Abstract
This chapter discusses the structures which determine and influence the production and reproduction of menstrual etiquette. Drawing on the conceptualization of social control found in Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilisation (1971) and Discipline and Punish (1977), power does not flow down from individuals, but is held and exercised within networks. Within these networks, social control can be exercised through the observation and sequestration of problematic individuals and behaviour. In Foucault’s terms, bodily functions, such as menstruation are ‘confined’ within appropriate boundaries, and kept there by discourses that compel us to carry out activities in their proper place and to do the accepted thing. How symbolically-marked boundaries connect and interact with each other helps to construct our concepts of female and the feminine, and what ‘normal’ behaviour, appearance, and experience equate to. Susan Bordo puts this as follows:Apparently, trivial activities such toilet habits, polite etiquette and table manners can thus be viewed as modes of social control. Sanitary products are rigorously kept from the public gaze, and just as ‘any landscape is composed of both the seen and the unseen; what is hidden may be as telling as what is on display’ (Rebecca Ginsburg 1996, p. 374). These spatial regulations impress attitudes of appropriate behaviour on us and impel us to conform to societal values. However, the same levels of privacy have not always been demanded of the human body as in contemporary society; it is worth reiterating here that each culture and historical period has had its own ways of viewing the body. With regard to the growth of privacy, Deborah Lupton remarks:Hence, as everyday social life became more regulated, so too did our relationship to the body and its processes. Mary Douglas draws parallels between society and the body:What is expelled from the boundaries of our bodies can thus be seen as problematic, if not utterly undesirable. In the historical development of privacy around the body, ‘containing one’s body boundaries and exerting more control over the disbursement of one’s bodily fluids became a central aspect of proper deportment’ (Lupton 1998, p. 78).
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Notes
- 1.
A carcinogen brought about by the bleaching of the rayon material used in tampons.
- 2.
www.mooncup.co.uk. Accessed 1 December 2009.
- 3.
www.jamsponge.co.uk. Accessed November 2009.
- 4.
http://www.bized.co.uk/current/mind/2005_6/120905.htm. Accessed 19 January 2008.
- 5.
Notes of guidance for the advertising of sanitary protection are available on Clearcast, a non-governmental organization which pre-approves British TV advertising. In March 2010 there were eight guidelines which referred specifically to sanitary products (http://www.clearcast.co.uk; 2 March 2010). These were as follows: Avoiding offence and embarrassment: ‘This product category [sanitary protection] is unusually sensitive and commercials for it can easily cause offence or embarrassment even among people who have no objection in principle to its being advertised on television. Because it is often viewed in a family setting, television advertising needs to be treated with restraint and discretion.’ (Para 15.1.1); Appeals to insecurity: ‘No commercial may contain anything which, either directly or by implication, is likely to undermine an individual’s confidence in her own standards of personal hygiene. No implication of, or appeal to, sexual or social insecurity is acceptable. Commercials may not suggest, by whatever means, that menstruation is in any way unclean or shameful and variations of the word ‘clean’ are unacceptable in advertising for this product category, as are other potentially offensive words such as ‘odour’. (Para 15.1.2); Visual treatments and product description: ‘Visual treatments much be tasteful and restrained, and particular care is needed with shots of unwrapped towels or tampons, whether actual or diagrammatic. Detailed references, whether in sound or vision, should avoid graphic descriptions which might offend or embarrass viewers.’ (Para 15.1.3); Comparisons: ‘Comparisons which name or otherwise identify a comparative product are not acceptable.’ (Para 15.1.4); Promotional techniques and testimonials: ‘Normal promotional techniques, e.g. on-pack offers or samples, are acceptable. Testimonials, whether from members of the public or celebrities, are also acceptable. However, claims or impressions of medical endorsement of a product are not acceptable.’ (Para 15.1.5); Presenters and voice-overs: ‘Female presenters and voice-overs are generally more appropriate than male in commercials for sanitary protection products. However, the acceptability of male presenters and voice-overs will be judged on the merits of individual cases.’ (Para 15.1.6); Very young women: ‘Particular discretion is required when referring to a product’s suitability for very young women. Girls appearing in advertisements for sanitary towels should be, and appear to be, at least 14 years old. In the case of advertisements for tampons, the acceptable minimum ages of girls featured depends on the context.’ (Para 15.1.7); Restrictions on times of transmission: ‘Sanitary Protection advertisements may not be transmitted in or adjacent to children’s programming or programmes, which though not specifically children’s programmes, may be of particular appeal to younger children under 10.’ (Para 15.1.8)
- 6.
The ‘Mother Nature’ advertisements also accord with recent developments in biomedicine, which allow women to use hormonal contraceptives in order to curtail their bleeding altogether, and ‘cheat nature’:
Modern women have at their disposal a variety of contraceptive methods, many of which perturb monthly vaginal bleeding. OCs [oral contraceptives] are still widely used to regulate monthly menses but, in addition, women now have the option of extended pill regimens to decrease the number of vaginal bleeding episodes, or to use progestogen-only methods of contraception and potentially eliminate bleeding altogether. (d’Arcangues et al. 2011, p. 10)
- 7.
www.moxieproducts.co.uk/uk/ (accessed March 2010)
- 8.
Website, 3 March 2010
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Newton, V.L. (2016). Closed for Maintenance: Backstage Spaces, and Selling Shame. In: Everyday Discourses of Menstruation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48775-9_10
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