Men’s Views of Menstrual Pain: A Failure of Empathy

Abstract

Menstrual pain seems to be a crucial example of the way in which men’s and women’s versions of the meaning of menstruation conflict. Women in Esther Merves’s study said that pain or discomfort was one of the most common reasons why they would mention their menstrual periods to someone else. Surveys show that over half of all menstruating women experience some sort of discomfort with menstruation. And yet pain is very rarely referred to in the academic literature on menstruation.