Menstruation is all at once a cultural, social, historical, and biological process. Intertwined, these forces create menstrual experiences which are neither fixed nor universal, but rather adaptable and transformable not only between cultures, but from within cultures as well. How these factors interrelate, what menstrual discourse they create, and how that translates into women's everyday lives, becomes the focus of this research. Structured around the relationship between prescription and reality, this study examines the interplay of those who defined the menstrual discourse: doctors, mothers, and the sanitary napkin industry, and those who experienced it. / Listening to the lives of twenty-four women, born between 1910 and 1965, a complex and ambiguous tale of the menstrual experience emerges. Through their narratives, we learn the importance of early instruction by mothers; the emphasis placed on hygiene and concealment; the effect menstruation had on women's sexual, feminine, and (re)productive identity. Once women's voices are taken into consideration, it becomes clear that the dynamic between prescription deeming menstruation as unclean or deviant and women's reality is not straightforward. Women reacted to the menstrual discourse, at times they rejected it, other times adhered to it, but for the most part, simply transformed it to meet their daily needs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.26674 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Armeni, Elizabeth. |
| Contributors | Morton, S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of History.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001572864, proquestno: MQ29479, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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