Abstract
The inequality of menstruators has been unveiled as a much-needed avenue of feminist study. Most studies in South Africa focus on the availability of menstruation hygiene products. However, very few highlight the perceptions and experiences of menstruation in this country. This study essentially asks what male and female students’ perceptions and experiences of menstruation are and what informs them, tying into the broader narrative of the perception of women’s bodies in South Africa.
Using 17 semi-structured interviews amongst male and female students between 18 and 25 at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), this study explores the discourses of women’s bodies within the context of a patriarchal society and how menstruation is used as a stigmatising attribute to gain and/or maintain power. It unpacks the flow of dominant societal discourses in creating internalised stigma in an effort to open up the critical view that menstruation is taught as a shameful phenomenon within various societal avenues.