Abstract
Research show that men and women often do not converse freely about menstruation. Shame, taboos and myths associated with menstruation silence the conversation. Silencing conversations about menstruation have negative consequences on women, including: objectification of women's bodies, stereotyping of women as physically, morally and emotionally inferior to men and to extreme cases women losing their uterus due to unhygienic means of menstrual management. On the one hand, not addressing menstruation openly has devastating consequences on women but on the other hand, most men seem oblivious about the impacts on women. Therefore, it is important to engage in open dialogues about menstruation because research have found that such acts empower women and for men, it helps them to understand the construction of societies at a deeper level. I argue that despite considerable development in Science improving understanding of human biology, men in general do not have enough knowledge about menstruation and its effects on women. The purpose of this research study is to examine the knowledge and perspectives about menstruation of culturally diverse male students of Minnesota State University, Mankato. A qualitative semi-structured interview was conducted with nine male participants. It was found that most participants do not have adequate knowledge about biological process of menstruation. Menstruation was also supposed to be a women's issue hence not important for men to understand it. A few participants who considered themselves allies of women had worked on their own to change their perspectives into positive ones. This thesis will contribute to narrowing a gap in literature available on the topic.
Advisor
Shannon Miller
Committee Member
Ana Perez
Committee Member
Christopher Brown
Date of Degree
2015
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Rajak, I. (2015). She Got Her Period: Men's Knowledge and Perspectives on Menstruation [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/429/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Health Communication Commons, Women's Health Commons
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