Menstruation Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Menstruation, including details on menstrual cycle, pregnancy, pain, irregular menstruation. | ||||||
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Recommended Books on Menstruation
Houppert's amusement with the approaches used by Tambrands and other makers of "female protection" is entertaining at times, but overall, it is purposefully acerbic, especially when it comes to marketing and the damage she claims it has wreaked on women's self-image. Houppert says these corporations have created a pervasive "culture of concealment" surrounding menstruation, perpetuated by advertising and single-sex "puberty education" classes in schools (which, she points out, are usually sponsored by such companies as Procter & Gamble, maker of the infamous Rely tampon that was implicated in 38 toxic shock syndrome-related deaths in 1980). While it seems comical now to see Tampax ads from the 1920s claiming to "permit daintiness at all times" and the campaign of the 1990s that asserts "No one will ever know you've got your period," Houppert successfully argues that the advertisements add a cruel sense of mystery and shame to menstruation. According to a survey from the 1980s that Houppert found during her research, more than 30 percent of adults questioned "thought women should cut down on their physical activities while menstruating" and an even higher percentage of teenage girls didn't know what was happening to them during their first period. And we wonder why teen pregnancy rates are so high. "Because ideas about menstruation tie into prevailing notions that women's bodies are dangerously permeable," Houppert writes, "they become a part of the controlling myths our culture has spun to manipulate our perceptions of ourselves and our sexuality. Menstrual etiquette is an element of a woman's experience that contributes to this disorienting effect." She points out that a woman is more likely to tell a coworker about an affair than walk down the hall to the restroom with a tampon in hand. Her book is a revelation, a brilliant analysis of corporate influence and personal shame and how both are detrimental to the health--physical and mental--of women. --Erica Jorgensen A provocative look at the way our culture dealswith menstruation.
The Curse examines the culture of concealment that surrounds menstruation and the devastating impact such secrecy has on women's physical and psychological health. Karen Houppert combines reporting on the potential safety problems of sanitary products--such as dioxin-laced tampons--with an analysis of the way ads, movies, young-adult novels, and women's magazines foster a "menstrual etiquette" that leaves women more likely to tell their male colleagues about an affair than brazenly carry an unopened tampon down the hall to the bathroom. From the very beginning, industry-generated instructional films sketch out the parameters of acceptable behavior and teach young girls that bleeding is naughty, irrepressible evidence of sexuality. In the process, confident girls learn to be self-conscious teens. And the secrecy has even broader implications. Houppert argues that industry ad campaigns have effectively stymied consumer debate, research, and safety monitoring of the sanitary-protection industry. By telling girls and women how to think and talk about menstruation, the mostly male-dominated media have set a tone that shapes women's experiences for them, defining what they are allowed to feel about their periods, their bodies, and their sexuality.
The essential guidebook for every girl. The Period Book is a reassuring must-read for every girl about to have her period, and every parent wishing to prepare a daughter for this important milestone. With more than 300,000 copies sold, The Period Book stands out from the pack by specifically addressing younger girls. And with eleven now the average age at which girls get their period, this supportive and practical approach, providing clear and sensitive answers to common questions, is evern more welcome today. The revised edition includes a new introduction for parents and an additional chapter about body image.
Finally, a book that forgets "Aunt Flow" and "the curse" and deals with that time of the month head-on. In twelve stirring fictional narratives, celebrated authors including Han Nolan and David Lubar explore with spirit and strength everything from boyfriends buying tampons, to embarrassing encounters in white, to heart-wrenching pregnancy scares. This is a must-have collection for young women everywhere!
You might have a different name for it, but all of these words mean the same thing: your period. And the number of nicknames you can make up for your period is nothing compared to the number of ways you can feel about it. You may wonder if you're the only girl you know who doesn't have her period. Or you may feel excited about growing up. Are you confused about what's happening inside your body? Or do you feel silly as you giggle with your mom or friends about the pamphlets you're given in school? In these frank and often poignant new short stories, twelve stellar authors explore the anxiety and excitement of "becoming a woman." Engaging, empowering, and sometimes hilarious, these stories show us girls who couldn't be more different -- and yet ultimately reveal that, in many ways, we are all the same.
Surveys show that 75 percent of women experience some aspect of PMS. This new edition of Once a Month discusses the most common symptoms, offers self-help strategies, and includes new information on the effects of PMS on osteoporosis.
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