Flow: The Cultural Study of Menstruation
by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
Want to be barraged by advertisements within the covers of a book? This is the one! And all for a reason--to show you all the ways product promotion have shaped our views on woman's bodies, health, and ourselves for so many years. Feminine "protection" has been big business ever since it was a business--ever since advertisers discovered that women need to be protected from that scary, life-threatening, quarter-cup of monthly blood.
Restricting its scope in time and place but not in topic, the book deals with all aspects of women's reproductive health except for pregnancy itself. It touches on hysteria, menarche, PMS, cycles, menopause and hormone replacement, telling all that is known and frequently highlighting where little is known. It appears that normal female non-reproductive behaviors aren't the subject of a lot of research funding, except by the drug companies who want to "fix" it--never have a period! Banish those hot flashes! Stay fresh and dainty! Hormones for hire!
They ought to make all high school girls read this book. Tee-hee. We'd soon have tampon vending machines in the school cafeteria rather than hidden in the ladies room. It's amazing how such a normal activity has become surrounded with so many taboos. Although when you see the ads in here, it's not so amazing. Fear of embarrassment sells products! (Even if you have to manufacture the fear and exaggerate the embarrassment.)
The book did reiterate a little too much, making some simple points over and over. Almost like it was meant for a juvenile audience. I'll let that slip--it's a bang-up of a job and well worth my recommendation.
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