Menstrual stigma rearticulated as environmental pollution in contemporary Scottish policy-making
Abstract
Scotland is a global leader in public policy concerning menstrual products. We bring Critical Menstruation Studies concepts and textual analysis methods to a corpus of Scottish reports on menstrual product access and waste, along with interviews with regional experts. Our analysis indicates that while promotion of reusable menstrual products is intended to dismantle menstrual stigma, this stigma can become displaced via environmental concerns to other contexts, retaining key characteristics. The notion that menstrual blood is unhygienic and transgressive leaks into the discourse, which uses the same fundamental concepts to identify disposable menstrual products as environmental hazards affecting waterways and beaches.
Citation
Bildhauer , B M & Owen , L 2023 , ' Menstrual stigma rearticulated as environmental pollution in contemporary Scottish policy-making ' , Women's Reproductive Health , vol. 10 , no. 2 , 2097034 , pp. 167-184 . https://doi.org/10.1080/23293691.2022.2097034
Publication
Women's Reproductive Health
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2329-3691Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: St Andrews Restarting Research Fund grant SML0-XRR046.Collections
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