Blood: The Science, Medicine and Mythology of Menstruation by Dr Jen Gunter – why periods are ‘a muddled burden’

The outspoken Canadian gynaecologist ’s compelling scientific study cuts through misinformation, myth and worse with clarity and wit in this study of the menstrual cycleThe doctor who taught me about human reproduction at medical school was in fact a veterinarian. More is known about a sheep ’s rhythms than a woman’s, he said, setting the tone in our first tutorial, presumably because ewes drive a healthy profit. I was disappointed. I felt that menstruation and pregnancy shouldn’t be narrated to us like they would be for any other animal. These aren’t just biological events, but experiences coloured by memory and anticipation. What about days of frantic maxi pad changes in school cubicles that go unspoken between girls, some as young as eight, unpredictably timed yet reliably painful? Periods are a muddled burden: a monthly shame as well as a relief.If millennials have been undernourished with information about their bodies, then previous generations were almost starved of it. A flush of coverage has arisen out of this embarrassed silence, such asEmma Barnett’sPeriod and BBC Radio 4 ’s series28ish DaysLater. Dr Jen Gunter ’sBlood takes an unapologetically scientific approach to the menstrual cycle, written for anyone who wants to understand its often mystified ways and what medicine can do to help. Perhaps Gunter ’s resolve to reduce stigma around women’s health was a reaction to her own upbringing in Canada, with a mother who thought tampons were “evilâ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Health, mind and body books Menstruation Women's health Reproduction Menopause Culture Biology Science Life and style Society Source Type: news