotiate menstruation in their lives, and the role of women’s social location in shaping their attitudes toward and experiences with menstruation. Implications for future research, education, activism, and clinical intervention are considered.     

Indecent Exposure: Self-objectification and Young Women’s Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding

The sexualization of the breast may lead women who internalize the sexual objectification of their bodies to have more negative attitudes toward breastfeeding. The purpose of the present study was to examine self-objectification in relation to young women’s attitudes toward and concerns about breastfeeding. Two hundred and seventy-five female undergraduates completed a survey with questions that assessed their plans for infant feeding, attitudes toward breastfeeding, concerns about breastfeeding, and self-objectification. Women who scored higher on measures of self-objectification were more likely to view public breastfeeding as indecent and to be concerned that breastfeeding would be embarrassing and would negatively impact their bodies and sexuality. Self-objectification was not related to general attitudes toward breastfeeding or to young women’s future infant feeding plans. Implications for theory and future research are discussed. An earlier version of this study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC (August, 2005).     

POOR WOMEN ARE STILL SHUT OUT OF MAINSTREAM PSYCHOLOGY

Based on the limited number of abstracts accessed on PsycLit between 1984 and 1991 that included poor women, Reid (1993) concluded that such women were essentially "shut up" and "shut out" of mainstream psychological research and theory. The authors conducted a follow-up analysis for the years 1991 through 1997 to determine whether significant change had taken place. In addition, they looked at the inclusion of poor women in research in the areas of sexuality and reproductive health. Results of the analysis suggest that poor women remain marginalized in our discipline's discourse.