Final Year Project

Project Title

Menstruation, Shame and Body Image

Description

My thesis focuses on the experience of menstruation in light of the stigma around it, and how that ties into the body shame that women experience. It is part of both a personal and more collective journey because menstruation is seldom an individual experience. We forget that it is a social experience, shaped by sociocultural norms and beliefs. In schools if and when taught about bodies, bodily processes, sexuality and health it is a very limited conversation, leaving everybody-young old, regardless of gender- confused, curious and wanting to know more. Yet the conversation is also very ‘factual’ and medicalized, but rarely ever is the emotional and physical experience of having a period talked about. Therefore, I aim to open up that conversation using a medium and form that are different from the mainstream textbook sanitized narrative.