Some views on menstruation

Abstract

Menstruation and menstrual blood have been the object of the most disparate theories and fabulations, some of which, though dating back to Antiquity, have long endured and been followed in subsequent historical periods. In this paper we will seek to outline the views set forth by some doctors on such matters, especially as they have been expressed in academic studies carried out in the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th. Concomitantly, we will examine the reasons underlying the subaltern status and subordination of women to men, since menstruation is often evoked as one of the arguments supporting it.