Men and Menstruation

David Linton (Ph.D., New York University) is Professor Emeritus at Marymount Manhattan College. He has published research on topics as diverse as the Luddite movement, the reading behavior of the Virgin Mary, Shakespeare as a media theorist, and media education. He serves on the Board of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research as well as having formerly been president of the New York State Conference of the American Association of University Professors. In addition, he is a cast member and the resident poet of the podcast Fireside Mystery Theatre.

“Many believe that menstruation is ‘lady business.’ Not so. Menstruation’s complicated and often contradictory meanings are made through what David Linton dubs, ‘the menstrual transaction.’ Indeed, men have been a part of the conversation all along, but their role has been limited to that of outsiders, myth makers and antagonists who either run for the hills or weaponize their ignorance and discomfort. We can do better. The shifting of men (and boys) from menstrual bullies to menstrual allies requires a good hard look at the various texts that transform a bodily process into so much more. A great place to start is Linton’s carefully curated tour through the sometimes painful, often funny and always illuminating menstrual discourses that leave no doubt we can and we must rewrite the rules.”—Chris Bobel, Author of New Blood: Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation and The Managed Body: Developing Girls and Menstrual Health in the Global South

• Acknowledgments – Introduction: Menses and Me – The Menstrual Transaction – Blood in the Bible, Torah, and Quran and How Jesus Became a Menstrual Hero – A Royal Menstrual Pain: Prince Charles and the Tampon Scandal – The Literary Period: Sightings, Sex, and Dystopian Visions – Seeing Red on TV: Archie Bunker’s Dilemma – Blood on the Screen: Menstrual Features – Selling the Product: Men in Menstrual Marketing – Making Menstrual Music: Singing the Menstrual Blues – Menstrual Mischief and Transgressions – Random Menstrual Moments – Conclusion: Men in the Emerging Menstrual Ecology – Index.