Tracing Menstruation in British and American Culture. Strategies of Invisibilization, Stigmatization, and a Question of Im-Purity in Historical and Cultural Context

An absentee from the Western culture, the phenomenon of menstruation is an unlikely theme to be found in the British and American media and literature. Historically and culturally the Menstrual blood was considered impure and maudit, thus positioning the menstruating women at the bottom of the power hierarchies, and asserting the social status-quo of the male dominance. Menstruation is also subjected to capitalization which has been shaping the Menstrual attitudes and practices.The aim of the article is to draw a sketch of what menstruating means in the British and American cultures, as well as to reflect on its frequent absence from the cultural deliberations