Under Wraps (eBook)

A History of Menstrual Hygiene Technology

Sharra L. Vostral (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2008
202 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-1-4616-3462-1 (ISBN)

Infos

This book examines the social and technological history of sanitary napkins and tampons through the lens of passing, and the effects of technology upon women's experiences of menstruation. These ubiquitous yet invisible technologies provide women with the means to hide their periods, but the history of embedded politics in menstrual technologies reveals that they can be used both as artifacts of control and empowering tools of change.

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Menstruation provides one of the few shared bodily functions that most women will experience during their lifetimes. Yet, these experiences are anything but common. In the United States, for the better part of the twentieth century, menstruation went hand-in-glove with menstrual hygiene. But how and why did this occur? This book looks at the social history of menstrual hygiene by examining it as a technology. In doing so, the lens of technology provides a way to think about menstrual artifacts, how the artifacts are used, and how women gained the knowledge and skills to use them. As technological users, women developed great savvy in manipulating belts, pins, and pads, and using tampons to effectively mask their entire menstrual period. This masking is a form of passing, though it is not often thought of in that way. By using a technology of passing, a woman might pass temporarily as a non-bleeder, which could help her perform her work duties and not get fired or maintain social engagements like swimming at a summer party and not be marked as having her period. How women use technologies of passing, and the resulting politics of secrecy, are a part of women's history that has remained under wraps.

Autor

Sharra L. Vostral is associate professor of gender and women's studies and history at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Inhalt

Chapter 1 1. Menstrual Hygiene: A Techno-Social HistoryChapter 2 2. Technology and PassingChapter 3 3. Scientific Menstruation and Making Menstruation PoliticalChapter 4 4. "The Kotex Age": Consumerism, Technology, and MenstruationChapter 5 5. Menstruation in the Workplace: Private Technologies and Public PoliciesChapter 6 6. Virgin Bodies, Menstrual Hygiene Technologies, and Sex EducationChapter 7 7. Questioning Menstrual Technology: Civil Rights, Design, and CultureChapter 8 8. Unveiling Menstrual Passing

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.3.2008
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sonstiges ► Geschenkbücher
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
• Schlagworte: Gender and Women's History
• ISBN-10: 1-4616-3462-8 / 1461634628
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4616-3462-1 / 9781461634621