Equality with Difference: On Androcentrism and Menstruation

Author(s): Carol A. Bailey

Source: Teaching Sociology, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr., 1993), pp. 121-129
Published by: American Sociological Association
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EQUALITY
WITH DIFFERENCE: ON ANDROCENTRISM AND
MENSTRUATION
CAROL A. BAILEY
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State
University
The
authorproposes
that menstruation is an
experience unique to
women that can be discussed
in a
variety of
classes to counter,
albeit in a small
way,
the androcentrism
present
in
many
sociology
courses. I
provide
an outline
of
a lecture on menstruation
usefulfor gender
relations
classes,
and then illustrate how the
topic
can be used in other
sociology
courses.
One
way
to
begin
to create course content
inclusive of
gender
is
by making
a conscious
effort to use women's
experiences,
as well as
men's,
to illustrate
sociological concepts,
theo-
ries, issues,
and methods.
1
Once we start to
center women's
experiences,
we most
likely
will encounter situations in which our taken-
for-granted sociological knowledge
does not
apply
to women. These situations lead to the
next
step
in curriculum
transformation,
in
which we ask new
questions
and
develop
new
theoretical
concepts
to make them more inclu-
sive. I
propose
that menstruation is an
experi-
ence
unique
to women that can be discussed in
a
variety
of classes to counter, albeit in a small
way,
the
androcentrism
present
in
many
socio-
logical
courses.
CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION
Building
a curriculum that is inclusive of
gen-
der
(race,
class,
age,
and sexual
orientation)
occurs in
stages.
Blee
(1989)
defines the
phases
that are
necessary
before we
truly
have
a
"multifocal,
relational
sociology"
in which a
"gender-balanced perspective
is
sought
that
serves to fuse women's and men's
experiences
into a holistic view of human
experience"
(1989, p. 2).
Blee calls Phase 1 "male-defined sociol-
ogy."
Women are
absent,
and this absence is
not noted. The
experiences
of males are
thought
to be
generalizable
to all
people.
In
Phase
2,
which Blee calls
"compensatory
soci-
ology,"
the absence of women is noted and
attempts
are made to include
"exceptional"
women as defined
by
androcentric standards.
For
example,
the work of
Dorothy
Swaine
Thomas
might
be covered in a social
psychol-
ogy
class;
a classical
sociological theory
course
might
include Comte's
contemporary
Harriet Martineau,
who wrote numerous books
on a
variety
of
sociological topics.
This
phase
is an
improvement
over Phase 1.
Nevertheless,
the inclusion of
"exceptional"
women rein-
forces androcentric definitions of
"excep-
tional" and has little to
say
about most
women's
experiences.
In Phase
3,
the dualistic
categories
of
male and female and
private
and
public
are
presented
in such a
way
as to
try
to achieve
"complementary
but
equal"
evaluation. The
problem
is that once women are no
longer
treated as "the
other,"
the structure and meth-
ods of
sociology
are viewed as more
appro-
priate
to male
experience.
In Phase
4,
when
women's lives are
centered,
new
categories
and new
questions emerge.
Awareness of the
diversity
of women's
experience
and of the
intersection of
race, class,
age,
and sexual
orientation
requires
new
ways
of
analyzing
the world. This
process
leads to
previously
overlooked areas of
inquiry
and to a redefini-
tion of and creation of new theoretical con-
cepts (Blee 1989).
For
example,
when we
center women's
experience
in the area of
work and
occupations,
the
concept
of labor is
changed substantially
from its narrow focus
on
wage
labor and is
expanded
to include
domestic
labor,
volunteer labor,
reproductive
labor,
emotional labor,
and status enhance-
ment labor
(Hartsock 1983; Rose, 1987).
The
purpose
of this
paper
is to
help faculty
members to move closer to Phase 4 where real
transformation of
knowledge
can occur. In
Phase 3 we
integrate
the
experiences
of women
with those of men into our
teaching objectives,
I The same types of arguments can be made for
race,
class,
sexual orientation,
and
age.
*The author thanks Ellsworth Fuhrman for his substan-
tive
assistance,
editorial
advice,
and
encouragement.
Wil-
liam Snizek, Peggy DeWolf, Pamela
Burwell,
and
Tracy
Luff are thanked for their editorial help and support.
Three
reviewers are also thanked for their
helpfidl
comments.
Teaching Sociology,
Vol. 21, 1993
(April:121-129)
121
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122 TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
materials,
and activities in a
way
that
empow-
ers women.
Discussing
the
topic
of menstrua-
tion is a useful
way
of
moving
us toward a more
inclusive curriculum.
BACKGROUND
Historically, putative biological
differences
be-
tween men
and
women
were
used to
justify
the
secondary
status of women. In the 19th
century,
for
example,
women
were
excluded from edu-
cation on the basis of the belief that intellectual
stimulation would strain their delicate
reproduc-
tive
organs (Thomas 1987).
Some
contempo-
rary
feminists theorize that women's
reproduc-
tive
biology
is the material basis for all of
women's
oppression (Firestone 1970).
Many
feminists who contend that
biology
is not
destiny
for either men or women
try
to
ignore
or minimize
biological
differences be-
tween men and women
(Harding
1986;
Lander
1988).
This
position
is
supported by
a
large
body
of
empirical
research which
suggests
that
men and women are more alike than different
(for example,
see
Hyde
1990 for a review of
this
literature).
As a
result,
some feminists
work for social
policies
which
require
that men
and women be treated
equally, particularly
in
the
workplace.
This
approach
to
equality
con-
tains some ironies: for
example,
some femi-
nists
oppose maternity
leave and labor
legisla-
tion that
protect
women,
but not men,
from
hazardous environments.
A basic
problem
in
minimizing
or
ignoring
biological
differences is that both women and
men are embodied
creatures,
and this embodi-
ment is different for men and for women. At-
tempts
to treat women
just
like men lead to the
androcentric
practice
of
ignoring
concerns
specific
to
women,
such as
birthing, nursing,
and menstruation
(Harding 1986).
Even when
women's concerns are
addressed,
negative
as-
sumptions
and
stereotypes
of women are reaf-
firmed
(Smith 1974, 1979;
Stacey
and Thorne
1985;
Westkott
1990).
One
way
to achieve
equality
while still
recognizing
difference is to "reclaim" the bio-
logical
differences that
historically
have been
used
against
women.
By doing
so,
one refutes
the
myths
of
biological destiny
and
negative
stereotypes
associated with women's bodies.
To "reclaim" women's differences, we need
theory
and research about women which 1)
counter the
androcentric
dualistic
split
be-
tween nature and nurture and between the mind
and
body; 2) use a
multidisciplinary approach
to
emphasize
the
complexity
and
diversity
of
women's
experiences
instead of
focusing
on a
generic
woman;
and
3)
demonstrate how the
body
has been used
unfairly
to devalue women
and to
justify
women's second-class status.
There are six
primary
reasons
why
men-
struation is a lecture
topic
well suited to re-
claiming
women's differences.
First,
men-
struation is a
biologically unique
event that
most women
experience
for a
large portion
of
their lives.
Second,
despite
the
commonality
of
menstruation
among
women,
it is still an ex-
ample
of
diversity
because it varies
historically
and
cross-culturally
in its social and its
physi-
cal manifestations. For
example,
Reame
(1985) reports
that the menstrual
periods
of
women in some
parts
of Africa consist of a few
drops
and last half an
hour,
compared
to the
average
loss of two fluid ounces over four
days
for women in the United States. The
physical
and social manifestation of menstruation
may
also
vary by
race, class,
age,
and sexual orien-
tation,
although
there is little research that ex-
plores
these
potential
sources of variation.
Third,
because menstruation is
unique
to wo-
men,
it has "become
intrinsically
bound
up
with the issue of
gender inequality"
and has
been used to
justify oppression (Lander 1988;
Sommer
1985,
p. 53).
For
example,
menstrua-
tion was used to exclude women from educa-
tion and
political
life and to bar middle-class
women from economic life
(Lander 1988).2
Fourth,
research on menstruation is multidisci-
plinary;
it includes not
only biological
but also
social and
psychological
studies.
Fifth,
the
topic
of menstruation abounds with
negative
myths
and
stereotypes
that
ought
to be excised
so that women can be
empowered through
eliminating
the unfair constraints associated
with this
aspect
of their bodies.
Finally,
socialist feminists
argue
that the
United States is a
patriarchal system
in which
women and their
experiences
are devalued.
Women's lower status is reinforced
by
our
current
system
of
capitalism
because the
capi-
talists benefit from this status. From a socialist
feminist
perspective,
an awareness of the inter-
section of
patriarchy
and
capitalism
is funda-
mental for
understanding
the
organization
of
society
and human behavior. Therefore, this
2 Lander (1988) makes the
interesting point
that biol-
ogy
has not been used
against
men in the same
way
as
against
women. For
example, only
men
experience prob-
lems with
prostate glands,
but this fact is not used as a
justification
to exclude men
from a full social life.
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EQUALITY
WITH DIFFERENCE 123
intersection is relevant to almost
every
sociol-
ogy
course,
whether
theory,
social
organiza-
tion,
social
stratification,
social
psychology,
or
deviance. As I will demonstrate below, the
issues
surrounding
the
topic
of menstruation
are
sufficiently complex
to be useful in a vari-
ety
of classes for
demonstrating
the
oppressive
nature of the intersection of
patriarchy
and
capitalism
on women's
experiences.
This
paper
is divided into two
parts.
First
I
provide
an outline of a lecture on menstrua-
tion that is well received in
my upper-division
gender
relations classes. The
purpose
of this
outline is to show how I use this
topic
to
illustrate a
variety
of
important
themes and
issues in
gender
relations. The lecture outline
also
provides
material and references that can
be used for
incorporating
a discussion of
menstruation into other courses. In the sec-
ond
part
of the
paper,
I
give explicit examples
showing
how this
topic
can be used in a
large
number of classes.
THE MENSTRUATION LECTURE
MENSTRUAL TABOOS
At the start of the lecture on
menstruation,
I ask
the students to
respond
to a
paper-and-pencil
shopping
exercise. In this
activity, they
react to
a friend who asks them to
go
to the store to
buy
a
specific grocery
item.
They
are asked to
state,
using
a four-item Likert scale, how comfort-
able or uncomfortable
they
would be in
pur-
chasing
various items such as a
half-gallon
of
milk,
a head of
lettuce,
panty
hose, a National
Enquirer, Lady
Bic
shavers,
Oreo
cookies,
hemorrhoid medicine,
sanitary napkins,
and a
box of
tampons.
Originally
I
expected
that
only
men would
report
discomfort in
buying
menstrual
prod-
ucts. Much to
my surprise,
however, I found
that not
only
men but also a considerable num-
ber of women were uncomfortable.3
Using
these results as the
springboard,
I ask the class
to think about the
acceptability
of menstruation
in our
society today.
I ask the students whether
it is
a
positive,
a
negative,
or a
neutral
event.
The students conclude that menstruation is a
negative
event which should be hidden and not
discussed. To these
students,
menstruation
rep-
resents both a behavioral and a conversational
taboo. I reinforce their conclusion with one
small
example
of the
invisibility
of menstrua-
tion: the word menarche
(meaning
first men-
strual
period)
is not listed in the 1971
Compact
Edition of the
Oxford English Dictionary (Tay-
lor
1988).
I then ask the students to list various
slang
terms for menstruation.
Although they
are
hesitant
initially, they usually generate
a
long
list of terms such as
the curse,
being unwell,
being
on
the
rag, riding
the
cotton
pony,
the
visitor, Herman,
falling off
the
roof,
and a
tiger stepping
on
my toes.
Even the neutral
terms serve as a code so that one can commu-
nicate about menstruation without
having
to
say
the word
(e.g.,
"Aunt
Flo
is
here").
This discussion with the students is fol-
lowed
by
a brief
summary
of the
empirical
literature,
which shows that a sizable
minority
of
people
in the United States
agree
that men-
struation does not have a
positive
valence. For
example,
the
Tampax Corporation
commis-
sioned a
survey
in 1981 in which 58
percent
of
the
respondents agreed
that women were more
emotional while
menstruating,
35
percent
be-
lieved
menstruation
affected women's
ability
to
think,
and 26
percent responded
that women
cannot function as well at work when menstru-
ating (Sommer 1985, p. 54).
Next we discuss some of the current
myths
associated with menstruation. Some students
believe that
menstruating
women should not
swim,
have
intercourse,
have their hair
per-
med,
or even stand close to
growing vegeta-
bles. I then cite a
long
list of historical and
cross-cultural menstrual taboos,
including
not
touching hunting implements,
not
being
near
fermenting
wines, and not
casting
a shadow on
men or
dogs
for fear of
driving
them mad
(Buckley
and Gottlieb
1988; Delaney, Lupton
and Toth
1988;
Lander
1988;
Richmond-Ab-
bott
1983).
This discussion
helps
the students
to
question
the
legitimacy
of their own
myths
and to
analyze
the
purposes
of these
myths
in
devaluing
women.
I then
challenge
the notion that menstrua-
tion
is
universally
considered taboo. In fact,
the word taboo came
originally
from the
Polynesian
word tupua;
it meant "sacred" or
"magical"
and was
applied specifically
to
menstrual blood
(Taylor 1988). Then I
pre-
3
This negative
evaluation of women is also illustrated
by
men's
discomfort
at
buying any products
associated with
women
(e.g., panty
hose or
Lady
Bic
shavers).
The women
were uncomfortable
when
buying
items that are classified
as sweets. This discomfort may
reflect the
negative
evalu-
ations associated with women who fail to maintain unreal-
istically
thin bodies.
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124
TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
sent a
long
list of
positive
rituals to show that
menstruation is not considered
negative
in
every
culture. For
example,
the
Navajo
menarche
ceremony,
which lasts five
days
and
nights,
is the most
important
of all the
Navajo religious
rites. In Tantric
tradition,
the most
powerful
sexual rite
requires
that the
women be
menstruating (Buckley
and Got-
tlieb
1988;
Taylor 1988,
p. 43). Buckley
and
Gottlieb
(1988)
is an
important
source for
preparing
this
portion
of the lecture.
Buckley
and Gottlieb's book is also useful
for
explaining
how the
acceptance
of men-
struation as an universal taboo
by many
anthro-
pologists
is in itself an
example
of androcen-
trism.
Recently, anthropologists
have viewed
putative
menstrual taboos from the
perspec-
tives of the women involved in the rituals. In
doing
so,
they
have concluded that some
ritu-
als,
which
previously
were
interpreted
as a
devaluation of
women,
are
positive
and em-
powering
when the researcher does a less an-
drocentric
analysis.
The use of the
positive
rituals associated
with menstruation allows me to stress the di-
versity
of women's
experiences.
This theme is
important
in
gender
classes: awareness of this
diversity
makes it more difficult for students to
support
beliefs about "women's
nature"
(Hawkesworth 1989).
In
addition,
once stu-
dents start to see that menstruation is not con-
sidered
negative
in
every
instance,
they
find it
more difficult to conclude that
something
about this
aspect
of women's
reality
is inher-
ently negative.
BIOLOGICAL ISSUES
In the next section of the
lecture,
I
present
an
overview of the
biological processes
related to
menstruation. I cover this area
briefly,
but it
serves several
purposes.
First,
an awareness of
the
biological complexity
of menstruation
helps
to
develop
an
appreciation
for the
proc-
ess instead of the usual
negative
connotations.
Second,
my experience
is that neither women
nor men know much about the factual
aspects
of menstruation. For
example,
few students are
aware that menstruation is the
shredding
of the
uterine, not the
vaginal, lining.
The androcen-
tric nature of our educational
system
is illus-
trated
easily
when so few students know where
the
discharge originates.
Third, I
provide
a sufficient overview of the
hormonal
processes
to counter the belief that
women are controlled
by "raging
hormones."
I include the
following points
in this
portion
of
the lecture:
1) estrogen
and
progesterone
are
low before the onset of menstrual
periods; 2)
women on the birth
control pill
show little
hormonal
fluctuation; 3)
fluctuations in hor-
mone levels in men are much more erratic than
in
women;
and
4)
there is considerable evi-
dence that behaviors and
psychological
factors
affect hormones as much as the reverse. For
example,
it is well established that women who
live close
together
have menstrual
synchrony.
Although biological processes
are involved in
the
convergence
of menstrual
cycles,
the social
situation of
living together
sets these
processes
in motion
(Lander 1988).
For
greater
detail on
the
physiological aspects
of
menstruation,
an
instructor can consult Lander
(1988)
and
Madaras
(1984).
PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME, MOODS,
AND ABILITIES
We continue with a discussion of
premenstrual
syndrome (PMS).
I
begin by explaining
that
much of the research on PMS contains serious
conceptual
and
methodological
flaws and that
researchers
disagree considerably
about
whether PMS even exists as a medical condi-
tion. The most serious
problem
in PMS re-
search is that researchers have no
agreed-upon
definition. The number and
variety
of
symp-
toms included as PMS
vary
from
study
to
study,
as does the
length
of time classified as
premenstrual.
For
example,
more than 150
symptoms
of PMS were found in a review of
the
literature,
including fatigue, epilepsy,
and
excessive nasal
discharge (Lander 1988,
p.
88).
The definition of
premenstrual
varies
from as little as one
day
to as much as 14
days
before the start of the menstrual
period;
some
studies include the
period
as well
(Lander
1988,
p. 88).
Further
complications
are that
symptoms vary widely
from one woman to
another and that a
great
deal of variation exists
in
any
one woman. A standard definition is
crucial for
determining prevalence.
In the few
studies that have
applied stringent
criteria for
defining
PMS,
almost no women have it. When
less
rigorous
standards are
used,
almost all
women have it.
Extremely
useful articles for
this
portion
of the lecture are those
by Abpla-
nalp (1985) and Friederich (1985).
To
question
the existence of a medical con-
dition called PMS is not to
deny
that women
throughout
the world
recognize symptoms
re-
lated to menstruation (Lander 1988). The
point
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EQUALITY
WITH DIFFERENCE 125
to be
challenged
is the
labeling
of these
symp-
toms as a medical
problem. Accordingly,
I
discuss a
hypothetical
new
syndrome
that I call
Post Runners
Syndrome (PRS).
I ask
joggers
in
my
class what
symptoms they
have after
jogging.
I write the
heading
PRS on the board
and list below it their
responses,
which include
sweating,
shortness of
breath,
tightness
in the
muscles,
and flushed skin. I
say
that indeed
they
suffer from PRS and should take
pills
to
cure this condition. The
joggers
become
quite
animated and
protest
that
they
do not need to
be cured.
Rather,
they say,
this is how one is
supposed
to feel after
jogging,
that their
symp-
toms are a normal
biological response
to run-
ning.
In rebuttal I ask about a
person
who has
severe chest
pains
after
jogging,
with
tingling
and numbness down the left arm. How can
they
say
that this is a
normal,
healthy response
to
jogging, given
the
severity
of these
symptoms?
They
contend
vehemently
that
my example
is
different;
this
person
has
something
much
more serious than the normal condition associ-
ated with
jogging,
and these
symptoms
should
not be listed. In
fact,
they suggest
that this
person
has a medical
condition,
probably
a
heart attack. I thank them for this clarification
and then return to
my
focus on menstruation.
I do so
by writing
PMS
on the board next
to
PRS,
and I list
typical
PMS
symptoms (e.g.,
lower back
pain, bloating,
and mild
cramps)
alongside
the PRS
symptoms.
The
comparison
of the two
"syndromes" helps
the students to
see that
although
PMS has
recognized symp-
toms which
many
women
experience
at some
time,
they
do not constitute a medical condi-
tion. We then discuss more severe
symptoms
that
might represent
a medical
condition,
such
as severe
cramping accompanied by vomiting
and diarrhea. Such severe
pain
with menstrua-
tion
may
be associated with
pelvic
inflamma-
tory
disease, endometriosis,
or some other
medical condition.
Equating
normal menstrual
symptoms
with the more
problematic
condi-
tions is
analogous
to
confusing
the
jogger
with
the heart attack victim.
This confusion of normal menstrual
symp-
toms with more
problematic
conditions also
illustrates the intersection of the values
ofcapi-
talism and
patriarchy.
Under
patriarchy,
women's bodies
ale
viewed as weak and thus
in need of medical attention. This belief makes
a normal
process problematic
and allows for
the
selling
of medication to
healthy
women,
thus
creating
another market for
capitalists.
Also,
as with other disorders that
primarily
affect
women,
there is little research that ad-
dresses either
etiology
or treatment of the se-
vere medical conditions associated with the
menstrual
cycle.
The
point
of the discussion of
premenstrual
syndrome
is not to discount the discomfort
experienced by
women,
but rather to
question
the social
meaning
of this discomfort. Some
menstrual
pains
are
serious,
have
biological
origins,
and
may
need medical attention.
Nev-
ertheless,
studies have shown that
pain
itself is
affected
by
the social context. It
may
be that if
our culture
provided
a more favorable context
for menstruation and attached more
positive
meaning
to the
process,
less discomfort
might
be
experienced (Lander 1988,
p. 183).
Next we turn to the abundant literature that
has addressed the
relationship
between men-
strual
cycle
and
mood
changes.
The belief in
the
negative
effects associated with menstrua-
tion is so
strong
that the
widely
used "Men-
strual
Symptom Questionnaire"
does not allow
for
any positive
correlates of menstruation
(Taylor 1988). Nonetheless,
what little evi-
dence there is for a
relationship
between men-
struation and moods has been
thoroughly
dis-
credited.4
Lander
provides
a
partial critique
of
this research:
It has been well established that a
study
that asks
women
to
record their moods
day by day pro-
duces different results from one
asking them
to
record their moods from
memory
of the
past;
that
women
taking part
in a
study they
kalow
concerns
the
menstrual
cycle
will
give
different answers
from those
in
a
study
whose
purpose
is
disguised;
that
looking
at data in terms of
group averages
frequently presents
a
different picture
from that
produced by
individual
responses;
and that
nega-
tive moods found in the
premenstrual stage
of the
cycle may
reflect stresses that are themselves
changing
the
length
of the
cycle
and
determining
when the
premenstrual stage
occurs
(1988, p.
176).
Lander
(1988)
offers a
complete
list of
research to
support
her conclusions. I use
these two
examples,
in addition to
others,
to
illustrate her
points. 1) Negative
mood states
were
reported premenstrually by
women who
took a
survey
called the "Menstrual Distress
Questionnaire."
In an identical but untitled
survey,
no such
relationship
was found (Lan-
4
Richmond-Abbott
(1983) suggests
that the
long
du-
ration of such
poor
research attests to the
androcentrism
in
the social and
biological
sciences.
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126 TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
der
1988). 2)
Researchers have discovered
that
girls
who have not started to
menstruate,
nonmenopausal
women not on the birth con-
trol
pill, nonmenopausal
women on the birth
control
pill,
and men all exhibit mood
cy-
cles--but none of these studies has found a
relationship
between moods and hormone
levels
(Doering
et al. 1974: Lott
1987;
Rich-
mond- Abbott
1983).
A number of studies also
suggest
that
per-
sonality types
and
socialization
categories
do
not seem to be related to menstrual
symptoms.
For
example,
it is
possible
to find some studies
that show a correlation between traditional
femininity
and menstrual distress. It is also
possible,
however,
to find studies
revealing
higher
levels of discomfort
among
nontradi-
tional women and studies
showing
no relation-
ship.
To the limited
degree
that a
relationship
exists between menstruation and mood, it is
bidirectional,
is affected
by past experiences,
and varies
widely
within and between women
(Lander 1988).
I end this section of the lecture
by
discuss-
ing
the effects of menstruation on
cognitive
functioning.
An excellent source for lecture
preparation
in this connection is Sommer's
(1985)
review of this research. To refute the
ostensibly negative
effect of menstruation on
different
types
of
functioning,
Sommer uses a
large body
of
empirical
literature. She con-
cludes that
"taking
all of the
reviewed
studies
in their
entirety,
the conclusion is that
among
the
general population
of women, menstrual
cycle
variables
do not interfere with
cognitive
abilities-abilities of
thinking, problem-solv-
ing, learning
and
memory, making judgments,
and other related mental activities"
(p.
86).
PRACTICAL ISSUES
I end the lecture with a discussion of
practical
issues related to menstruation. I
bring
a
variety
of menstrual
products
to class and talk about
practical
concerns such as how often women
should
change
their
tampons,
how to insert a
tampon,
and how much fluid is
actually
lost.
Although
this information
may
seem
basic,
it
is not unusual to have two or three students in
a class who think that women
discharge
several
quarts
of fluid instead of the
approximately
two ounces that are
typical
for women in the
United States. I also use this discussion as
anl
opportunity
to
provide
more crosscultural and
historical information. For
example,
some Na-
tive American women have used "bird down,
cattail
down, moss, buckskin,
rolled buffalo
hair,
soft buffalo
skin,
shredded bark and
sheep
pelts"
as
sanitary pads. Egyptian
women used
soft water
plants
called
papyrus
for
tampons.
Sponges
were used
by
women
living
near the
sea
(Taylor
1988,
p. 75).
In addition to the manifest function of
pro-
viding
students with accurate factual informa-
tion,
this section of the lecture also serves the
important
latent function of
helping
both men
and women in the class to feel more comfort-
able with issues that relate to women's bodies.
The taboos
against
menstruation
are
so
strong
that students often are
visibly upset
when I take
a
sanitary pad
from the
package
and stick it to
my
hand or
inject
a
tampon
between
my
fin-
gers. They begin
to
relax, however,
when
they
see that
nothing
bad
happens
as a result of
making
these
products public.
Another tech-
nique
that I use to
demystify
these
products
is
to leave them
sitting
in
plain
view on the front
of the desk and
occasionally
to touch or move
them as one
might
a book or a
piece
of chalk.
When
they
see that
I
am comfortable with these
objects
on
display,
the students learn that there
is
nothing inherently embarrassing
about
them; they
are
merely technological
devices,
no more imbued with shame than a
pencil
or a
water
glass.
At this
point
I discuss how
regulatory
agencies
in the United States are androcentric
in that
only
a few
regulations
ensure the
safety
of these
products.
Until
recently,
men-
strual
products
were classified as cosmetic
rather than medical devices and therefore
were not
subject
to the same
scrutiny
as medi-
cal
products (Reame 1985). I
cite both the
dangers
of scented
products
and the relation-
ship
between toxic shock and the lack of
standards for
absorbency
to illustrate how
women's health concerns receive insufficient
attention
by
the
government.
Then I ask the students to discuss how these
products
are advertised.
They
conclude that the
advertisements
emphasize absorbency
and
"freshness." The students also note that the
advertisements reaffirm the belief that men-
struation is not to be discussed
except
obliquely.
I use this discussion to illustrate how
advertisements for menstrual
products
and the
products
themselves reflect the values of
patri-
archy
and
capitalism.
In brief, in a
patriarchal
society,
menstruation is
dirty
and must
be
hid-
den; women must be concerned about "fresh-
ness" at this time of the month.
Capitalism
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"EQUALITY
WITH DIFFERENCE
127
exploits
this
image by selling products
such as
scented
tampons ostensibly
to hide this
proc-
ess. A discussion of some women's attitudes
towards
menstrual
sponges
can be
employed
to make this
point
clearer. One of the reasons
why
some women use reusable
sponges
is that
they
feel close to and in awe of their bodies as
they
wash out the
discharge, noting
the color
and the amount of it
(Taylor 1988).
It is hard to
imagine,
in a
patriarchal capitalistic society,
using
the
glorification
of menstrual
discharge
as the basis for an
advertising campaign!
SUMMARY
At the anecdotal
level,
women have indicated
that this lecture is
empowering.
For
example,
women have come to
my
office
extremely
proud
of themselves because
they
were able to
purchase
their own
tampons
for the first time
in their lives. Before
hearing
this
lecture,
they
asked their mothers to
buy enough tampons
to
last the semester. Their
joy
in their achieve-
ment was
tangible,
as was mine. One woman
came to me after the lecture and
explained
that
she is a translator for recent
immigrants during
their
gynecology
and obstetric exams. She felt
that she was not
doing
a
good job
of
translating
because she knew so little of her own
physiol-
ogy
and
admitted to
being
too embarrassed to
ask
questions.
Now she realized that she did
not need to be ashamed to learn about women's
bodies. Because of this
lecture,
these women
freed themselves from one small form of
op-
pression.
This lecture takes
approximately
two
hours to
present, depending
on the amount of
discussion. Once students move
beyond
their
initial hesitation,
they
become
quite
involved
in the lecture. At
first,
the women students are
defensive about the discussion of PMS, but
the combination of the
empirical
studies and
respect
for their individual
experiences
reas-
sures them.
Questions
on this lecture are in-
cluded on the examination, and
only
those
students who attended the lecture do well on
these
questions.
A
final issue is whether this lecture
ought
to be
given by
a man.
It
is safe to
say
that
most
women have more
experience
in
using
men-
strual
products
than most men. Yet, there is
nothing
inherent about
being
a woman that
makes women 1) more familiar than men with
the diverse
body
of literature
required
to de-
liver this lecture, 2) more comfortable than
men in
touching
menstrual
products
or dis-
cussing
menstruation in
public,
or
3)
more
skilled than men in
articulating
the theoretical
issues that show the connection between men-
struation and
gender inequality.
These latter
issues,
rather than
personal experiences
in us-
ing
the
products,
are the
important points
for
this lecture. The
key
is not one's
gender
but
whether one has
prepared
this lecture ade-
quately
and can
present
the material in a
way
that avoids
negative
connotations.
APPLICATION TO OTHER CLASSES
Many
of the
points only
discussed
briefly
in
this lecture can be tailored to fit a
variety
of
classes: research
methods,
theory,
work and
occupations,
introduction to
sociology,
crimi-
nology,
medical
sociology, family sociology,
sociology
of
education,
demography,
social
psychology,
and stratification
classes,
among
others. The
topic
of menstruation is useful not
only
for
helping
students to understand the
negative
evaluation of women's
experiences
under a
patriarchal/capitalist system,
but also
for
illustrating
a
variety
of other
sociological
concepts. (Examples
are cited
below.)
Instruc-
tors, however,
must be aware that students are
so used to
regarding
menstruation as a taboo
that
they may
react
inappropriately,
such as
by
giggling,
when menstruation is used to illus-
trate
sociological concepts.
If this
occurs, it is
important
not to
ignore
it.
Rather,
it can be
made into an
opportunity
to discuss how the
reaction derives from a
patriarchal system
that
devalues women and thus is a form of sexism
which is
inappropriate
in the classroom.
By
directly addressing
the issue of
sexism,
the
instructor declares a commitment to
gender
equality
in the class.
The
topic
of menstruation is ideal for illus-
trating
much of the course content in a research
methods class because it is an
experience
unique
to
women,
but one that is
easily
under-
stood
by
both men and women. The
following
examples
illustrate how menstruation can be
used to meet the laudable
goal
of
including
women and their
experiences
in a methods
class. 1) The
difficulty
in
defilning
PMS can be
used to
explain
how
conceptual imprecision
makes
operationalization
difficult. 2) When
one is
lecturing
on
sampling,
one can deter-
mine
sample
size for a
questionnaire
about
attitudes toward menstruation
among college
students. 3) The
importance
of
controlling
for
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128 TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
relevant variables can be examined
by asking
the students to list
important
control variables
in a
study
about menstrual attitudes
among
men.
4)
Students can be asked whether a one-
shot cross-sectional
design
is an
appropriate
research
design
for
studying
menstrual dis-
comfort.
5) Reactivity
is illustrated
by
the di-
vergent
results of a
survey
called
"The
Men-
strual Discomfort
Questionnaire"
and a
survey
with no title.
6)
The differences in
survey
re-
sults on menstrual discomfort from the United
States and Sweden show the
importance
of
crosscultural
research.
7)
Issues
of interpreta-
tion
can be
illustrated
by asking why
it is
inappropriate
to
report only
that 27
percent
of
women did worse on a task
during
their men-
strual
cycle. 8)
The
difficulty
of
specifying
temporal priority
for causal models can be
shown
by trying
to determine whether attitudes
toward menstruation affect the
perceived
dis-
comfort or whether the
perceived
discomfort
affects attitudes.
These are
only
a few
ways
of
using
men-
struation to demonstrate the "nuts and bolts"
of social science research. Koeske
(1985)
de-
scribes these and other
problems
in
greater
detail with citations from the relevant studies.
She also
provides
more
sophisticated
meth-
odological
issues related to menstrual research
which would be useful in
graduate-level
meth-
ods classes.
Once one becomes
receptive
to the
idea,
it
is not difficult to find creative
ways
of
using
the
topic
of menstruation to illustrate a
variety
of
sociological concepts.
In classes on work
and
occupations,
the effect of menstruation on
work
performance
is
only
one of a number of
factors to include in
examining
the
adequacy
of human
capital theory
for
explaining gender
differences in
wages.
Premenstrual
syndrome
can be used in social
problems
courses to illus-
trate the creation of a social
problem by
vested
interest
groups,
such as
pharmaceutical
com-
panies.
In
introductory sociology classes,
cross-cultural differences in menstrual rituals
provide
useful
examples
for a discussion on
culture. In
criminology,
a balance is obtained
by juxtaposing
discussions of XYY chromo-
somes with those
ofpremenstrual syndrome as
allegedly biological explanations
of violent
crime. In social
psychology classes, the re-
search that
compares
men's and women's
moods and examines whether
they
are related
to menstruation can
provide
a
lively
discus-
sion. In medical
sociology,
menstruation
is
useful for
illustrating
how
social,
psychologi-
cal,
and
physiological
factors intersect in the
creation of "illness."
CONCLUSIONS
Menstruation is
ideally
suited as an
example
of
women's
experience
because what
appears
to
be a
biological process
is imbued with a
great
deal of social
meaning.
The social construction
of menstruation reflects the connection be-
tween women's bodies and the devalued status
of women within our
patriarchal
culture. Each
time we illuminate for students the
arbitrary
and
unjustified
rationalizations for
gender
in-
equality
we
help
to erode its foundation. If this
can be done so
easily
with a
topic
as
heavily
loaded with
negative
connotations as men-
struation,
other areas of women's lives should
be even easier to use in this
way.
A first
step
in
building
a curriculum inclu-
sive of
gender
is to center women's
experience
in our course content.
Using examples
of
women's
experience
in a
positive way
to illus-
trate
key sociological concepts
and issues is
one small
step away
from androcentrism and
toward
empowerment
for women. When we
find that women's
experiences
are
inappropri-
ate for such
illustration,
we
question
the
gen-
eralizability
of our
taken-for-granted
socio-
logical knowledge.
At that
point
we will be on
our
way
to
developing
more inclusive and thus
more accurate
sociological knowledge.
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Carol A.
Bailey
is Assistant Professor of
Sociology
and
Women's Studies at
Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State
University.
Her concern for
gender equality
is reflected in
her
teaching
and her
publications, primarily
in the area of
eating
disorders and feminist
theory.
She has
recently
re-
ceived a Certificate of
Teaching
Excellence for the
College
of Arts and Sciences and the
university-wide
Alumni Award
for
Teaching
Excellence. Address
correspondence
to the
author, Department
of
Sociology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg,
VA
24061,
BITNET:
BAILEYC@VTVM1.
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