Men and Menstruation

David Linton (Ph.D., New York University) is Professor Emeritus at Marymount Manhattan College. He has published research on topics as diverse as the Luddite movement, the reading behavior of the Virgin Mary, Shakespeare as a media theorist, and media education. He serves on the Board of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research as well as having formerly been president of the New York State Conference of the American Association of University Professors. In addition, he is a cast member and the resident poet of the podcast Fireside Mystery Theatre.

• Acknowledgments – Introduction: Menses and Me – The Menstrual Transaction – Blood in the Bible, Torah, and Quran and How Jesus Became a Menstrual Hero – A Royal Menstrual Pain: Prince Charles and the Tampon Scandal – The Literary Period: Sightings, Sex, and Dystopian Visions – Seeing Red on TV: Archie Bunker’s Dilemma – Blood on the Screen: Menstrual Features – Selling the Product: Men in Menstrual Marketing – Making Menstrual Music: Singing the Menstrual Blues – Menstrual Mischief and Transgressions – Random Menstrual Moments – Conclusion: Men in the Emerging Menstrual Ecology – Index.

“A book on menstruation by a man? The clear answer, in this case, is YES. Readers, men and women alike, who can bypass doubts and the impulse to joke will find a treasure of information and wisdom in this fascinating, beautifully written account of how both sexes, together, invent the meaning of menstruation and their responses to it. The witty introduction (‘Menses and Me’) is worth the price of the book alone, but David Linton goes on to show how menstruation is dealt with in film, TV, ads, books, songs, and humor. ‘Guys are really clueless!’ one student told him. This book will clue them in. Women, too.”—Carol Tavris, Author of The Mismeasure of Woman and Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion; Co-author of Estrogen Matters and Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)