CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Menstruation is a biological phenomenon laden with cultural implications. Individuals do not experience the body in a socio-cultural vacuum. In turn, women’s interpretations of the physiological and hormonal changes associated with menstruation cannot be understood outside of the social and historical context in which they live, which is influenced by the meaning ascribed to these menstrual changes by westernised medical discourses (Ussher, 2006). Throughout history, menstruation has been assigned roles that ranged from defining a woman’s status and social role to being seen as a curse that all women had to endure (Anjum, Zehra, Haider, Rani, Siddique & Munir, 2010). It is this positioning of the female reproductive body as inadequate and needing to be controlled, and of menstruation as a site of madness and debilitation, which provide the framework for women to interpret changes associated with menstruation as pathological symptoms (Ussher, 2006). For centuries, both medicine and religion have methodically devalued the roles assigned to females and excluded women from power in society through patriarchal beliefs about the female reproductive body (Cahill, 2001). This is still evident in many cultures and religions today (Tiwari, Oza & Tiwari, 2006; Umeora & Egwuatu, 2008).

All over the world women are encouraged by culture and religion to avoid certain activities such as cooking, working, praying and having sexual intercourse while menstruating, as they are considered to be in a state of uncleanliness (Buckley & Gottlieb, 1988). In many societies menstruation also encompasses an element of secrecy, where, although menarche may be celebrated as a developmental milestone, menstruation is regarded as something about which women should always be discreet (Marván & Molina-Abolnik, 2012). These restrictions during, and the secrecy surrounding menstruation, may in turn, impact negatively on womanhood by essentially assaulting the women psychologically, degrading their self-image and self-esteem, creating a feeling of shame and undermining the physiological significance of menstruation (Umeora & Egwuatu, 2008).

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