2017 saw the first advert for a sanitary product that used blood. Until then our periods were depicted by a weird blue liquid that made less sense than the roller skating woman deliriously happy about being on her period. Throughout history menstruation was seen as something dirty, something to be hidden away. Women’s shameful little secret. The deep rooted misogyny that can shroud periods in shame isn’t the same as what it was. I mean, we are no longer being accused of being a witch. But has the misogyny in menstruation completely gone?
Heavy Periods
30% of women endure debilitating heavy periods every month. There is now an over the counter medicine available to help with heavy periods. These tranexamic acid tablets can reduce your heavy bleeding by up to 60%. Evana Heavy Period Relief tablets are available over the counter after a short consultation by a pharmacist. It might surprise you to know these tablets only became available last year. It won’t surprise you to know that a woman is behind the brand. Anna Maxwell founded Maxwellia in 2013 with the aim of widening access to medicine.
I have been one of those 30% and understand only to well what it’s like doubling up on sanitary wear, taking spares clothes with you just in case, cancelling social plans, never being able to wear white. All the while having to go to work and carry on as if nothing was wrong.
I’ve always wondered if men had to endure heavy periods like this, would there be more research and help available? Does that come down to misogyny in menstruation?
Pain Relief
We know that there is a gender pain gap. Pain in women is more poorly understood and more mistreated compared to pain in men. In a study conducted last year 55% of women felt that the pain they were in was not taken seriously by health care professionals. Significantly higher than the number of men.
If you were having a heart attack, you would expect your symptoms to be recognised. However the Medical Research Foundation reports that if you’re female (in either sex or gender), you are 50 per cent more likely to be misdiagnosed, and therefore more likely to suffer serious outcomes from a heart attack – just because you are female.
I was 14 when my Mum first took me to see our male doctor about my period pains. In my mums words, “Why should she have to suffer in this day and age? There must be something that can help her?” The doctor told us it was just part of being a woman and I needed to put up with it. Yes, at 14 years old I witnessed misogyny in menstruation.
Being Dismissed
I mentioned it to several doctors over the years, the heavy bleeding, the agonising cramps. I accepted their answer each time they basically said “Go away”. It wasn’t until my thirties that I saw a female doctor who took me seriously sent me for investigatory tests. Do men have to advocate so strongly for themselves when they have a problem?
The danger of not taking pain seriously is that it stops women seeking help when they need it. Ask any woman who suffers from endometriosis how long it took for her complaints to be taken seriously. According to the Royal College of Nursing, Endometriosis is the second most common gynaecological condition in the UK, affecting 1.5 million women. On average it takes 7.5 years to get a diagnosis. Yes you read that correctly. 7.5 years. And when we look at why it takes so long, it’s because women have to repeatedly visit their doctor to be taken seriously. Gender bias in health care exists and it is dangerous.
Work Issues
in 2017 a Mumsnet contributor relayed her personal story of using a hot water bottle whilst sat at her desk to help relieve her menstrual cramps. Her male supervisor asked her if she was cold, and she told him it was for pain relief. 10 Minutes later she was called by HR and told to go home until she felt better as her supervisor had complained that she was being unprofessional and had made him feel uncomfortable.
Surely the male colleague should have been the one to go home if someone having their period made him that uncomfortable? But it begs the question should we have HR policies concerning menstrual cycles? According to CIPD only a third of companies have a menstrual health policy. The majority of companies do not offer any formal support or policy.
More than 1 in 10 women say their menstrual symptoms have had a negative impact on their career progression. Shouldn’t we be further ahead by now? Is it because it’s a woman’s problem?
Period Products
Whilst it is great that we have lots of products available to us, from sanitary pads and tampons, to menstrual cups and period pants. The development and progression of period products has been slow. It’s only in the last decade that options other than disposable pads and tampons have become readily available, and that is mostly due to the environmental impact, rather than women’s actual needs.
But it still remains a taboo subject. Something we are made to feel as if we should be embarrassed about. I’m sure we’ve all had to raise our hand and ask to leave class to go to the toilet having surreptitiously shoved a tampon up the sleeve of our jumper.
More than half of UK men (52%) state they’ve never purchased period products for their partner. More shockingly, 42% of them think it’s too embarrassing.
Tampon tax wasn’t abolished until 2021. Until 4 years ago VAT was added to sanitary products classifying them as unessential items. Again it took a woman to lobby and campaign for this change.
Yet still we have period poverty. This is extremely prevalent in UK higher education, effecting 36% of students. Can you imagine not being able to go to your lectures, or leave your room because you are on your period and you cannot afford sanitary products.
Research
As well as the gender pain gap, we are now recognising a medical research gender gap. It was only in 1993 that legally women were required to be included in medical research. The vast majority of data is based on the male body and the male experience. BMI being an example, but that’s a whole other post!
A recent study has shown that less than half of scientific studies report the sex of their cells, and where they do, they are more likely to use cells which are male. The results are then often applied equally to female cells, even though they may respond completely differently. When laboratory findings are tested on animals, the animals used in the vast majority are males. Why? Because of the misconception that female hormones would skew and complicate the reading of the results.
Recent statistics suggest that only 2% of medical research funding is spent on pregnancy, childbirth, and female reproductive health. This is despite one in three women reporting a reproductive or gynaecological health problem.
A study in the US by Arthur Mirin looked at the burden (how much death and disability an illness / condition causes) against how much funding was received for medical research. Things that disproportionately affect women such as migraine, headaches, endometriosis and anxiety disorders, all attract much less funding in proportion to the burden. HIV/AIDS and substance misuse, which disproportionately affect men, get more funding in proportion to their burden.
Conclusion
Whilst we have come a long way from being burnt at the stake for bleeding from our vaginas, there is still a long way to go to rid the misogyny in menstruation. The image of a woman not being able to control her hormones and being hysterical might be dated now, but it hasn’t completely gone.
We have proof of medical gender bias, gender pain gap, and medical research gender gaps. All of which prove that misogyny in menstruation exists.
Thankfully the fact that these gaps are being recognised also means they are starting to be addressed. Yet we live in a world where 40% of women live somewhere with restrictive reproduction laws and no rights over the autonomy of their own bodies.
There should be no place for misogyny in menstruation in 2025. Yet here we are.
This post is in collaboration with Evana. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
