Abstract
Starting her periods is a salient life event for a woman, and even though attitudes towards menstruation and the management of the menstruating body may have changed over the generations, it remains a felt and memorable part of adolescence. Here is a woman from the 46 to 60 years old category of respondents:Although not all experiences I found in my fieldwork were as extreme as those that she describes, many accounts of the menarche were characterized by a degree of shock. ‘Starting’ appears to be a life-changing event that most women do not forget. In this chapter I shall discuss how attitudes towards menstruation are revealed by female respondents in accounts of their experiences of menarche, and other significant menstrual events in their life, and whether they have changed, or remained constant, over the years.
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References
Glaser, B.G., and A.L. Strauss. 1971. Status Passage: A Formal Theory. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.
Newton, V.L. 2012. “Status Passage, Stigma and Menstrual Management: ‘Starting’ and ‘Being On’”. Social Theory and Health 10: 392–407.
Sutton, M. 1992. ‘We didn’t know Aught’: A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in women’s Lives in Lincolnshire During the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. Stamford: Paul Watkins.
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Newton, V.L. (2016). Talking About My Menstruation: A Generational Comparison. In: Everyday Discourses of Menstruation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48775-9_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48775-9_6
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