Book Displays

The tabooed woman -- Women in the closet: taboos of exclusion -- "Not tonight, dear": taboos of sex -- Putting her in her place: rites of the menarche -- Woman unclean: menstrual taboos in Judaism and Christianity -- Menstruation and medical myth -- Modern menstrual politics -- The menstrual cycle in action -- The menstrual process -- The first pollution: psychoanalysis and the menarche -- The storm before the calm: the premenstrual syndrome -- The menstruating woman in the popular imagination -- "What every girl should know" -- The monthly euphenism -- Red humor: the menstrual joke -- Periodic parade: menstruation in advertising -- Rags to riches: the menstrual products industry -- Menstruation goes public -- Menstrual images in literature -- The bleeding tower: menstrual themes in fairy tales -- Absent literature: the menarche -- The miracle of blood: menstrual imagery in myth and poetry -- Menstrual madness in drama and fiction -- The menopause -- From leeches to estrogen: the menopause and medical options -- Psychology and the menopausal menace -- "November of the body": the menopause and literature -- Sideshow -- The menstrual hall of fame -- Moving the menses, or vicarious menstruation -- Escaping the monthlies -- Men -- Saignade: simulated menstruation in the male -- Cycles and rhythm in men -- Conclusion: lifting the curse.

"The Hormone Myth is a bracing, accurate breath of fresh air. It turns conventional wisdom about hormones on its head, and provides a far more liberating view of women's health than what we've all been taught." --Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom​ "Is it that time of month?" "Is your biological clock ticking?" "You're so emotional lately--are you going through menopause?" We've all heard it before. From the moody menstrual monster to the menopausal maniac, the idea that women become raving lunatics when their hormones fluctuate is firmly entrenched in American culture--anddeeply fueled by the media. But where exactly did this stereotype come from? How has it hurt women? And how can we move past it once and for all? In this breakthrough book, Robyn Stein DeLuca fearlessly exposes and debunks pervasive myths about women's hormones, and reveals how flawed, outdated research and sexism have joined forces throughout history to keep women "in their place." With a revolutionary exploration of women's hormonal lives­­­­­­­--from menstruation to childbirth to menopause--DeLuca shines a much-needed light on the lies that have impacted women. Now more than ever, it's time to resist the myth that women are ruled by their hormones. It's time for women to take charge of their lives. And it's time for women to own their emotions in a healthy and realistic way.

First published in 1991. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Modern Period examines how and why Americans adopted radically new methods of managing and thinking about menstruation during the twentieth century. In the early twentieth century women typically used homemade cloth "diapers" to absorb menstrual blood, avoided chills during their periods to protect their health, and counted themselves lucky if they knew something about menstruation before menarche. New expectations at school, at play, and in the workplace, however, made these menstrual traditions problematic, and middle-class women quickly sought new information and products that would make their monthly periods less disruptive to everyday life. Lara Freidenfelds traces this cultural shift, showing how Americans reframed their thinking about menstruation. She explains how women and men collaborated with sex educators, menstrual product manufacturers, advertisers, physical education teachers, and doctors to create a modern understanding of menstruation. Excerpts from seventy-five interviews--accounts by turns funny and moving--help readers to identify with the experiences of the ordinary people who engineered these changes. The Modern Period ties historical changes in menstrual practices to a much broader argument about American popular modernity in the twentieth century. Freidenfelds explores what it meant to be modern and middle class and how those ideals were reflected in the menstrual practices and beliefs of the time. This accessible study sheds new light on the history of popular modernity, the rise of the middle class, and the relationship of these phenomena to how Americans have cared for and managed their bodies.

New Blood offers a fresh interdisciplinary look at feminism-in-flux. For over three decades, menstrual activists have questioned the safety and necessity of feminine care products while contesting menstruation as a deeply entrenched taboo. Chris Bobel shows how a little-known yet enduring force in the feminist health, environmental, and consumer rights movements lays bare tensions between second- and third-wave feminisms and reveals a complicated story of continuity and change within the women's movement. Through her critical ethnographic lens, Bobel focuses on debates central to feminist thought (including the utility of the category "gender") and challenges to building an inclusive feminist movement. Filled with personal narratives, playful visuals, and original humor, New Blood reveals middle-aged progressives communing in Red Tents, urban punks and artists "culture jamming" commercial menstrual products in their zines and sketch comedy, queer anarchists practicing DIY health care, African American health educators espousing "holistic womb health," and hopeful mothers refusing to pass on the shame to their pubescent daughters. With verve and conviction, Bobel illuminates today's feminism-on-the-ground--indisputably vibrant, contentious, and ever-dynamic.

"In Period Pain Matlwa has poignantly captured the heartache and confusion of so many South Africans who feel defeated by the litany of headline horrors: xenophobia, corrective rape, corruption and crime and for many the death sentence that is the public health nightmare. Through this story we are able to reflect, to question and to rediscover our humanity"-

Menstruation seldom gets a starring role on screen despite being experienced regularly by nearly all women for a good many decades of their lives. Periods in Pop Culture: Menstruation in Film and Television, by Lauren Rosewarne, turns the spotlight on period portrayals in media, examining the presence of menstruation in a broad range of contemporary pop culture. Drawing on a vast collection of menstruation scenes from film and television, this study examines and categorizes representations to unearth what they reveal about society and about our culture's continuingly fraught relationship with female biology. Written from a feminist perspective, menstrual representations are analyzed for what they reveal about sexual politics and society. Rosewarne's thorough investigation covers a range of topics including menstrual taboos, stigmas and fears, as well as the inextricable link between periods and femininity, sexuality, ageing, and identity. Periods in Pop Culture highlights that the treatment of menstruation in the media remains an area of persistent gender inequality.

PERIOD founder and Harvard College student Nadya Okamoto offers a manifesto on menstruation and why we can no longer silence those who bleed--and how to engage in youth activism. Throughout history, periods have been hidden from the public. They're taboo. They're embarrassing. They're gross. And due to a crumbling or nonexistent national sex ed program, they are misunderstood. Because of these stigmas, a status quo has been established to exclude people who menstruate from the seat at the decision-making table, creating discriminations like the tampon tax, medicines that favor male biology, and more. Period Power aims to explain what menstruation is, shed light on the stigmas and resulting biases, and create a strategy to end the silence and prompt conversation about periods.

A bold reappraisal of science and society, The Woman in the Body explores the different ways that women's reproduction is seen in American culture. Contrasting the views of medical science with those of ordinary women from diverse social and economic backgrounds, anthropologist Emily Martin presents unique fieldwork on American culture and uncovers the metaphors of economy and alienation that pervade women's imaging of themselves and their bodies. A new preface examines some of the latest medical ideas about women's reproductive cycles.