Capitalizing on the Curse:
The Businesss of Menstruation

Although a regular occurence for millions of women, menstruation is typically represented in U.S. culture as an illness or a shameful episode - to the benefit of an entire industry. Elizabeth Kissling reveals how corporations capitalize on long-standing negative attitudes about menses to sell solutions for nonexistent problems.

The commercialization of menstruation, Kissling acknowledges, has in many ways been positive: women embrace readily available, reasonably priced, and easy- to-use products with good reason. But it has also been among the worst things to happen to women. Documenting how industry advertising portrays women as the Other, Kissling explores the profound gender bias inherent in - and reinforced by - the business of menstruation.

Contents:

1. Introduction: From Rags to Riches.
2. Marketing Menstruation.
3. Blood on Screen.
4. Pills, Profits, PMS, and PMDD.
5. Manipulating Menstruation for Fun and Profit.
6. Tampon Safety Debates and Product Alternatives.
7. The Menstrual Counterculture.
8. Conclusion: How to Break a Curse.

Reviews

"That menstruation is commercially exploited in capitalist societies is not surprising; what is interesting is how and why it is successful. Kissling does provide a good analysis of the role of popular culture in enabling this and situates her analysis within the wider contexts of capitalist consumerism and increasing medicalization."

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"[T]his book makes an important and timely contribution to the menstrual cycle literature providing an integrated analysis of the many ways in which menstruation is commercially exploited."

"[W]ritten in a lively and accessible style, with short chapters that can be easily used in women's studies classes and many interesting images and internet resources. [. . . . ] guaranteed to provoke interesting discussions."

"[A] well-researched, focused and thoughtful analysis of the commodification of feminine physiology and its negative impact on understanding Woman as anything other than Other."

"Kissling provides a needed overview of the pitfalls of cultural represenatations of menstruation in the United States. Her questions about who drives our cultural narratives about menstruation, and what this means for the health and well-being of women, are sure to make readers spend their next few weeks quite conscious of when and how they hear menstruation discussed."

"Kissling expertly documents the role of the feminine hygiene industry as creating images of women as "Other" while capitalizing on representations of menstruation as a shameful diseased state."

"This often-entertaining and always thought-provoking ... book will be of use to scholars in a wide variety of fields, and it is very accessible to students as well. Highly recommended.

"Capitalizing on the Curse is an important work. Like Faludi (1991) who warned us of a backlash against feminism, Kissling has essentially tapped into a backlash against menstruation. Kissling has done a great service in alerting her readers to the implications of the rapidly growing business of menstruation."

Capitalizing on the Curse: The Business of Menstruation is published by Lynne Rienner Publishers.