Why Does Menstruation Matter?

Abstract

Social attitudes towards menstruation are puzzling. Men’s attitudes, in particular, are often puzzling to women. Trying to make sense of men’s behaviour, women produce a number of explanations: ‘they just don’t understand’; ‘it’s because they can’t have children — it reminds them that we can’, ‘it frightens them: it is blood, after all’; ‘women use it to make men leave them alone’.