A guest blog for Menstrual Matters by Dr Julia Haarhuis, a nutritian scientist specialising in menstrual health & HA Recovery When “healthy” turns harmful… You eat organic food, exercise regularly,
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Medical misogyny is nothing new…
…and we won’t end it with good intentions and further clinical segregation. The latest Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) report on female reproductive health caused a media storm, and rightfully
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Menstrual Myth Busting… The Case of the Hormonal Female
Hooorrrayyy! After ten long years of researching menstrual physiology and associated gender and racial norms, Menstrual Matters’ Founder, Dr Sally King has finally published her myth-busting book! Phew. Here’s a
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Black box… The reduction of the menstrual cycle in medical education
The 'hormonal' model of the menstrual cycle has limited medical knowledge and reproduced a damaging gender myth
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Menstrual, Menopause, and Maternity Leave: Why Sex-Based Policies Don’t Work for Women…
Menopause leave is back in the UK news. It’s so great that we are having public conversations about menstrual and menopausal health, but I must admit I’m getting very tired
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Period poverty is political!
[Guest blog by Dr Sara De Benedictis, Brunel University London] Over the past few years, the term ‘period poverty’ has been in the news a lot. It refers to how
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Why do humans menstruate?
Mega myth #1- To 'cleanse' your body! Sexist societal taboos wrongly position periods as 'dirty' and sadly, this is what many people continue to be taught to believe [1]. For
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Anatomy, No pain, No shame and The basics.
Reframing the endometriosis ‘diagnostic problem’…
Note: Endometriosis (pronounced en-doh–mee–tree–oh–sis) is the name given to the condition where cells like the ones in the lining of the womb (uterus) are found elsewhere in the body. Each
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Premenstrual mood changes… What’s normal?
Here is our myth-busting guide to help you know the difference between ‘normal’ and problematic mood changes. Trigger warning– mention of suicide What mood changes are normal? Let’s start with
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Managing your periods when you have autism
We spoke to Robyn Steward, author of ‘The Autism-Friendly Guide to Periods’, to ask her about the specific challenges of, and top tips for, managing a period when you have
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Menstrual blood loss… What’s normal?
Here is our myth-busting guide to help you know the difference between ‘normal’ and problematic ‘heavy’ menstrual flow, estimate your own fluid/ blood loss, and find out which underlying conditions
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Managing periods when you have a visual impairment
We conducted a small survey, in collaboration with VI Talk, a fantastic social support network for anyone with a visual impairment. We asked respondents if they had any top tips
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Washing your vagina and vulva… The facts.
The menstrual taboo, plus the sexualisation of the female body, means that most children, parents, and even some doctors, do not know enough about how to keep the vagina and
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Anatomy, No pain, No shame, Period products and The basics.
Menstrual Maths # 1: Why we say ‘people who menstruate’…
In December 2018, there was a twitter storm after a menstrual health activist referred to people who menstruate as ‘bleeders’ in a lighthearted tweet raising awareness of period poverty. Some
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Period pain… What’s normal?
Is your period pain ‘normal’… or a sign of andenomyosis, endometriosis, or fibroids? Yet again, the silence created by the menstrual taboo has led to unnecessary suffering, and confusion. Let’s
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Top 10 Menstruation Myths!
I have spent the past eleven years researching menstrual cycle-related health. The most striking aspect for me is how the menstruation taboo persists, despite all the progress made in global
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The ‘virginity’ myth…
Image: 'Virgo' in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825 This week we tackle another reproductive health myth, and perhaps the most dangerous one of all...
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Menstrual cycle length… What’s normal?
Image credit: Pastorius on Wikimedia- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plastic_tape_measure.jpg Many people are concerned because they think that their cycle is too short, too long, or just not ‘regular’ enough... Sometimes, there is a health
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Not all women; understanding biological variation
This month’s blog tries to unpick a major myth about the female body, and how it affects the way in which clinical research is understood by the public, media, and
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Period product comparison…
Headline News- menstrual cups are number 1! Want to know which period product comes out on top? For those of you too busy to read the whole article, just know
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No pain, Period products and The basics.
Know thyself! The importance of tracking the menstrual cycle.
The phrase “Know thyself” is at least as old as Ancient Egypt, since it is inscribed on the walls of the temple at Luxor. One inscription reads “The body is
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No pain, The basics and What's normal?.
Gender, depression and suicide; sorting fact from fiction.
Trigger warning: This post includes content on suicide; including statistics and contributing factors. It was also difficult to avoid using gender normative language e.g. ‘men’ and ‘women’ since it is
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Myth Busting Genital Cutting (FGC): Part 7- The importance of informed consent…
Trigger warnings: Descriptions of Female Genital Cutting; gender-based violence; sexism; transphobia; pain and distress; trauma In the UK, FGC is considered child/ sexual abuse and a form of gender-based violence
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Myth Busting Female Genital Cutting (FGC): Part 6- Solutions…
Trigger warnings: Descriptions of Female Genital Cutting; gender-based violence; sexism; life-long pain and distress; miscarriage; maternal mortality; infertility. As discussed in the previous blog, FGC is perpetuated by pro-natalist patriarchal
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Myth Busting Female Genital Cutting (FGC): Part 5- Defining the FGC ‘problem’…
Trigger warnings: Descriptions of Female Genital Cutting; child abuse; sexual abuse; gender-based violence; sexism; infertility This is the fifth part of our blog series on FGC (Female Genital Cutting). FGC
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Myth Busting Female Genital Cutting (FGC): Part 4- Health Implications
Trigger warnings: Descriptions of Female Genital Cutting; gender-based violence; sexism; life-long pain and distress; miscarriage; maternal mortality; infertility. This is the fourth part of our blog series on FGC (Female
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