What do the bloody spiritualists say? Exploring menstruation advocacy and feminist frictions in Sweden

Abstract

While globally menstruators are increasingly receiving support through solidarity campaigns, the menstruating body remains an ambivalent subject in Swedish politics and feminist scholarship. Menstruation activists emphasise that periods are both a local and global political issue, urging menstruators to become more aware of how their bodily cycles impact them. This article aims to explore a selection of narratives on menstruation as a political and spiritual phenomenon and investigate the still residual ambivalence in the relationship between feminism and menstrual advocacy in a Swedish context. The study is empirically anchored in a campaign for menstruation awareness combined with interviews with feminist women about menstruation as an experience and as a cultural phenomenon. The campaign, here called PeriodPride, addressed different topics, such as body literacy and menstrual solidarity. Drawing on an ethnographic study combined with a narrative approach, three narratives have been identified: (1) the menstruating body as a ‘woman’s issue’, (2) menstruators in need, remembering period poverty, and (3) the forceful cycle, reclaim the value of bodies. These narratives elucidate the discursive complexity of menstruation advocacy, underscoring its entanglement with multiple frameworks of meaning and revealing some of the productive tensions inherent within Swedish feminist traditions.

Introduction

‘Do people discuss menstruation in your gender studies department?’ This question, posed by a menstruation activist, made me realise that I had never really engaged in a conversation on this topic within the unit. Still, menstruation advocacy in Sweden has a long history intertwined with the women’s movement. Various organisations, including the prominent national organisation RFSU (the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education) and newer, smaller organisations such as MENSEN, have coordinated information campaigns and activities to raise awareness and influence the social, cultural, and economic circumstances related to menstruation (Røstvik, 2022: 71). Today, these campaigns often focus on the need to purchase products categorised as hygiene articles (such as tampons and pads), drawing attention to the importance of conscious consumption and advocacy towards companies (cf. Kissling, 2006; Koskenniemi, 2021, 2023; Røstvik, 2022). Part of menstruation advocacy in Sweden also involves engagement through non-governmental organisations (NGOs), where political projects aim to secure the right to basic material resources and knowledge to support the lives of menstruating individuals (Bergenlöv, 2021).

Since the 1970s, a foundational argument of menstruation advocacy has been to increase women’s knowledge to enable them to gain control over their bodies (Bobel, 2008; Koskenniemi, 2023; Laws, 1990). With the rise of digitalisation, menstruation activism has also proliferated through social media (Gaybor, 2020). In some parts of the world, menstruation is highly politicised, and activists, for example, in Uganda, face imprisonment for fighting for menstrual rights (see Nyanzi, 2020). Thus menstruation activism has become a global movement which has been ‘eating at the edges of body-based shame and stigma for decades’ (Bobel and Fahs, 2020a: 1002–1003), trying to break taboos surrounding menstruation, promote menstrual health, and criticising the fact that menstruating individuals must often adapt to environments designed for non-menstruating individuals. Through art, education, political consumption, and so on, activists draw attention to and challenge the shame and disgust associated with menstruating bodies and the demands to manage so-called leakage (Grosz, 1994; Guilló-Arakistain, 2024; Persdotter, 2022; Shildrick, 1997).

The menstruation activist movement in Sweden increasingly recognises that not all people who menstruate are women (Persdotter, 2022: 27). Trans, non-binary, intersex, and other identification positions are represented among those who menstruate (cf. Frank, 2020; Kosher et al., 2023; Lowik, 2020; Rydström, 2020). Despite this, menstruation remains closely linked to discourses about women, as most menstruators identify as women and girls. Taboos related to menstrual blood are intertwined with female bodies and ideas concerning the capacity to bear future life and citizens, in contrast to non-menstruating, often masculine-marked bodies.

Historically and across various cultural contexts, menstruation has been associated with religious practices that hold symbolic value, constructing boundaries between communities and identities (Bhartiya, 2013; Cohen, 2020; Dunnavant and Roberts, 2012). In a Swedish folk tradition, as ethnologist Denise Malmberg (1991) argues, menstruation was often perceived as something extraordinary, a source of power with an inherent force. A connection to spirituality continues as part of the global and local menstruation movement, intertwined with a spiritually influenced women’s movement. In the North American context, Chris Bobel (2010) outlines two tracks within the menstruation activist movement: feminist spiritualists and radical menstruators. Following Bobel’s framework, Josefin Persdotter (2013) emphasises the differences between the movement in the United States and Europe and argues for the importance of considering several positions, such as those of menstrual carers, educators, talkers (often artists), spiritualists, and scholars, to accommodate differences in countries around Europe. However, several of these positions agree on the need for the activists to distance themselves from the stereotype of ‘the tampon-tea’ drinking essentialist with spiritual ideas (Persdotter, 2013: 38) – an image that is illustrative of the concerns of menstruation advocates and perhaps also of academic feminists in Sweden.

Critical menstruation studies is a growing interdisciplinary field in the Nordic countries (Andreasen et al., 2023; see also Bobel et al., 2020), yet it has received limited attention within debates in academic gender studies. This article aims to explore a selection of narratives on menstruation as a political and spiritual phenomenon and investigate the still residual ambivalence in the relationship between feminism and menstrual advocacy (Longman, 2018: 12; Plancke, 2021: 741; Poutiainen, 2024). The study is empirically anchored in ethnographic interviews with self-identified feminist women about menstruation ¹ as an experience and as a cultural phenomenon, and a campaign that aimed to create conversations and spread knowledge about menstruation.

Menstrual solidarity from a secular place

Today menstrual solidarity is generally linked to challenging taboos, increasing education surrounding menstruation, arguing against taxes on tampons and pads, and advocating for the free use of so-called hygiene products for those who cannot afford them to ensure what is often called menstrual health (Bobel and Fahs, 2020b; Crawford and Spivack, 2017). Here, menstruation, which is understood as requiring everyday self-care and hygiene for menstruating people, is often raised as a question of resources and consumption (cf. Kissling, 2006; Koskenniemi, 2021, 2023; Røstvik, 2022). The fact that millions of menstruating people do not have access to sanitizers, painkillers, toilets with running water, and the possibility of handling their menstruation in a way that is argued as healthy and comfortable is often referred to as period poverty (Michel et al., 2022).

In Sweden, menstruation advocacy is one topic among many within the international solidarity movement, as feminist activism and development cooperation have long been interconnected. International support is being offered through NGOs and the so-called ethical consumption (Bobel and Fahs, 2020b). The forms of international solidarity have increased and become something that can also be expressed through digital campaigns such as hashtags (cf. #Don’tTaxMyPeriod; #LahukaLagaan – Fadnis, 2017; #Pads4GirlsUg – Nyanzi, 2020). Menstruation activists argue for the urgency of recognising menstruation as a political issue, especially within global development. It is a question about justice, particularly because of the difficulties people around the world face and because the economic growth of a country is dependent on an educated population, so girls’ education levels are crucial (Oster and Thornton, 2011; Rossouw and Ross, 2021).

The global movement of menstruation activism focuses on women’s reproductive bodies, and activists emphasise the importance of corporeal feminism that takes bodies into account (Bobel and Fahs, 2020a; Fahs, 2015). In addition, some menstrual advocates argue for a perspective on bodies that includes spiritual dimensions of menstruation (Bobel, 2010) which has, for decades, been viewed as an ‘apolitical cop-out from feminist struggles’ (Spretnak, 1982: xxii) within Western feminist movements. This is perhaps one of the more controversial dimensions of feminist movements in Sweden, as it often echoes a binary understanding of sex/gender and a rhetoric associated with new age and religiosity in a culture where religiosity is seen as private and subjective (cf. af Burén, 2015). In this context, religion and spiritualism carry specific associations because secularity, anchored in a Christian heritage, is the hegemonic norm (Thurfjell, 2015).

Europe has long had a historical self-perception of secularism as a marker of the superiority of a contemporary worldview over (imagined) earlier, supposedly more primitive religious frameworks. Being secular has become equated with being modern, suggesting that religiosity and spirituality implies an incomplete embrace of modernity (Casanova, 2009: 1054). Spirituality is thus pushed aside into the private sphere and perceived as something that should not interfere with political contexts. So, to focus on secularity as something influential, which may take various forms, is a way to resist the idea of secularity as rational, stable, and homogeneous (Butler et al., 2011: 70f). In line with several feminist scholars, I argue for the importance of analysing secularity in relation to gender, modernity, rationality, politics, and nation (cf. Mahmood, 2009).

A campaign and interviews: Feminist menstruation narratives

As menstruation activism has gained more visibility in Sweden and transnationally (Andreasen et al., 2023; Bobel et al., 2020), this study focuses on a campaign called PeriodPride, ² coordinated by NGOs in cooperation with a feminist union and a women’s shelter organisation. The campaign was explicitly formulated as part of menstruation advocacy, a consciousness-raising initiative for both menstruating and non-menstruating individuals concerning menstruation and related issues. The activities included lectures, films, literature, interviews, product presentations, and art. ³ Held during the pandemic, it took place primarily online for a month and attracted around 400 participants. ⁴ Representatives from NGOs, authors, artists, entrepreneurs, and journalists presented their activities, offering a broad range of artistic expressions and educational materials. The campaign emphasised the importance of discussing menstruation, as it affects everyone, regardless of whether they have a womb or not. Its goal was to spread knowledge about menstruation, foster conversations, and encourage the sharing of experiences and stories to break taboos and eliminate shame surrounding menstruation. In addition, it aimed to improve menstrual health and psychological well-being, rooted in the foundational idea of bodily autonomy.

In addition to material from the campaign, the study is anchored in interviews conducted between 2020 and 2024, from a larger ethnographic project It is the hormones. Women in transition through hormone narratives, where experiences and cultural conceptions of menstruation was one theme. All interviews included stories about menstruation, with some featuring menstruation advocates who provided in-depth reflections on the connections between feminism and menstruation activism in the Swedish context while others reflected on their own experiences, sometimes in contrast or identification with others. The ethnographic study comprised of group dialogues, workshops, and individual interviews with 40 women and non-binary individuals aged 25–70 in Sweden. This article specifically highlights narratives from 20 self-identified feminists, focusing on stories that explicitly circulate around menstruation awareness.

The material has been analysed as narratives in a broad sense, considering the format (e.g. interview or lecture). The methodological approach to analysing the material involved a narrative analysis combined with theoretical concepts to deepen the understanding of the content (cf. Andrews et al., 2013). Consequently, I have chosen to study the material based on the premise that it constitutes narratives influenced by their format, reflecting certain aspects and performing specific functions. Beyond providing answers, an information campaign about menstruation, and menstruating individuals can articulate opportunities and problems that affect experiences and influence behaviour (Veland et al., 2018). However, my analytical focus is not primarily on methodology; rather, it serves as a guide alongside the theoretical perspective. This approach is inspired by narrative analysis and combined perspectives on menstruation as political and spiritual phenomena within Swedish feminisms.

Within the campaign as well as in the interviews, three larger narratives stood out: (1) the menstruating body as a ‘woman’s issue’; (2) menstruators in need; and (3) cyclicity as explanatory model. In what follows, I will expand on each to argue for menstruation advocacy mirroring productive conflicts within feminism that can open for more questions.

Narrative 1: The menstruating body as a ‘woman’s issue’

Since not all bodies are menstruating bodies, and menstrual blood is tightly connected to reproduction, many stories in the interview study engaged with a larger narrative about female bodies, known as ‘a woman’s issue’. Interestingly, while the women’s movement in Sweden between the 1970s and 1990s had a significant impact on politics, particularly in advancing gender equality (cf. Gustafsson, 1997), menstruation has not been a prominent issue on the political agenda. It has been viewed as a problem that should not hinder a focus on ‘real politics’, such as economic growth or national defence (cf. Stern and Strand, 2022).

All interviewees mentioned the silence surrounding menstruation, describing it as a phenomenon that can be threatening in various ways. Elinor, a scholar and feminist activist in her forties with roots in the radical lesbian scene in Sweden, emphasised how discussing menstrual issues has been challenging both in general and within some feminist circles:

I think it’s taboo in different ways in different camps. It was linked to insults when you were younger and started getting your period; it was a bit disgusting. You didn’t want to touch it, and actions could be reduced to being caused by hormones (i.e. ‘Are you on your period?’). (. . .) In another feminist discourse that I grew up in, it was also bad, but it was more about separating body and gender. It became problematic but in another way; you shouldn’t talk about hormones.

Elinor’s narrative was echoed in various ways by other interviewees. Nila, an interviewee in her fifties, shared that she felt ashamed after raising issues about menstruation in a conversation with a group of ‘more radical feminists’. She felt like a ‘biologist’ simply for talking about menstruation. Kim, a heterosexual feminist in her seventies, explicitly stated that menstruation was not regarded as a ‘political issue’ within the leftist group she was part of in the seventies.

Although the interviewees self-identified as feminists, some described discussing menstruation, premenstrual symptoms, and other hormonal issues as difficult. A few even noted that it was easier to discuss these topics with people who did not automatically label themselves as feminists. Ani, an interviewee in her thirties who was active in the feminist movement in Italy before moving to Sweden, highlighted the challenges of discussing the female body with feminists in her new home country. She illustrated this with a story about an encounter with her boss, a self-identified feminist who wore feminist symbols and expressed feminist views. After explaining she needed occasional rest during menstruation and pregnancy, her boss said: ‘Ani, you as a feminist. . . Are you telling me that you cannot work as you normally do because you are pregnant?’ She was disappointed in her boss’s response, which she interpreted as encouraging her to ignore bodily signals, remaining uncritical of capitalism, and aspiring to what she termed ‘phallic power’.

Gender scholars have long stated how gendered, racializing, sexualizing, and ableist discourses support the idea that female bodies need transformation and surveillance (cf. Blackman, 2008; Bordo, 2003 [1993]; Harjunen and Kyrölä, 2017). Bodies marked as female are expected to repeat normative practices that manage their potentially abject bodies. Thus, as menstruators struggle with managing their ‘leaky’ bodies, they – as feminists – may also need to handle a general taboo regarding menstruation, their own internalised shame, and other feminists who carry the same view with a need to take a distance towards the subject.

The words about renouncing the body to free the spirit echo decades of feminist voices since Mary Wollstonecraft and are more clearly articulated by Simone de Beauvoir. The importance of liberating oneself from the position of woman has been argued by radical feminists, such as Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, with an emphasis on breaking free from a suppressive femininity. Women and femininity have continued to be associated with the body, while men have been associated with a highly valued spirit. While the body has been reclaimed in several ways, the feminine-coded body remains difficult to manoeuvre even in feminist contexts (Dahl, 2012; Dahl et al., 2018).

In feminist movement as well as within feminist research, the female body as vulnerable and leaky has been discussed and critiqued in various ways (Grosz, 1994; Irigaray, 1985; Shildrick, 1997). Talking about hormones and menstruation is increasingly common in a popular discourse in Sweden today, but it may be more challenging as a feminist issue because talking about hormones and menstruation is being tightly connected to the vulnerabilities of bodies marked as female (Dahl et al., 2018).

The general biomedical language around menstruation echoes and often confirms ideas from biological discourses regarding gender (cf. Kosher et al., 2023: 6) – discourses that confirm universalised conceptions of what it is to be a girl and a woman (Bobel, 2010). Menstruation, hormones, giving birth, menopause – specific bodies and genders are being reinstalled – normative lifelines with certain bodies and identities are being narrated (Halberstam, 2005). Menstruation as a women’s issue becomes reminiscent of how gender and normative fertility are often intertwined in a popular discourse. In other words, the narrative regarding menstruation as a delicate issue within feminisms suggests that it may be associated with straight, cis normative ideas, and symbolize unimportant politics. Menstruation advocates therefore risk being ‘guilty by association’.

Narrative 2: Menstruators in need, remembering period poverty

Menstruation as an urgent global rights issue was raised as a topic by some of the interviewees and it was also present in the campaign. Women and girls as political objects are common in international projects aimed at alleviating poverty and supporting fundamental rights. The material I gathered about the campaign included stories about the situation of vulnerable/poor menstruators, with openings for Swedes to get involved for others.

Tomi-Ann Roberts (2020) argues that Western countries are dominated by an objectifying culture where menstruation is seen as a biological function that is expected to be hidden. This objectifying culture can be found in several parts of the world, and menstruation has long been handled as abject and dirty (cf. Douglas, 2003; Persdotter, 2022; Usher, 2007 [2006]). All interviewees shared stories about experiencing menstruation as shameful and dirty, but several also emphasised the situation for menstruators as more or less a challenge to handle. A few regarded it as hardly being a problem (in contrast to what they knew from others) and some referred to menstrual health as an economic and geopolitical issue.

In various ways, the campaign and the interviewees told stories about menstruators in need. These stories emphasised that people need to know more and have better circumstances in relation to menstruation. The campaign itself was framed around what was defined as a need for norm-changing education about menstruation: comprehensive sexual education and societal circumstances around sex and sexuality, including sexual health. For example, during the campaign, an entrepreneur held a lecture presenting and marketing their menstruation cup, arguing for the need for less expensive and more environmentally friendly solutions for handling menstruation. Participants got online information about a small company that offered the service of making sure companies had toilets, including a garbage bin, a place to wash hands, and access to necessary products for protection.

The PeriodPride campaign provided a range of stories by and about menstruators, a number of which provided insights into the situation of highly vulnerable people in parts of the world characterised by widespread poverty. Among others, it contained popular education and lectures about global collaboration in the fight for a better situation for menstruators. The listeners were informed by representatives of a Nordic menstruation advocacy organisation (here called NAO) to increase capacity development, deliver sanitation products (tampons, pads), work to reduce youth pregnancies, and empower women through projects in collaboration with local organisations in a range of countries in Africa. NAO emphasised the overload of Eurocentric information and argued for communicated knowledge from local activists in other parts of the world (than in Sweden).

The campaign added to information about period poverty – on how economic circumstances (including environmental factors, such as access to running water which is crucial) affect menstruating people, for example, preventing young women from attending public places, work, and education when menstruating. NAO was part of a larger international company and informed about social change and shame around menstruation, highlighting that menstruation should not hinder girls and women from going to school and workplaces. The latter was also a reason for rigorous information about shame, including educating workshops:

The main method we use to communicate about MHM [menstrual hygiene management] and SRHR [sexual and reproductive health rights] is through teaching with creativity, doing, and art. These topics are stigmatised and sometimes complex; however, a creative approach can effectively break taboos, making the content easier to communicate and the pedagogy more engaging (representative of NAO).

Through presentations by two NGOs and lectures by a journalist, listeners, readers, and viewers were informed about the criteria established by the World Health Organization (WHO) for managing menstruation in a dignified, safe, and comfortable manner. These criteria, collectively referred to as menstrual hygiene management (MHM), include access to effective menstrual pads, soap, and water; private spaces for washing, changing, and drying pads; the availability of rubbish bins; and, most importantly, knowledge about menstruation.

The NGO representatives and the journalist emphasised the severe difficulties women and girls around the world face in managing menstruation. These include lack of access to toilets with locks, rubbish bins, and running water. The audience learned about period poverty in various parts of the world, where the high cost of pads, tampons, and painkillers often leads to the use of improvised solutions, such as cutting pieces from old fabric. These materials are ineffective at absorbing blood, causing leakages and infections (Michel et al., 2022). Feelings of worry, shame, pain, and social restrictions – such as not being allowed outdoors during menstruation – were identified as key reasons for girls’ absenteeism from school (Benshaul-Tolonen et al., 2020; Miiro et al., 2018). The implied audience was led to understand that in regions where girls already struggle to access education, the challenges associated with menstruation further exacerbate their vulnerability and increase the risk of dropping out of school.

The addressed viewer was presented with detailed and striking images, such as women using dangerous cloth in their underwear and young girls being raped in crowded huts. While initiatives addressing menstruation and providing information about the so-called global south are undoubtedly important, the narratives about menstruators in need – both the problems and the proposed solutions – occasionally reflected cultural ideas rooted in the so-called global north (cf. Bobel, 2019; Mohanty, 1997).

With vivid descriptions of menstruators in need in countries such as India, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, the campaign highlighted how menstruation activism in the West is deeply intertwined with international aid, aligning with Sweden’s long-standing tradition of development cooperation and its modern self-image as a champion of gender equality (cf. Berg, 2007). However, tendencies towards overly simplified portrayals of period poverty risk overlooking the resilience in the everyday lives of people worldwide and perpetuating ‘saviour’ narratives fuelled by the ‘fruits of sorrow’ (Spelman Elisabeth, 1997).

Overall, the narratives about menstruators in need reflect Sweden’s long tradition of international solidarity, but they inevitably walk a fine line between depicting poverty and reproducing reductive stories about poor girls in the so-called Global South.

Narrative 3: The forceful cycle, reclaim the value of bodies

The campaign PeriodPride included different lectures, among others a talk by Carmen, a Swedish-Chilean menstruation advocate in her forties, about ‘menstruation consciousness’. The narrators’ main idea was to paint an abstract story about a general menstrual cycle aiming for the inscribed menstruating listener to gain more knowledge, ‘to be more connected with themselves’ and ‘gain love and respect’, for emotional reactions and bodily processes. Here, the listener received a presentation of a menstrual calendar, also called a moon calendar. The link between women’s bodies and the spiritual dimension included the idea of bodies being affected by the universe as biological masses with cyclic existence.

The narrative about cyclicity is very much intertwined with the narrative about self-care. The campaign broadcasted an interview with a self-defined witch in her forties, Louisa, with a spiritual understanding of the body. The interview focused on how to get knowledge about one’s body and oneself by understanding cyclicity and getting in contact with one’s vagina through herbs and yoni steaming. Louisa, in line with Carmen, emphasised the importance of understanding connections between the moon, cyclicity, bodily presence, and spirituality. Within this dialogue, the interviewer and the interviewee together emphasised and drew connections between ‘to feel your body and yourself’, and ‘a way to become more encompassing and respectful’. This is a repeated theme within parts of so-called new age feminism (Crowley, 2011), but the participants were careful about distancing themselves from what they understood as new age and rather emphasised a need to reconnect to bodies as part of (an ignored) earthly existence. They also argued for the possibility of free bleeding as part of body literacy and an anticapitalistic critique, to break with a demand of always being a consumer and being productive.

The mantra of knowing oneself, and to focus on individual development, ties well into neoliberal self-empowerment without social change at large as a target or an effect (Bobel, 2010). Critical self-help scholars have highlighted that women’s partaking in self-help culture is not always a passive consumption but may also be an active use aiming towards collective emancipation with insights from second wave feminism (cf. Rapping, 2001). bell hooks (1993), feminist professor of Afro-American studies, utilised the self-help genre to reach a broader audience (see e.g. Berg, 2012). Instead of distinguishing between society and self, as most self-help advocates do, hooks demonstrate their close interconnection – how structures intervene in and influence identities, emotions, and experiences. It is crucial to see the complexities of self-help practices, some of which are part of a heritage from a tradition of emancipatory actions (see Bornstein, 2006). Practices such as vaginal examinations during the 1960s and 1970s in Europe helped transfer power from the medical authorities, demystified bodies, and gave women more control of their own (corporeal) lives (Koskenniemi, 2023: 325; see also Bobel, 2008; Copelton, 2004; Murphy, 2004).

In one of my first interviews with Kim, she spoke about how she and her menstruating activist friends in the 1970s had balanced embracing issues related to female bodies (such as ‘owning your birthing process’) with avoiding discussions about menstruation, as it was not considered ‘real politics’. Kim also shared that during her menstruating years, she tried to plan her work around her menstrual cycle. Although she could not stop working when her body ‘went on strike’, she took it into account, and the cycle became ‘a rhythm in her life’. At first, I interpreted her story as an exception or as one typical of her generation and the broader international women’s movement of that time (see Nelson, 2019). However, through more interviews and conversations with people about my research, I realised this was part of a larger narrative. For example, Caroline, a self-identified lesbian feminist in her thirties, expressed relief upon understanding how much her cyclicity influenced her and the extent to which it affected her functionality in various ways:

It was only at the end of my studies that I realised how my cyclical system affected me. Yes, my performance varied greatly depending on where I was in my cycle. It became so noticeable that, when I was ovulating, I was on top of everything and could write really well. Then there was that dip just before my period when everything felt awful, and I would throw away everything I had written. When my period arrived, I was out for a week, but after that, I bounced back. (. . .) I began to recognise a pattern as the same cycle kept repeating itself. Once I realised this, I started planning my writing periods around my cycle. For example, if I knew a dip was coming, I made sure to finish and send texts beforehand to avoid deleting or spoiling them. I also try to avoid intense meetings during the difficult weeks (. . .) and actively participate during my ‘hubris’ phase.

Caroline’s story emphasises the importance of understanding humans as biological organisms and includes a critique against a society that often – according to her – does not consider that we are more than just ‘cephalopods’. To recognise corporeal dimensions of the everyday life, could here be viewed as both a strategy for taking control of their time as well as self-help as in self-awareness of how to be more caring towards their own bodily reactions.

One of the interviewees, Jasmine, a feminist menstruation advocate in her thirties with a religious and migrant background, had written about the subject and shared her words with me:

In this white West, we juggle between the non-renewal of faith in something higher that accompanies and guides us, the deep and rebellious feeling that we are not alone on Earth or under the stars (. . .). From the spiritually rooted feminisms flourish projects that give cyclical bodies a transcendent and significant place in relation to a nature that is read as (politically) mystical (. . .). But how can we get from the blackboard emptiness of our patriarchal spirituality to an intersectional, respectful of all beings, feminist, conscious, politically subversive spirituality that is valid for us and that makes us live better?

It is possible to uncover the eco-feminist dimensions from the menstruation women’s movements within this story (Bobel, 2010: 70), and the spiritual approach to menstruation as conceptualisations of female bodies and possibilities for social change (Fedele, 2014). Several parts of this narrative are very much in line with classical definitions of cultural feminism (Bobel, 2010). The stories include classic postfeminist rhetoric about the need to empower oneself (e.g. McRobbie, 2004). However, the narrative about cyclicity is not just an expression of postfeminism, it also includes reactions against a postfeminist approach that is corporate-friendly and fixated on self-surveillance. The classic essentialist views on sex, gender, and bodies (Rydström, 2020) is combined with a broader definition of menstruating bodies. The stories not only emphasise or commodify imagined ‘women’s bodies’, but some of them also reflect an inclusion of bodily and spiritual dimensions that criticise neoliberal subjectivities and contemporary capitalist work ethic in a society marked by hegemonic secularity (cf. Plancke, 2021; Poutiainen, 2024).

Dis/identifying with the female and the spiritual echoes some of the stories from the interviews with the menstruation advocates as well as in lectures within the campaign for menstruation awareness. In the Swedish (multicultural) educational system, atheism is made into the neutral position, whereas religion and spirituality (Islam in particular) are generally constructed as subjective and contradictory (Kittelmann Flensner, 2015). Here, I believe feminism must dare to navigate and strengthen its articulations of its critique of secular values regarding definitions of feminist issues (cf. Lundahl Hero, 2021; Mahmood, 2009).

Drawing on stories told in interviews with feminists as well as in the menstrual awareness campaign, I argue that menstruation advocates and activists are pointing at hegemonic ideals within Swedish society – ideals that lean on secular thinking and exceptionalism carried by disciplined bodies, including (academic) feminism (Berg et al., 2021). The narratives reflect examples of, and concerns about, the so-called cultural feminism or postfeminism (Bobel, 2010; McRobbie, 2004). However, they also point towards the need to further explore and acknowledge the complexities in times of increasing post-secular feminist voices.

Conclusion

The question from a menstruation advocate that I began the article with reminded me that menstruation is not an entirely straightforward topic. In this study, I explored narratives of menstruation advocacy through the campaign PeriodPride and interviews with feminist women, aiming to unpack the layered connections between menstruation as a political and cultural phenomenon, contextualising these within broader feminist traditions in Sweden. The narratives examined reveal distinct yet interconnected frameworks of menstruation advocacy. The first narrative, ‘the menstruating body as a “woman’s issue”’, underscores the ambivalence around menstruation as a biological and cultural marker. This narrative reflects a dual struggle: menstruation advocates must contend with entrenched biomedical and essentialist understandings of menstruation, while also navigating feminist scepticism towards topics perceived as reinforcing traditional gender binaries. These tensions echo wider internal debates within feminist scholarship about reconciling subjectivity, corporeality, and politics with fluid understandings of gender.

The second narrative, ‘menstruators in need’, positions menstruation advocacy within the framework of global solidarity and period poverty. Here, menstruation emerges as a rights-based issue, intersecting with broader discourses on education, health, and development in the global South. While this perspective highlights the critical importance of addressing material inequities, it also risks reproducing paternalistic and Eurocentric narratives.

The third narrative, ‘cyclicity as an explanatory model’, invites a reimagining of menstruation as a source of empowerment and connection. Drawing on spiritual, ecological, and anti-capitalist frameworks, this perspective challenges dominant secular norms that often frame menstruation solely as a medical or hygienic issue. However, this narrative also faces critique for potentially reinforcing essentialist or neoliberal self-help ideologies. The stories of cyclicity reveal an attempt to reconcile individual bodily experiences with broader critiques, offering a counterpoint to hegemonic secular and capitalist narratives in Swedish society.

Together, these narratives elucidate the discursive complexity of menstruation advocacy, underscoring its entanglement with multiple, often competing, frameworks of meaning, and revealing some of the productive tensions inherent within Swedish feminist traditions.