Attitudes toward menstruation. International Committee on Applied Research in Population

Historically, various interpretations of the menstrual process have been reflected in a wide, and usually negative, range of social attitudes toward menstruation. Recent clinical experience with continuation of the modern hormonal and mechanical methods of contraception that induce changes in the normal menstrual pattern suggests the need to understand current variations in attitudes and practices related to menstruation. This paper briefly outlines historical Western, Orthodox Jewish and Muslim, and contemporary US women's attitudes toward menstruation and begins to explore their relationship to contraceptive continuation.