Medical metaphors of women's bodies: menstruation and menopause

Abstract

Implicit, underlying imagery in medical descriptions of menstruation and menopause is exposed, beginning with 19th century views. Contemporary medical texts and teaching reveal two fundamental assumptions about women's bodies. First, they assume that female reproductive organs are organized as if they form a hierarchical, bureaucratic organization under centralized control. Given this assumption, menopause comes to be described negatively, as a process involving breakdown of central control. Second, they assume that women's bodies are predominantly for the control. Second, they assume that women's bodies are predominantly for the purpose of production of desirable substances, primarily babies. Given this assumption, menstruation comes to be seen negatively, as a process involving failed production, waste products, and debris. Alternative imagery that works from our current understanding of physiology, but avoids denigration of women's bodies, is suggested.