Menstrual Management and the Negotiation of Failed Femininities: A Discursive Study Among Low-Income Young Women in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Abstract

The dominant discourse of menstrual hygiene management presents successful containment of menstruation as crucial to “successful” Western femininity. Yet, little research in “developed” contexts has examined how compromised “menstrual hygiene management”—as in instances of menstrual poverty—shapes gender identity construction. In this discursive feminist study designed to address this oversight, we analyzed identity work in 12 narratives from economically deprived young women in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The results show how the politics of disgust govern talk and practice regarding menstruation in ways that engender both compliance and attempts at resistance. The results provide insights useful for designing interventions and suggest further research into menstrual poverty in developed contexts.

Keywords:

• Menstruation
• gender identity
• disgust
• menstrual hygiene management
• discourse
• menstrual poverty

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This term, used originally by the indigenous Māori, literally means “light skinned” and refers to New Zealanders of European settler descent.

2 The New Zealand Ministry of Education ranks schools into funding deciles. Decile 1 indicates high numbers of students from low socio-economic communities. Ratings are based each pupil’s overall household income, parental employment status and educational levels, household overcrowding, and income support received (Ministry of Education, 2017).

3 Contraceptive injection, usually Depo Provera.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank Massey University School of Psychology for financial assistance to conduct this work.