New Blood: Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation

by Chris Bobel

"New Blood" offers a fresh interdisciplinary look at feminism-in-flux. For over three decades, menstrual activists have questioned the safety and necessity of feminine care products while contesting menstruation as a deeply entrenched taboo. Chris Bobel shows how a little-known yet enduring force in the feminist health, environmental, and consumer rights movements lays bare tensions between second- and third-wave feminisms and reveals a complicated story of continuity and change within the women's movement.
Through her critical ethnographic lens, Bobel focuses on debates central to feminist thought (including the utility of the category "gender") and challenges to building an inclusive feminist movement. Filled with personal narratives, playful visuals, and original humor, "New Blood" reveals middle-aged progressives communing in Red Tents, urban punks and artists "culture jamming" commercial menstrual products in their zines and sketch comedy, queer anarchists practicing DIY health care, African American health educators espousing "holistic womb health," and hopeful mothers refusing to pass on the shame to their pubescent daughters. With verve and conviction, Bobel illuminates today's feminism-on-the-ground--indisputably vibrant, contentious, and ever-dynamic.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Gender, Womens, Health, Womens Studies, Gender Studies

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great thorough analysis of third wave feminism's branches of feminist-spirituality and the radical menstruation movement. I found the feminist history portion to be particularly enlightening. If there were more information available about the dangers of traditional femcare to back up claims by both groups, that would be wonderful. Unfortunately, most of the data either doesn't exist or is plagued by conflict of interest.

I didn't appreciate some of the tone used when talking about the feminist-spiritualists. The author doesn't hide that she is on the side of the radical menstruation movement, but I did feel that she didn't respect the feminist-spiritualists as much as some of the other women she talked to due to the fact that they fall on the side of gender difference theory and also tend to be white and middle-class.

A great read on the topic of menstruation activist movements. I will certainly use much of this material in my own research on the enactment of biblical purity laws in modernity.

[Elizabeth Tripp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bobel is thoughtful, engaging, and meticulous in her discussion of menstrual activism. Interested in learning more about the movement? Start here - you won't be disappointed.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated that the author tried to present the various activist groups in their own terms yet also pointed out their shortcomings. Some aspects of the book felt like just musings, like her thoughts about why menstruation activists are overwhelmingly white or her quest to find out what trans men or women think of menstruation activism. Since she was inconclusive on these topics, it felt like she could've given them a bit less space. Also, she really does not know how to talk about trans people, despite clearly good intentions and open-mindedness. But overall I thought the book was thoughtful, thorough, and readable.

[Perihan Aslı · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good start for anyone who has a willingness to find out people who are trying to build a different approach to menstruation. It goes parallel to the famous saying “the personal is political” when we dare to talk on menstruation. I really admired what radical menstruators insisted on and tried to achive but besides the limitedness of the inquiry in color or gender, they seemed me lacking to reach younger menstruators, whom thoughts on menstruation are newly shaping and important to be focused on. For instance I expected them to reach highschoolers besides the college students. Even so, I appreciate the work of author, who is a well-known academician on menstruation politics.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When women ignore their bodily processes or, worse, recognize them merely as problems whose solutions are available only through consumerism, internalized oppression takes over. I am suggesting not that detachment from the body - from what Adrienne Rich calls "its bloody speech" - is women's fault, but that when women participate in the silences around menstruation, they allow others to speak for them. Today it is rarely women who define the meaning of their bodily processes and take self-directed action to experience them in ways that are healthy, sustainable, and, for some, enjoyable and renewing. Menstruation is one of those bodily processes, but it is not the only one. Pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, menopause, nutrition, exercise, health care, even sexuality across the lifespan, are similarly co-opted by social institutions and discourses. Not those who inhabit the bodies, but physicians and other health-care providers, along with corporations, pharmaceutical companies, and their marketing machines, shape our cultures of embodiment. And there are those who feel strongly that feminists - whatever their wave - must resist such so-optation."

[Penelope · Rating 5 out of 5]

This such a great, important book. Bobel does an excellent job of contextualizing her subject and examining it from all angles. I appreciate that she confronted transgender and race issues and how they fit into menstrual activism (and feminism more broadly). Her writing on those topics comes across as very authentic and candid; she admits her own faults as a researcher, but also defends her position and posits interesting questions. The book is well researched and well written. Bobel's writing is easy to understand, not bogged down by academic-speak. A very interesting read.

[Luise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very lively and well written, the book helped me understand the connections between second and third wave feminism better than before, as well as the connections between "difference feminists" and "queer feminists".