Revamping Perceptions of Menstruation: ‘Period’ Seeks to Alter Your Perspective

Period
Kate Clancy
Princeton Univ., $27.95

During a golf tournament in February, Tiger Woods handed a tampon to Justin Thomas as a joke after hitting his ball farther on the ninth tee. The implication was that Thomas was weak, which perpetuates the stigma surrounding menstruation. In contrast, viral videos show men experiencing menstrual cramps through simulators created to raise awareness about period pain. Although these simulators are not feasible for everyone who does not menstruate, Kate Clancy’s Period: The Real Story of Menstruation offers another option. This book provides an accurate understanding of menstruation, addressing the lack of knowledge that persists even among those who menstruate.

Clancy, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, studies the effects of environmental stressors on menstruating individuals. In Period, she offers the science behind menstruation, the reproductive cycle, and the uterus. Clancy also challenges the predominantly white, male-dominated scientific community that has shaped the research and views on menstruation and the female reproductive system.

Clancy emphasizes the idea of menstrual priming, where each menstrual cycle prepares the uterus to provide a rich and nourishing site for a potential pregnancy. This concept suggests that periods have an evolutionary purpose rather than merely expelling the uterine lining. Clancy also discusses the historical view of menstruation as polluting, dating back to a medieval textbook that claims menstruating women emit dangerous fumes. False ailments like “menotoxins” have led to the continued belief that menstruation is polluting, resulting in negative attitudes towards menstruation.

To combat these stigmas, Clancy suggests menstruating individuals become more visible and urge society to acknowledge and accommodate menstruation. A survey in the Netherlands found 81% of nearly 33,000 women reported menstrual symptoms disrupting work and school, thus demonstrating the need for greater flexibility and accommodation. Spanish parliament passed legislation in February for paid menstrual leave, which is a step towards greater acknowledgement of menstruation.

Clancy ends Period by envisioning a society that considers menstruating people’s needs, that offers contraception and menstrual suppression options that work for more people, that takes menstrual pain seriously, and more. “What I am imagining is a world where it is as unremarkable for someone to openly carry a tampon as it is to carry a hair clip and where discussing the care of our bodies does not label us weak.”

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