Menstrual Experiences from India

Socio-Cultural Meanings, Psychosocial Perspectives and Policymaking
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-38191-0
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan

Buch, Englisch, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm

This edited volume critically examines the intersection of law, policy, and socio-cultural dynamics to understand menstrual experiences in India. Placing “experience” as an epistemic focus to explore how policy frameworks shape and are shaped by the lived realities of menstruating individuals, this book fosters a dialogue between law professionals and social scientists to address challenges like period poverty and menstrual stigma and offers actionable insights. It seeks to contribute to ongoing scholarly conversations by exploring six interrelated thematic areas and attempts to engage with autoethnographic reflections on lived menstrual experiences, clinical and care perspectives on menstruation , caste and cultural contexts shaping the legitimization and delegitimization of menstrual stigma, selected empirical and discursive inquiries, legal and policy frameworks and interpretative readings of resistance within visual and political discourses on menstruation. This book will be of interest to researchers in women’s and gender studies, sociology, law and policy, psychology, and health sciences.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jagtap, Radhika

Vyas, Aparna

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Kommunal-, Regional-, und Landespolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologie: Allgemeines
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Invalidität, Krankheit und Abhängigkeit: Soziale Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sozialpsychologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1: Introduction- Menstruation- Experience and Realities in the Indian Context.- PART 1: Autoethnographies of Menstruation- Personal Inquiries and Observations.- Chapter 2: Bleeding Otherwise.- Chapter 3: A Phenomenological Journey Through Lived Menstrual Maze.- Chapter 4: Gendered Realities of Reproductive Health in India: A Medical Practitioner’s Notes on Menstruation.- Chapter 5: Muttu-Habitus and Doxic Silence: A Sociological Exploration of Menstruation in a village of Karnataka.- PART 2: Caste, Culture and De/legitimization of Stigma.- Chapter 6: Brahmana Hatya/Brahminicide, Caste and Menstruation.- Chapter 7: The Almost Untouchables: The Place of Menstruating Women in the Indian Public Policy framework.- Chapter 8: Stigmatized Bodies: Menstrual Isolation from the Social.- PART 3: Empiricising Multitudes Menstruation Experiences.- Chapter 9: Towards a Discursive Inquiry into the Lived Experiences of the Menstruating Body: A Social Constructionist Perspective from Haryana.- Chapter 10: Social Context in Understanding Menstruation: A Study with Adolescent Girls in India.- Chapter 11: Reconfiguring Menstrual Narratives in Digital Platforms: Deconstructing the Visibility of Body Positivity Online.- Chapter 12: Care-oriented Menstrual Practices within Socio-cultural Context: Caste and Culture in Rural Rajasthan.- Chapter 13: Taking a Gender Inclusive -Lifecycle Approach to Menstrual Well-being at Work: A Study on Menstrual Care from Formal to Informal Sectors.- PART 4: Informing Transformative Law and Policy.- Chapter 14: An Economic Analysis of Menstruation-related Challenges for Women Engaged in Casual Labor in Urban India.- Chapter 15: Systemic Cramps: Analysing the intersectional discourse on Dysmenorrhea in India and Global Perspectives.- Chapter 16: Menstruation and the Societal Periphery: Menstrual Equity through the Lens of Transformative Constitutionalism and Constitutional Morality and the Inherent Limitations.- Chapter 17: Menstrual Waste Management in India: Environmental Realities, Legal Framework, and Menstrual Equity.- Chapter 18: Period Poverty and Locational Vulnerability: Understanding Geographies of health in central India.- PART 5: Reading Resistance and Expression.- Chapter 19: Menstrual Justice and Activism in India: A Critique of the Political Discourse.- Chapter 20: Menstrual Gaze and Menstrual Time: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Cinematic Texts and Menstrual Artworks in India.

Über Autor(innen)

Radhika Jagtap is an Assistant Professor at the School of Law, UPES Dehradun, India. She holds a PhD in Public International Law from Centre for International Legal Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, and works in the field of international law and gender studies. Her work draws largely from critical feminisms and Third World Approaches to International law (TWAIL).

Aparna Vyas  is an Assistant Professor at Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O. P. Jindal Global University, India, and holds a PhD in Social Psychology from Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. She works in the field of social and cultural psychology with a focus on issues of caste and gender.