This open access handbook, the first of its kind, provides a comprehensive and carefully curated multidisciplinary genre-spanning view of the state of the field of Critical Menstruation Studies, opening up new directions in research and advocacy.
It is animated by the central question: ‘“what new lines of inquiry are possible when we center our attention on menstrual health and politics across the life course?” The chapters—diverse in content, form and perspective—establish Critical Menstruation Studies as a potent lens that reveals, complicates and unpacks inequalities across biological, social, cultural and historical dimensions. This handbook is an unmatched resource for researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and activists new to and already familiar with the field as it rapidly develops and expands.
This handbook is written with a global perspective with 72 chapters spanning countries and topics. We found the following chapters particularly relevant to our work:
- The Realities of Period Poverty: How Homelessness Shapes Women’s Lived Experiences of Menstruation
- Transnational Engagements: From Debasement, Disability, and Disaster to Dignity—Stories of Menstruation Under Challenging Conditions
- “You Will Find Out When the Time Is Right”: Boys, Men, and Menstruation
- Transnational Engagement: Designing an Ideal Menstrual Health (MH) Curriculum—Stories from the Field
- Policy and Practice Pathways to Addressing Menstrual Stigma and Discrimination
- Transnational Engagements: Menstrual Health and Hygiene—Emergence and Future Directions
- Monitoring Menstrual Health in the Sustainable Development Goals
- Practice Note: Menstrual Health Management in Humanitarian Settings
- Mapping the Knowledge and Understanding of Menarche, Menstrual Hygiene and Menstrual Health Among Adolescent Girls in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
- Interventions to Improve Menstrual Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Do We Know What Works?
- Transnational Engagements: Women’s Experiences of Menopause
- Normality, Freedom, and Distress: Listening to the Menopausal Experiences of Indian Women of Haryana
- Degendering Menstruation: Making Trans Menstruators Matter
