Are monthly menstrual periods optional?: A European perspective

Throughout human history, women have experienced menstruation, whether as a positive or a negative experience. The timing of periods was impossible to predict or to change. For the first time in human history, hormonal contraception has changed women's options, and the use of oestrogen-progestogen contraception can control whether and when a woman has a period. This article argues, on the basis of recent studies in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy, that a growing number of Western European women want no periods or would like to have a longer interval between periods. And why not!