The curse : a cultural history of menstruation
Aims to explore a range of hidden assumptions and attitudes about menstruation.
Print Book,English, 1988
Revised editionView all formats and editions
University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill., 1988
Popular Work
xv, 334 pages ; 24 cm
9780252014529, 9780252012402, 0252014529, 0252012402
874804731
Women in the closet: taboos of exclusion
"Not tonight, dear": taboos of sex
Putting her in her place: rites of the menarche
Woman unclean: menstrual taboos in Judaism and Christianity
Menstruation and medical myth
Modern menstrual politics
The menstrual process
The first pollution: psychoanalysis and the menarche
The storm before the calm: the premenstrual syndrome
"What every girl should know"
The monthly euphemism
Red humor: the menstrual joke
Periodic parade: menstruation in advertising
Rags to riches: the menstrual products industry
Menstruation goes public. The bleeding tower: menstrual themes in fairy tales
Absent literature: the menarche
The miracle of blood: menstrual imagery in myth and poetry
Menstrual madness in drama and fiction
From leeches to estrogen: the menopause and medical options
Psychology and the menopausal menace
"November of the body": the menopause and literature
The menstrual hall of fame
Moving the menses, or vicarious menstruation
Escaping the monthlies
Saignade: simulated menstruation in the male
Cycles and rhythm in men
Conclusion: Lifting the curse
Originally published in 1976. First University of Illinois Press edition published in 1988