Writing/Righting Menstruation: a Feminist Analysis of New Zealand Women's Knowledge of the Menstrual Cycle

<p>This thesis investigates New Zealand women's menstrual knowledge within a cultural, social and historical context. An analysis or dominant menstrual discourses and their impact on women's menstrual knowledge was undertaken from a feminist poststructural perspective. At the outset, my initial objectives were to examine and record the social construction of menstruation and to determine the extent to which it impacted on New Zealand women's menstrual knowledge. Following a reading of feminist poststructuralism, the initial objective of measuring and quantifying women's menstrual knowledge changed to an approach focusing on discourse. Similarly, I moved to a new methodological focus on feminist epistemologies. As a result, the thesis examines the effects of New Zealand cultural practices and social meanings on women's 'knowing' about menstruation. It seeks to establish the boundaries and markers that both construct and constrain women's menstrual knowledge. Thirty-seven New Zealand women ranging in age from fourteen to eighty-six years contributed their narratives during open-ended interviews. The women's stories located various discursive practices that impacted on their menstrual knowledge and on their adherence to a common or popular menstrual etiquette. Discourses that construct and confine what, and how, women know about their menstrual cycle are identified and discussed. These scientific, medical, and consumerist discourses intersect and overlap to constitute a dominant menstrual discourse. Menstrual product advertising is identified as a prevailing context that surrounds young women as they become menstruants. Discursive practices such as euphemisms, notions of cleanliness and hygiene, authority through technology, and the commodification of feminist imagery contribute to representations that devalue and stigmatise menstruation. This dominant menstrual discourse can be maintained or disrupted through the way mothers impart menstrual knowledge to their daughters. Mothers are faced with the contradiction of preparing their daughters for an experience that is presented as normal yet constructed within strategies of concealment that menstruating women are expected to follow. When young women do become menstraunts, they are faced with the menstrual 'script' that includes the emotional themes of embarrassment, anxiety and ambivalence. The formal acquisition of menstrual knowledge takes place in our schools and again is positioned within a contradictory framework. Menstruation is conveyed as 'ordinary' yet the teaching of the menstrual cycle is often 'extraordinary' 'Menstruation' is routinely taught in sex-segregated classes, in the evening, in the company of parents and often located within scientific and medical discourses. This thesis offers new insight into the different ways New Zealand women construct knowledge about our bleeding bodies. Its uniqueness rests with die theoretical framework used to analyse research data. A feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis enabled the positioning of the women's accounts within a social, historical and cultural context, and the identification of a new way of analysing the impact of discursive practices upon meaning and experience of menstruation.</p>

Writing/Righting Menstruation: a Feminist Analysis of New Zealand Women's Knowledge of the Menstrual Cycle

<p>This thesis investigates New Zealand women's menstrual knowledge within a cultural, social and historical context. An analysis or dominant menstrual discourses and their impact on women's menstrual knowledge was undertaken from a feminist poststructural perspective. At the outset, my initial objectives were to examine and record the social construction of menstruation and to determine the extent to which it impacted on New Zealand women's menstrual knowledge. Following a reading of feminist poststructuralism, the initial objective of measuring and quantifying women's menstrual knowledge changed to an approach focusing on discourse. Similarly, I moved to a new methodological focus on feminist epistemologies. As a result, the thesis examines the effects of New Zealand cultural practices and social meanings on women's 'knowing' about menstruation. It seeks to establish the boundaries and markers that both construct and constrain women's menstrual knowledge. Thirty-seven New Zealand women ranging in age from fourteen to eighty-six years contributed their narratives during open-ended interviews. The women's stories located various discursive practices that impacted on their menstrual knowledge and on their adherence to a common or popular menstrual etiquette. Discourses that construct and confine what, and how, women know about their menstrual cycle are identified and discussed. These scientific, medical, and consumerist discourses intersect and overlap to constitute a dominant menstrual discourse. Menstrual product advertising is identified as a prevailing context that surrounds young women as they become menstruants. Discursive practices such as euphemisms, notions of cleanliness and hygiene, authority through technology, and the commodification of feminist imagery contribute to representations that devalue and stigmatise menstruation. This dominant menstrual discourse can be maintained or disrupted through the way mothers impart menstrual knowledge to their daughters. Mothers are faced with the contradiction of preparing their daughters for an experience that is presented as normal yet constructed within strategies of concealment that menstruating women are expected to follow. When young women do become menstraunts, they are faced with the menstrual 'script' that includes the emotional themes of embarrassment, anxiety and ambivalence. The formal acquisition of menstrual knowledge takes place in our schools and again is positioned within a contradictory framework. Menstruation is conveyed as 'ordinary' yet the teaching of the menstrual cycle is often 'extraordinary' 'Menstruation' is routinely taught in sex-segregated classes, in the evening, in the company of parents and often located within scientific and medical discourses. This thesis offers new insight into the different ways New Zealand women construct knowledge about our bleeding bodies. Its uniqueness rests with die theoretical framework used to analyse research data. A feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis enabled the positioning of the women's accounts within a social, historical and cultural context, and the identification of a new way of analysing the impact of discursive practices upon meaning and experience of menstruation.</p>

Menstrual knowledge and perceptions of schoolgirls in Bangladesh: do socio-economic factors really matter?

Purpose This study aims to explore whether socio-economic factors determine the level of menstrual knowledge and perceptions of schoolgirls in Bangladesh. The aim of this study is to understand how knowledge and perceptions vary with variations in the different socio-economic factors in a schoolgirl’s life such as place of residence, religion, age, grade, parents’ education, parents’ occupation, family income and even family size. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from four schools (two in urban areas and two in rural areas). A total of 450 schoolgirls from grades V–X were interviewed to examine how knowledge and perceptions varied with different socio-economic aspects. Multiple logistic regression models were used to measure the associations between various socio-economic variables and perceptions of and knowledge about menstruation. Findings Respondents from urban areas were 4.75 times more likely and those 14–16 years old were two times more likely to report higher levels of knowledge about menstruation compared to their counterparts. Based on the father’s occupation, respondents whose father was engaged in a professional occupation were 1.983 times more likely to have a higher level of knowledge on menstruation compared to those whose fathers were in an unskilled profession. Similarly, the odds of positive perceptions on menstruation were 1.456 and 1.987 times higher, respectively, among respondents living in urban areas and those 14–16 years old, compared to their counterparts. Originality/value This study provides evidence that different socio-economic and even demographic factors are important in the development of menstrual knowledge and perceptions. Policy formulation and development actions related to adolescent girls’ physical and reproductive health development need to consider these factors in Bangladesh and in other developing countries, where poor knowledge and perception related to menstruation are hindering girls’ mental and physical development. This is expected that better knowledge and perception will facilitate girls’ right to have better health and social lives.

Menstrual Knowledge in Young Women (Ethnographic Studies in Kampung Aur Village,, Medan Maimun District, Medan City,North Sumatra Province)

This study examines how the knowledge and behavior of adolescents in Aur village are related to menstruation. The purpose of the study is to describe young women's knowledge and behavior during menstruation. Whether there is an environmental influence on adolescent social behavior, how parents play in providing menstrual education to their daughters, and how the rules exist in society limit young women's sexual behavior. The research method used in this study is a qualitative approach. With pre-field research, fieldwork, data analysis, and ending with the writing phase of the research report. The result of the study is that menstruation is understood as something related to maintaining the cleanliness of reproductive organs to avoid disease. The conversation about menstruation also concerns sexual intercourse conducted by men and women. Usually, parents give education in the form of straightforward advice due to the limitations of parents who do not know much about reproductive health. Meanwhile, the local community also gives moral reaction in the form of censure, syndicate for deviant young women.

Pre-menarche adolescent girls’ menstrual knowledge and preparedness to menarche in North Shewa zone of Amhara region, Ethiopia

Background: Many adolescent girls in Ethiopia attain menarche without adequate knowledge and preparation which could have a distressing negative impact on their psychosocial, physical, and emotional wellbeing. This study aimed to assess pre-menarche adolescent girls’ menstrual knowledge and preparedness to menstruation and associated factors in the North Shewa Zone of the Amhara region.Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted on participants selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Data collected through a self-administered questionnaire were entered into Epi Data and exported to SPSS for analysis. Bi-variable and multivariable logistic regressions were computed to identify factors associated with the good menstrual knowledge and preparedness to menarche. An odds ratio with 95%CI was computed to measure the magnitude of the association. Variables with a p-value of <0.05 on multivariable analysis were considered statistically significant factors associated with the outcome variable.Results: From a total of 424 pre-menarche adolescent girls included in the study, 166(39.2%) had good menstrual knowledge and about a quarter 110(25.9%) had good preparedness towards menarche. An increase in the school grade level of adolescent girls, the educational status of the mother, and occupation of the father (government employment) were positively associated with good menstrual knowledge. Having good menstrual knowledge increased the preparedness of pre-menarche girls to menarche by over 13-fold than poorly knowledgeable girls.Conclusions: Menstrual knowledge and preparedness to menarche of pre-menarche adolescent girls were low in the North Shewa Zone of the Amhara region. The level of preparedness to menarche was also highly dependent on girls' menstrual knowledge. Thus, the school's health program and teachers should address the problem by delivering age-appropriate menstrual information to equip adolescent girls with accurate and adequate menstrual knowledge before the onset of menarche.

Menstrual knowledge associated with adolescent’s attitude of intellectual disability on facing menstruation in Bantul, Indonesia

Background: Menstruation is an important event in puberty as a biological sign of sexual maturity for young women. Adolescent with intellectual disability has the same stage of biological development as normal adolescent. Menstruation often causes many problems such as menstrual pain, emotional changes and menstrual personal hygiene (such as: using sanitary napkins). It causes a lot of negative reactions and anxiety. The phenomenon that has often happened in community is feeling taboo to discuss menstrual problems, so that adolescents are not well informed. Objective of this study was to determine the association between menstrual knowledge with adolescent’s attitude of mental retardation (intellectual disability) on facing menstruation.Methods: This research is a descriptive analytic with a cross-sectional study. It was conducted at SLB Masudi Putra I and II Bantul, in August to October 2018 with intellectual disability adolescents who experienced menstruation, those were 39 respondents. Data collection is done by using a questionnaire. Bivariate analysis was done by the Spearman rank test.Results: The results of this research indicate that the percentages of adolescent’s knowledge of intellectual disability on facing menstruation were in medium category of 16 respondents (41.0%), and adolescent’s attitude of intellectual disability on facing menstruation mostly were negative of 24 respondents (61.5%) with p-value 0.001 (p<0.05 ) and the correlation coefficient (r) is positive at 0.495. It shows that there is an association between menstrual knowledge with adolescent’s attitude on facing menstruation with the closeness of the correlation in medium category.Conclusions: There were an association between menstrual knowledge with adolescent’s attitude of intellectual disability on facing menstruation at SLB Marsudi Putra Bantul with p-value 0.001 (p<0.05).