Yes, I am going there. Mainly as an excuse to post one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies. This is Hedwig, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, playing the 9th stage at the “Menses Fair” (click here if the video isn’t working for you)
The effect of our monthly cycles has been greatly exaggerated, often to our disadvantage. To take just one recent example, conservative radio talk show host (any sentence that starts that way ends in idiocy, doesn’t it? Let’s see:) G. Gordon Liddy wondered on air last week whether Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s judgment will be affected by her periods.
Yet, there’s no denying statistically significant correlations for many women between, for example, increased libido and ovulation, or mood changes and premenstruation. Just a few weeks ago, we had the news that women’s shopping habits are affected by their periods (women apparently shop more when we are premenstrual, to deal with negative emotions).
Of course, the effects of menstrual cycles intersect with a number of other factors. For example, one study found that women’s stress levels were impacted more by day of week than by menstrual cycle (Work days are more stressful. Really??!!). And, I can’t help but add, men have hormonal cycles too.
All those feminist caveats aside, I find it interesting that menstruation is so rarely referenced in romance (a point with which author Kalen Hughes agrees — see comments). I can’t recall any direct references to menstruation that are unrelated to babymaking. Are there contemporary heroines who deal with PMS, or just need to rest for an afternoon due to cramps or migraine? Are the activities of the erotica characters ever delayed or curtailed due to menses? (On that last point, I have to warn you against Googling “menstruation” with safe search off. Apparently there is such a thing as menstruation pornography.)
I guess one way to look at the lack of menstruation in romance is that if romance is escape, as everyone keeps telling us it is in this recession, one thing most women want to escape from is periods (if the rise in popularity of endometrial ablation and products like Seasonique are any indication). Another possibility is that writers and readers alike are silenced by menstruation taboos in North American culture. A third is the feminist interpretation: romance writers and readers refused to be defined by their mentrual cycles. Periods are as relevant to heroines’ characters and actions as having allergies. If it works for the story (i.e. the pregnancy plot point) use it, if not don’t. Just like any other bodily condition.
When it comes to readers, little is said of menstruation. I have seen readers chide romance for everything from unrealistic simultaneous orgasms to the tiny body dimensions of typical heroine. I have seen genitalia, bodily fluids, childbirth, and every kind of sexual situation imaginable discussed at length. But I cannot recall a discussion, or even a mention for that matter, of menstruation among readers.
Not being a writer, I can’t write that book about the heroine with PMS and the hero who rubs her temples like no one else can. But in a bold effort to remedy that lack of discussion among readers, I reveal to you what my reading schedule would look like if it were dictated solely by my menstrual cycle:
1. Ovulation: Erotic romance. Duh.
2. Premenstrual:
Type a. Well-exercised, nutriated, and/or medicated: safe to choose any subgenre.
Type b. Sloth, Doritoes, and red wine by the gallon: I need crazy emotional highs and lows. Only paranormal will do.
3. Menstruating:
a. Day one: Are you kidding? I am asleep.
b. Rest of days: Something easy and predictable, like a category. Or a comfort reread. Reading erotic romance deeply unfair to author and subgenre during this time.
4. Follicular phase: I am calm, energetic, and focused, ready for something more challenging, like a Jo Beverly, a Laura Kinsale, an SFF, or a Meljean Brook.
I leave you with this tampon commercial, the most complained about advertisement in Australia in 2008 (click here if the video isn’t working for you):
