Empowerment or Embarrassment? Two Views of Menstruation

Abstract

Books about menstruation are few and far between. Thus, it was exciting to find two new volumes, with very different approaches to the topic, published in the same year. Both are relatively short and accessible treatments of different aspects of menstruation, as a business and industry in the case of Kissling’s Capitalizing on the Curse, and as a lived experience in the case of Fingerson’s Girls in Power, and both books will be of interest to scholars of the menstrual cycle as well as to those with a more general interest in the psychology or sociology of gender. Kissling’s (1996a, b) field is communication studies, and she is best known for two studies of the ways that women and girls talk to each other about menstruation. Her book is focused, not on private communication, but on public communication, that is, cultural messages about menstruation. Menstruation remains a taboo topic outside the private realm, and thus most public communication consists of making fun of menstrual or premenstrual women, suggesting treatments for menstrual or premenstrual symptoms, or selling or critiquing products designed to assist women and girls with the management of menstruation, which is typically portrayed in cultural messages as a hygiene crisis. Capitalizing on the Curse is written in a lively and accessible style, with short chapters that can easily be used in women’s studies classes and many interesting images and internet resources. The book covers ground both familiar (i.e., previously studied areas such as product advertisements and the rise of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) and unfamiliar (e.g., internet sources, new and unusual consumer products). There is a chapter on each of the following topics: advertising of menstrual hygiene products, scenes about menstruation on television and in the movies (much of this chapter is based on the article by Kissling (2002) in Sex Roles, which, curiously, is not cited), the development of the psychiatric diagnosis PMDD and the marketing of Sarafem as its treatment, menstrual suppression and the marketing of Seasonale, debates about tampon safety and the marketing of alternative products, and the menstrual counterculture, as exhibited in zines, museums of menstruation, and activism that stresses the positive aspects of the menstrual cycle. The book ends with Kissling’s reflections on the commercial exploitation of menstruation and some suggestions about how to improve these largely negative cultural messages. The only topic that seemed to be missing from her otherwise comprehensive coverage is an analysis of the educational materials (e.g., films, booklets, guides for parents and teachers) that are produced by the manufacturers of tampons and pads to teach girls about menstruation. These products are briefly mentioned as an important step in branding, that is, the encouragement of menarcheal girls to select a particular type and brand of product that they will use as loyal customers for the rest of their menstrual lives. This omission is disappointing because previous researchers (e.g., Erchull et al. 2002) have suggested that the contents of these educational materials may be related to women’s poor Sex Roles DOI 10.1007/s11199-007-9336-8