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.