Reviewed by:

• The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation ed. by Chris Bobel et al.
• Elvira Domínguez Redondo (bio)

With menstruation as core topic, this open access book is a remarkable rarity among academic publications. Its originality and exceptional scope underline every one of the seventy-two chapters (ten of them reprinted) written by 134 contributors from twenty-three countries. A wide range of disciplines and perspectives (academic, personal, political, statistical, technological, artistic, pedagogic, bioethical, medical, and commercial) are represented. This is obvious from the opening words, written by Jen Lewis, the menstrual designer who authors the photograph used for the cover and whose work aims at providing a graphic lens into menstruation as "deeply embedded in our global politics" and "a major contributor to the vast gender inequity between men and women today."¹

The momentum gained with increased attention on menstruation worldwide ("menstruation as an opportunity") provides [End Page 410] the backdrop to a book that uses menstruation as a lens through which it seeks to stir new lines of enquiry that may materialize in focusing on menstrual health and politics. The introduction coins the terminology "critical menstruation studies" as an independent category of analysis, "a coherent and multidimensional transdisciplinary subject of inquiry and advocacy," through which power structures can be scrutinized and explained, revealing "inequalities across biological, social, cultural, religious, political and historical dimensions."²

The book is divided into six parts analyzing menstruation as "Fundamental" (edited by Inga Winkler), "Embodied" (Tomi-Ann Roberts), "Rationale" (Breanne Fahs), "Structural" (Winkler), "Material" (Katie Ann Hasson), and "Narrative" (Elizabeth Arveda Kissling). The size and scope of the book warrants multiple standpoints in engaging its significance. This review focuses on the human rights dimension, teased out—and often challenged—across sections, encapsulating multiple approaches.

While the book addresses the human rights dimensions inherent to the reality of menstruation at its outset, this is not a human rights book.³ The chapters on women and girls with disabilities (Chapter 8) and on water and sanitation (Chapter 37) directly address the topic while Chapter 39 proposes "menstrual justice" as a framework of analysis "to comprehend the discrimination and human rights violations that are borne by women and that result from marking women primarily and exhaustively as 'menstrual bodies.'"⁴ Less visibly, the human rights framework is implicit in every narration of menstrual stigma and marginalization; in how it explores the impact of a biological process in further objectifying, stereotyping and subjugating women in private and public life; in the personal intimate accounts on menstruation as determinant factor in the relationship between men and women, as well as the position of women in their community and the society at large. Without ignoring positive and liberating accounts of menstruating experiences,⁵ including their celebration through art, the book demonstrates how menstruation serves to perpetuate patriarchal structures and male domination over women and their bodies from multiple angles. Radha Paudel raised in a poor rural family in the central part of Nepal concludes that menstrual restrictions are at the heart of conflict and human rights violations. Her testimony illustrates some of the human rights implications that can be ascribed to menstruation:

Because of more than 40 types of restrictions related to touch, food and participation/mobility, women have suffered from nutritional deficiencies, reproductive, and mental health issues, been deprived or absent from educational and economic opportunities, lost their dignity, lost their peace, and lived with chronic humiliation, inferiority complexes and even suicidal thoughts. In west Nepal, some girls and women die due to snake bites, animal bites, accidental fires, suffocation from carbon monoxide, or extreme cold in secluded menstrual sheds. They may encounter rape, sexual abuse, or even murder.⁶

The book implicitly exposes shortcomings of the human rights framework that [End Page 411] transcend its core topic. The diversity and complexity of the lived experiences, theoretical frameworks, commercial and political agendas, geographic, historic, cultural, philosophical, religious, and socio-economic viewpoints the chapters unveil and explore highlight the difficulties faced by...

审核人：

• 帕夫格雷夫的月经手册ed。克里斯·博贝尔（Chris Bobel）等人。
• ElviraDomínguezRedondo（生物）

以月经为核心主题，这本开放获取的书在学术出版物中极为罕见。它的独创性和卓越的范围突出了由来自23个国家的134位撰稿人撰写的72章中的每一章（其中十章已重印）。代表了广泛的学科和观点（学术，个人，政治，统计，技术，艺术，教育学，生物伦理，医学和商业）。从月经设计师詹·刘易斯（Jen Lewis）的开场白中可以明显看出这一点。他是为封面设计的照片的作者，他的作品旨在为月经提供“深深植根于我们全球政治中”的图形镜头，并且是“月经的主要贡献者”。今天男女之间的性别不平等现象十分严重。” ^1个

随着全球对月经的关注度提高而获得的势头（“月经作为机遇”）为[月末页面410]提供了一本书的背景，该书以月经为镜片，试图通过该书激发新的研究思路，这些研究可能会集中于月经健康和政治。引言将术语“临界月经研究”作为独立的分析类别，即“一个连贯而多维的跨学科研究和倡导主题”，从而可以对权力结构进行审查和解释，从而揭示“跨生物学，社会，文化，宗教，政治和历史层面。” ^2个

该书分为六个部分，分别分析月经，例如“基本原理”（由Inga Winkler编辑），“受孕”（Tomi-Ann Roberts），“理性”（Breanne Fahs），“结构”（Winkler），“物质”（Katie） Ann Hasson）和“ Narrative”（Elizabeth Arveda Kissling）。这本书的大小和范围在其意义上具有多种立场。这篇综述着重于人权方面，在各个章节中都提出并经常提出挑战，并概括了多种方法。

尽管该书从一开始就论述了月经现实所固有的人权问题，但这不是一本人权书。³关于残疾妇女和女童的章节（第8章）和关于水与卫生的章节（第37章）直接讨论了这一主题，而第39章则提出“月经公正”作为分析框架，“以理解歧视和侵犯人权的行为”。由妇女承担，这是因为将妇女主要和详尽地标记为“月经体”。” ⁴较不明显的是，人权框架隐含在每个月经污名和边缘化的叙述中；如何探索生物过程在进一步使妇女在私人和公共生活中客观化，定型化和征服妇女方面的影响；在关于月经的私人关系中，月经是决定男女关系以及妇女在社区和整个社会中地位的决定性因素。在不忽略月经经验的正面和自由描述的情况下，⁵包括通过艺术进行的庆祝活动，这本书展示了月经如何从多个角度延续了父权制结构和男性对女性及其身体的统治。拉达·鲍德尔（Radha Paudel）在尼泊尔中部一个贫穷的农村家庭中长大，得出的结论是，月经限制是冲突和侵犯人权的核心。她的证词说明了一些可以归因于月经的人权影响：

由于与接触，食物和参与/活动有关的40多种限制，妇女遭受营养不足，生殖和精神健康问题的困扰，被剥夺或缺乏教育和经济机会，丧失了尊严，失去了和平，并长期遭受屈辱，自卑感甚至自杀念头。在尼泊尔西部，一些女孩和妇女因蛇咬，动物咬伤，意外大火，一氧化碳窒息死亡或月经隐蔽的棚屋极度寒冷而死亡。他们可能会遭受强奸，性虐待甚至谋杀。⁶

该书隐含地揭示了人权框架的不足之处，[End Page 411]超越了其核心主题。这些章节揭示和探索的生活经历，理论框架，商业和政治议程，地理，历史，文化，哲学，宗教和社会经济观点的多样性和复杂性突出了...面临的困难...