Young Women's Experiences of Menstruation and Athletics

Abstract

Our project began with our interest in the ways young women who are actively participating in sports internalize, resist, and cope with the negative or ambivalent messages about menarche and menstruation that litter our social, political, and sexual landscape. Recent research indicates that women in our society, while continuing to internalize the shame and stigma associated with menstruation, also resist and cope with the messages and stereotypes imposed on them (Houppert 1999; Laws 1990; Lee and Sasser-Coen 1996; Weideger 1976). Sports are a significant part of American life. Some researchers suggest that many of our cultural beliefs and mores are reflected in our attitudes concerning sports and athletics (Hall 1996; Messner 1988). Sports can be viewed as a unique microcosm of society because many, but not all, societal attributes thought to be important for a successful life are embodied in the sport ethic: teamwork, effective functioning under pressure, personal responsibility, and discipline. Similarly, the cultural context for gender politics and values are re-created and broadcast in the sports arena (Creedon 1994; Hall 1996; Messner 1988, 2001; Pfister 2000; Young et al. 1994). The values symbolized in sports are also incorporated into the current health discourse, as seen in the advocacy for exercise as a key factor in the achievement of health and longevity. Numerous studies that have been conducted in the recent past strongly suggest that active involvement in sport and exercise has beneficial health effects relating to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension (Segar et al. 2002); longevity (Paffenbarger et al. 1998), bone density (Bakker et al. 2003); and dietary patterns (Pate et al. 2000). Additionally, researchers have found positive associations between physical exercise/sports participation and self-esteem (Gill 1986; Gilroy 1989; Gruber 1986) and well-being (Biddle 1993). Despite the recognition that physical activity is associated with positive physical and mental health benefits, the majority of adults and young people in the United States are inactive (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services 1999). Furthermore, women and girls consistently have been found to be less active than boys and men. Thus, women may be more prone to long-term health consequences of physical inactivity. The reasons for these gender differences are not clearly understood, although the social construction of gender, where femaleness is associated with passivity and maleness with activity, has been proposed to be a major factor in gendered sport participation. This socialization process is an interacting continuum, inclusive of gendered interactions within the family, among peers, and within the education system and community (e.g., Andersen and Wold 1992; Kelinske et al. 2001; Troped and Saunders 1998; Tergerson and King 2002). The gender differential in participation has also been explained by the enrollment hypothesis, which suggests that lower rates of enrollment for girls may be a result of gender biases in the sports clubs and programs themselves, and the withdrawal hypothesis that proposes that girls are more likely to drop out of programs (Vilhjalmsson and Krisjansdottir 2003). Menarche and menstruation are factors that may be implicated in the high withdrawal rates for adolescent girls and young women, but they have received limited attention in the literature. Menstruation, like pregnancy and breastfeeding, is an embodied experience, but it differs in that in U.S. society menstruation is not a state in which the body's function becomes visible to the public and thus open to public scrutiny and comment. There may be a sense that attitudes about menstruation are changing or that women and men have been allowed and encouraged to think about their bodies differently and that taboos about menstruation have been lifted. However, recent literature on the topic clearly shows that our beliefs and attitudes have not changed significantly from those of our mothers and grandmothers (Brumberg 1997; Houppert 1999; Laws 1990; Lee and Sasser-Coen 1996; Weideger 1976). …

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