Period: The Real Story of Menstruation

Clancy, an anthropology professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, debuts with a bracing look at periods and how society lets down those who have them. She pushes back on menstrual stigma and busts myths about periods, noting that the incorrect understanding of menstruation cycles as “static, twenty-eight-day phenomena” stems from eugenicists’ belief in an “ideal” cycle and overlooks the “malleable, responsive, [and] dynamic” nature of menstruation. Chronicling historical perspectives, Clancy traces how medieval views of menstruation as attempts to “purge the impure from the body” have evolved into contemporary stigma that encourages remaining silent about periods to better fit into professional and educational settings originally designed for men. The medical establishment, she argues, continues to fail in this regard. She recounts how her tweet asking if the Covid-19 vaccine had also affected other people’s periods turned into a formal survey that found 40% of respondents had experienced heavier bleeding, raising awareness of the fact that vaccine trials seldom take menstruation into account. Technical explanations of the biology behind periods might go over the heads of lay readers, but Clancy excels at outlining how sexism influences the production and process of science, as well as public understandings of research findings. The result is an urgent call to reconsider how periods are researched and discussed. (Apr.)