Word: taboo
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Weideger's book is the latest sign that menstruation is a fast-rising issue among feminists, who contend that the taboo teaches women self-hatred and worthlessness. Today, some Jewish women pass on the taboo with a hard slap to the face of a daughter at her first menstruation. Most other mothers, says Weideger, deliver the slap in psychic form, teaching daughters to feel shame about a natural process (the periodic shedding, brought on by a drop in hormonal production, of the lining of the womb when the ovum has not been fertilized...
...Author Weideger suggests that many of the troubles attributed to menstruation can actually be traced to the taboo. The idea is not new. Some 50 years ago, Anthropologist Margaret Mead observed that in Samoa, where the menstrual taboo is mild, discomfort during periods is slight. The idea of severe cramps and pain, she wrote, "struck all Samoan women as bizarre when it was described to them...
...younger feminist researchers are making the same point. Some argue that the Dalton data merely show that many women have absorbed the mythology of the menstrual taboo. Others challenge the interpretation of the data. For instance, Barnard Psychologist Mary Brown Parlee points out that stress can hasten a period; therefore, many menstruating women who do poorly on exams may be victims of stress, not menstruation. Concludes Parlee: "We believe that hormonal change brings certain sensory change, but there is no scientific proof that the hormones make any difference in a woman's behavior...
...troubles than Catholic women who were willing to pursue careers and childless marriage. Similarly, in a door-to-door survey of 1,000 men and women in northern California, Psychologist Paige found that those who celebrated the role of wife and mother were most likely to accept the menstrual taboo. Her conclusion: "Adherence to menstrual taboos should decrease as the importance of the family and woman's role as child producer decrease...
What Weideger and other feminists want most of all is to end the taboo. One suggestion: a party for a daughter at her first menstruation. The taboo, Weideger insists, is based on "fears held by men and directed toward women. It is time for women to reclaim menstruation and define for ourselves how we feel about...