05/02/2022
Pace University law professors Crawford (coeditor, Feminist Judgements ) and Waldman deliver an accessible introduction to contemporary legal efforts to challenge the “culture of silence, stigma, and shame associated with menstruation.” Documenting campaigns to repeal sales taxes on tampons and pads, the authors argue that taxing menstrual products while exempting Band-Aids, adult diapers, and other hygiene supplies is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Crawford and Waldman also examine how Title IX lawsuits might be used to press school districts into removing “restrictive bathroom-break and problematic dress-code policies,” among other accommodations, and document attempts to use the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to address workplace menstruation concerns. A compassionate exploration of the issues faced by trans and nonbinary menstruators highlights corporate responses to advocacy, including Proctor & Gamble’s removal of the Venus symbol from their products. Elsewhere, Crawford and Waldman relate concerns over toxic shock syndrome in the 1970s to contemporary anxieties over cancer-causing PFAS compounds in menstrual underwear and cast a skeptical eye on period-tracking and fertility apps and other aspects of “menstrual capitalism.” This wide-ranging and well-argued study brings an important yet overlooked aspect of the fight against sex and gender discrimination into the light. (June)
"Menstruation Matters is a must-read for anyone who wants to live in a world where everyone can manage their period with dignity. We still have a long way to go to eradicate stigma and menstrual inequality, however, as the Member of the Scottish Parliament who introduced the bill to make menstrual products available to all who need them in Scotland, I know that progress is possible. Momentum is with the changemakers within the menstrual equality movement. Menstruation Matters contains thoughtful suggestions for lawmakers and advocates worldwide to consider. It’s a welcome addition to the literature for those who don’t want to find themselves on the wrong side of history."
Member of the Scottish Parliament and Sponsor of t Monica Lennon
"We talk and think so much about gender and inequality as it applies to work, education, healthcare, and social justice. But a throughline that is consistently ignored or dismissed across each of these areas of the law is menstruation. With Menstruation Matters , Bridget Crawford and Emily Waldman trace the legal and policy implications of an issue that you may not register as a marker of inequality, yet impacts every single aspect of a woman, girl, and transgender American's life. This is a long overdue assessment of the ways in which matters lawyers often choose to avoid, elide, and whisper about, can actually matter in profound ways."
"Periods have become a vital matter of law and policy, in the U.S. and around the globe. Menstruation Matters deftly melds scholarship and jurisprudence with on-the-ground advocacy – providing a vital resource for the next generation of feminist legal leaders.
"
author of Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
"This book is a brilliant exploration of what can happen when the realities of the body are placed at the center of legal reasoning. In Menstruation Matters , Bridget Crawford and Emily Waldman show how the law can be used to reconceptualize the state’s responsibility to ensure that all people have the resources they need to address the involuntary process of menstruation and our shared humanity."
"I'm immensely proud of the world-leading work in Scotland to make free period products available for women. I believe that being able to access period products is fundamental to equality and dignity and I hope our historic Period Products Act, along with other action highlighted in this book, will inspire legislators everywhere to ensure period dignity within their societies.
"
"Access to period products is not a privilege, it is a right. It means women, girls and people who menstruate having access to basic activities, capacity to take part in work and in community. Menstruation Matters is a brilliant resource and addition to a conversation we need to have - because ultimately all women and girls, and people who menstruate are entitled to respect, dignity and bodily autonomy, and a belief in the integrity of their bodies. It’s why, at the City of Melbourne local government, I put forward an Australian first motion to make menstrual products available for free in select council facilities. It’s time to end the shame - because menstruation matters."
Councillor at the City of Melbourne Jamal Hakim
"Responding to the notion that menstruation is a private matter, Crawford and Waldman explore the burgeoning menstrual advocacy movement and consider how law should evolve to take menstruation into account in a wide range of contexts from schools, to workplaces, to prisons, to tax policies."
"Menstruation Matters is insightful and thought provoking. It addresses period poverty and menstrual equity from a legal standpoint tampered with policy, practice and lived experiences, making it refreshing. Menstruation is having its moment and Menstruation Matters is part of that moment. The addition it makes to the body of knowledge is immense. I highly recommend it to everyone."
"This comprehensive discussion unearths new territory for menstrual activism and makes clear the material effect that law and public policy can have on these issues. Above all, the authors show menstruation not as a women's issue to hide but as a human issue that needs worldwide attention.
"If the question is, ‘Are You There, Law? It's Me, Menstruation,’ this book provides much needed answers."
"Menstruation is an issue of basic human rights and equality. Menstruation is not a reason to deny anyone the right to participate in education, religious worship, politics, or family life. This book brings new insight to a discussion of a topic that has too long been treated as the source of stigma and shame, when menstruation is a reality for half the world’s population.
"
former Additional Solicitor General of India and a Indira Jaisring
"Menstrual equity is one of the most important issues of our time and one I’ve long been passionate about. I’m thrilled Menstruation Matters takes a serious look at the gender discrimination that the ‘tampon tax”’ has on women and sheds light on how we can make the lives of menstruating people better through public policy."
Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney
"Menstruation is an issue of basic human rights and equality. Menstruation is not a reason to deny anyone the right to participate in education, religious worship, politics, or family life. This book brings new insight to a discussion of a topic that has too long been treated as the source of stigma and shame, when menstruation is a reality for half the world’s population.
"
"Menstruation Matters is a must-read for anyone who wants to live in a world where everyone can manage their period with dignity. We still have a long way to go to eradicate stigma and menstrual inequality, however, as the Member of the Scottish Parliament who introduced the bill to make menstrual products available to all who need them in Scotland, I know that progress is possible. Momentum is with the changemakers within the menstrual equality movement. Menstruation Matters contains thoughtful suggestions for lawmakers and advocates worldwide to consider. It’s a welcome addition to the literature for those who don’t want to find themselves on the wrong side of history.
"
"Access to period products is not a privilege, it is a right. It means women, girls and people who menstruate having access to basic activities, capacity to take part in work and in community. Menstruation Matters is a brilliant resource and addition to a conversation we need to have - because ultimately all women and girls, and people who menstruate are entitled to respect, dignity and bodily autonomy, and a belief in the integrity of their bodies. It’s why, at the City of Melbourne local government, I put forward an Australian first motion to make menstrual products available for free in select council facilities. It’s time to end the shame - because menstruation matters.
"
"Periods have become a vital matter of law and policy, in the U.S. and around the globe. Menstruation Matters deftly melds scholarship and jurisprudence with on-the-ground advocacy – providing a vital resource for the next generation of feminist legal leaders.
"
"We talk and think so much about gender and inequality as it applies to work, education, healthcare, and social justice. But a throughline that is consistently ignored or dismissed across each of these areas of the law is menstruation. With Menstruation Matters, Bridget Crawford and Emily Waldman trace the legal and policy implications of an issue that you may not register as a marker of inequality, yet impacts every single aspect of a woman, girl, and transgender American's life. This is a long overdue assessment of the ways in which matters lawyers often choose to avoid, elide, and whisper about, can actually matter in profound ways.
"
Dahlia Lithwick Senior Legal Correspondent
04/23/2022
Crawford and Waldman (both law professors at Pace Univ. in New York) present an insightful analysis of policies regarding menstruation in this groundbreaking work. This duo seeks to inform readers how "law and society can be better adapted to the needs of the approximately one-half of the population that menstruates for a large part of their lives." They succeed in their analysis of the few existing policies regarding menstruation and envision future policies that could be beneficial. Issues that have gained momentum internationally, such as the tampon tax and period poverty, are covered in depth, as well as how institutional barriers, such as those faced at work and school, prevent full participation and hinder performance. Crawford and Waldman provide an eye-opening look at how law could be used to better protect those who menstruate by providing a framework for how period products ought to be studied for health and environmental safety, how sensitive health information being sold by menstruation apps is being turned into a big business, and how incarcerated individuals face financial barriers to accessing menstrual products. VERDICT Recommended purchase for academic libraries supporting gender studies programs.—Mattie Cook
