“Just because I don't bleed, doesn't mean I don't go through it”: Expanding knowledge on trans and non-binary menstruators

Lowik, A.J.

doi:10.1080/15532739.2020.1819507

Cited by 25 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Although most included studies used the language of girls and women exclusively, the genders of participants may have been assumed because the participants were people who menstruate. We reviewed five studies (all published since 2016) that specifically recruited participants who menstruate but do not identify as a woman or girl, here referred to as non-binary or transgender people who menstruate [24][25][26][27][28]. We thus use gender neutral pronouns throughout the paper, except in cases where the finding is specifically linked to gender identity or is only relevant to cis-gendered, non-binary or transgender menstruators, in which cases we use the gendered terms and pronouns found in the original publications.…”

Section: A Note On Inclusivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In several studies participants with menstrual disorders (e.g., endometriosis, menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea) had previously consulted healthcare workers and had their concerns dismissed [26,40,55,57,58,61,71,75,85,99,101,103,111,119]. Where healthcare workers did acknowledge the experience of pain and/or heavy bleeding they often expressed that menstrual symptoms were just a normal part of being a woman, or that the patient must have "a very low pain threshold" [pg.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Resource limitations. Several participants indicated resource limitations related to sourcing menstrual materials [8-10, 37, 40, 48, 56, 81, 98, 106, 114, 117, 119, 120, 126, 143] or having access to an adequate place to regularly change menstrual materials, clean themselves during menstruation, or dispose of menstrual materials [10,25,26,28,47,51,54,78,80,81,88,94,106,108,111,115,117,120,122,126,132,138]. Resource limitations were most prominent for participants receiving low incomes or who were part of marginalised, lower-socioeconomic groups [9,10,37,48,62,65,126,132], sometimes also experiencing homelessness [9,10,37,126,132].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These sub-populations have often not been included in qualitative studies of menstrual experiences in HICs, with the earliest study to purposefully recruit low income participants being published in 2007 [62], and those experiencing homelessness in 2017 [9]. For nonbinary or transgender individuals, access to an adequate place to manage their menstruation was often determined by the societal norm that menstrual disposal options are not available in most men's toilets [24][25][26]28]. Similarly to low income populations, the experiences of transand non-binary people who menstruate have not traditionally been researched, with the first study which purposively sampled for such participants being published in 2016 [24].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

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Experiences of menstruation in high income countries: A systematic review, qualitative evidence synthesis and comparison to low- and middle-income countries

Barrington

Robinson

Wilson³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Background There is growing recognition of the importance of menstruation in achieving health, education, and gender equality for all. New policies in high income countries (HICs) have responded to anecdotal evidence that many struggle to meet their menstrual health needs. Qualitative research has explored lived experiences of menstruating in HICs and can contribute to designing intervention approaches. To inform the growing policy attention to support people who menstruate, here we review and synthesise the existing research. Methods and findings Primary, qualitative studies capturing experiences of menstruation in HICs were eligible for inclusion. Systematic database and hand searching identified 11485 records. Following screening and quality appraisal using the EPPI-Centre checklist, 104 studies (120 publications) detailing the menstrual experiences of over 3800 individuals across sixteen countries were included. We used the integrated model of menstrual experiences developed from studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as a starting framework and deductively and inductively identified antecedents contributing to menstrual experiences; menstrual experiences themselves and impacts of menstrual experiences. Included studies described consistent themes and relationships that fit well with the LMIC integrated model, with modifications to themes and model pathways identified through our analysis. The socio-cultural context heavily shaped menstrual experiences, manifesting in strict behavioural expectations to conceal menstruation and limiting the provision of menstrual materials. Resource limitations contributed to negative experiences, where dissatisfaction with menstrual practices and management environments were expressed along with feelings of disgust if participants felt they failed to manage their menstruation in a discrete, hygienic way. Physical menstrual factors such as pain were commonly associated with negative experiences, with mixed experiences of healthcare reported. Across studies participants described negative impacts of their menstrual experience including increased mental burden and detrimental impacts on participation and personal relationships. Positive experiences were more rarely reported, although relationships between cis-women were sometimes strengthened by shared experiences of menstrual bleeding. Included studies reflected a broad range of disciplines and epistemologies. Many aimed to understand the constructed meanings of menstruation, but few were explicitly designed to inform policy or practice. Few studies focused on socioeconomically disadvantaged groups relevant to new policy efforts. Conclusions We developed an integrated model of menstrual experience in HICs which can be used to inform research, policy and practice decisions by emphasising the pathways through which positive and negative menstrual experiences manifest. Review protocol registration The review protocol registration is PROSPERO: CRD42019157618.

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Section: A Note On Inclusivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Experiences of menstruation in high income countries: A systematic review, qualitative evidence synthesis and comparison to low- and middle-income countries

Barrington

Robinson

Wilson³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Whereas it remains true that not all women menstruate and not all menstruators are women, there is evidence which suggests that trans women, non-binary and other assigned male at birth trans people who are on gender-affirming hormone regimens do experience menstrual symptoms, even if they do not bleed. 2 Any consideration of non-cisgender menstruators in global South countries, recognising that these populations may not be categorisable as “trans”, was also lacking. These shortcomings notwithstanding, the handbook is unprecedented in the attention it pays to trans menstruators and in its use of inclusive language.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%