Cultural variations of the menstrual product stigma

4.2. The menstrual product stigma and first steps

destigmatized, companies are pushing boundaries by trying to show menstrual blood in underwear on TV. In other places, where the stigma is stronger and there is a lack of education about menstruation, women and girls sometimes get their only knowledge about menstrual products from advertisements. However, in such cultures, advertisements are not explicit about the functions of menstrual products. Moreover, if the girls’ knowledge about menstruation is limited already, Michael Moscherosch at Johnson & Johnson argued that they will not be any wiser from these commercials. This is because the way they talk in the advertisements is so disconnected from the actual experience of menstruating, and the information is anything but ‘real,’ which only reinforces the stigma. He stated that,

“In regions there, what we find is that, you know, it’s not only about affordability or availability, but it’s also about understanding the relevance, that they really understand, what is this product for? What is the benefit that you get from the product? It’s amazing if you do research in some of the, especially in the rural Northern India. There are a lot of girls who have no clue about the product; they don’t know what they are, how they are used, what they are used for, because if you look at, for example, the TV advertisement where they get a lot of their information from, it’s sometimes so cryptic. You have Bollywood stars or something like that, and they talk about free lifestyle bla bla bla, which doesn’t really click, so you have to do a little bit of education in that respect.”

The lack of access to information about menstruation and menstrual products among women and girls in rural parts of India was further confirmed by Tanya Dargan Maharajan, co-founder of the Menstrual Health Alliance, India (MHAI).

She has 10 years of experience in market development of health products and services in low-income settings and works toward increasing informed choice in menstrual health.

The variation in stigma also has effects on factors such as innovation and product development, since consumers in different cultures are likely to have preferences depending on what is considered socially acceptable. This invites companies to innovate and develop their product and service offerings accordingly. For instance, Moscherosch discussed that in a European setting, he finds willingness to adopt tampons as opposed to pads, and even more so digital tampons versus applicator tampons, is lower in countries where Catholicism is widespread. He stated that,

“My rule of thumb, it’s not always true, but as a ballpark rule it works pretty well.

The more Catholic the country is, or the more puritan the country is, the less likely it is that they are willing to insert a tampon digitally, meaning with their finger.

There seems to be an aversion to inserting or even touching herself with the consumers. The most extreme example is that as soon as you go to a hardcore Catholic country, the sales of tampons is relatively small. The more Catholic the countries are, I’m speaking mainly for Europe now, the more Catholic a country is, the higher the market share of napkins versus tampons.”

On the other hand, entrepreneur Louise Berg argued that it matters less what religion it concerns; the more puritan the country is, the more a culture is likely to stigmatize menstruation. She stated that,

“If there’s anything all religions agree on, it’s that everyone who bleeds once a month is disgusting or unclean. And then, it’s about industrialization and gender equality and how far you’ve come there. In places where women are not allowed to partake in decision-making processes, the stigma is stronger than in places where women are allowed to take up space.”

Growing up in a European country outside of Sweden, entrepreneur Ingrid Odlén has first-hand experience of the menstrual stigma in Belgium, which she argues is much stronger than in Sweden and in particular Lund.

“Asking for a tampon would mean going into a different room and saying it in Pig Latin. It’s not at all as how I experience it here in Lund, where you can discuss menstrual cups over lunch with your guy friends. So, there are very different worlds, but I want to think that what it was like in Belgium is probably more representative of the rest of the world than what it’s like here in Lund. But the way it is here is how I think it should be and how I think it is becoming more and more.”

Sweden has a culture where menstruation and menstrual product destigmatization has come a long way. Odlén discussed the menstrual stigma as weaker in Sweden than in other cultures, but nonetheless it is still prevalent. She stated that,

“It is not the grocery item you are happiest about placing on the conveyor belt, even here in Lund, where I am much more comfortable than in other places, so I think [the stigma] is noticeable all the time.”

Furthermore, Lisa Perby discussed that they experience the stigma on menstrual products and in particular menstrual cups on a daily basis, but something that has alleviated those challenges is effective marketing, which Perby argues has spread knowledge about and destigmatized menstrual cup use. She discussed that therefore the stigma is much weaker in Sweden than in developing countries, where a lack of access to menstrual products can have detrimental effects for girls and women and in extension gender equality and society. She argued that,

“From a social perspective, we run into challenges on a daily basis. In Sweden, we have come very far, but we still run into the notion that it [using a menstrual cup]

sounds disgusting. Less now than before; we have educated people so much now, but women in developing countries need to be able to manage their menstruation.

If they can’t do that, they will drop out of school and get married and become pregnant. The most common cause of death in women aged between 15 and 19 is maternal death, according to RFSU [the non-profit organization, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education] where I worked before.”

On the other hand, another respondent, gynecologist Christina Lloyd, pointed out that in certain cultures, often in the developing world, the onset of menstruation, menarche, is celebrated. However, this often implies that girls are ready for marriage and might end up dropping out of school, regardless. It also does not necessarily imply that menstruation is destigmatized in the continuation of that individual’s life. Lloyd stated that,

“In some cultures, there is a similar pride of menarche; you’re proud and you show that you are a grown woman which leads to the next ritual. People know ‘oh she’s menstruating.’ But in the society that we live in, it is even more taboo. Still in 2016, it is not obvious that it is something to talk about, and therein menstrual products are seen as something we should hide, it’s a bit scary. Guys who see tampons, especially if they are used and wrapped in a bit of paper, the reaction is

‘Ah! That’s so gross!’ – it’s gross, it’s worse than pee and poo.”

Hence, although the onset of menstruation might be celebrated in a few cultures, the general case around the world is that menstruation and menstrual products are stigmatized to some degree, regardless of whether menarche is commemorated or not. In Sweden, as in other similar countries such as the Nordic countries and other Northern European countries, the destigmatization process has come farther than in many other places, with rural areas in developing countries such as parts

of Northern India or Nepal. The following section will discuss the menstrual product stigma in Sweden.