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This briefing paper discusses how to include historical perspectives to assess the potential success for current and future menstruation legislation. The case of Scotland provides an instructive example of law-making about free period products and period poverty. While commercial products are perceived as a solution, historical research suggests that cultural attitudes, lingering stigma, and regional differences affect opportunities for passing laws. To predict the likelihood that proposed menstrual product legislation might be adopted in other locations, historical factors related to attitudes about menstruation, including stigma, must be considered and understood to effect lasting change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2021, Scotland became the first country in the world to make universal access to free period products a legal right, an initiative which attracted extraordinary international attention. This introduction outlines what is indeed new and ground-breaking about this law from the perspective of the history of menstruation, and what merely continues traditional and widespread conceptions, policies and practices surrounding menstruation. On the basis of an analysis of the parliamentary debates of the Act, we show that it gained broad political support by satisfying a combination of ten different political agendas: (1) promoting gender equality for women, while also (2) acknowledging broader gender diversity; (3) taking practical steps to alleviate one high-profile aspect of poverty at a relatively low overall cost to the state, while also (4) stimulating the production of menstrual products; (5) tackling menstrual stigma; (6) improving access to education; (7) working with grassroots campaigners; (8) improving public health; and (9) accommodating sustainability concerns; as well as (10) the desire to pass world-leading legislation in itself. In each case, we explore the extent to which the political aim is typical of, or departs from, wider trajectories in the history and politics of menstruation, and, where pertinent, trajectories in Scottish political history. The ten agendas in their international context provide kaleidoscopic insight into the current state of menstrual politics and history in Scotland and beyond. This introduction also situates this Special Collection as a whole in relation to the field of Critical Menstruation Studies and provides background information about the legislative process and key terminology in Scottish politics and in the history of menstruation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, menstruation became more present in public discourse in Scotland. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the complex interplay of visibility and invisibility that characterises menstruation's place in the nation's wider cultural landscape. In this article, we explore the context of menstruation in the town of St Andrews specifically and Scotland more broadly, during the late 20th and early 21st century, and ask what this reveals about menstrual absence and presence in public debates. The University of St Andrews lies at the centre of this case study because it has been one of the Scottish institutions that has initiated a rollout of free menstrual products as a result of the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act of 2021. The University's Centre for Contemporary Art also hosted Bee Hughes as artist-in-residence, whose practice focuses on the visible and invisible aspects of menstruation. Although impacted by a university strike and the Covid-19 pandemic, our collaboration has explored collections of menstrual culture in Scotland and broader questions of menstrual representation, reflecting on how established symbols with other connotations (notably the ceremonial red gown at the University of St Andrews) might provide a way of thinking about menstrual in/visibility. In this article, we discuss how these histories might be both present (institutionalised) and absent (when not on display). This paper presents our findings, in which the artist documents their first visit to St Andrews prior to the strike and pandemic, in relation to historical and contextual materials we located together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structured chronologically and thematically around nine chapters, the book presents a brand new history of the company, the condom, and this specific contraceptive's place in Britain and the world. There is a growing literature of contraception and family planning history in Britain, but the role of condoms has hitherto not been afforded much space in terms of its interesting business and cultural narratives. What ever happened to the condom?. [Extracted from the article]

The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) was founded in 1954 by a group of men seeking to explore the fundamental building blocks of our Universe. Since then, they and a host of international scholars have succeeded, exemplified by the discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012 and numerous Nobel Prize awards. But running parallel to the ‘great men’ of high-energy physics, is the untold story of the women of CERN. The organisation is an elite institution, and can thus provide insight into why numbers of women remain low in all facets of its work (except professional administrative). This viewpoint explores the role of women at CERN, both scientists and non-scientists, drawing on archival research from the organisation’s collection in Geneva and interviews, providing an analysis of why gender diversity is still one of the puzzles left for this elite space to solve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, pad brand Bodyform® launched the 'Blood Normal' campaign.1 By depicting realistic-looking blood, the campaign marked a first for a disposable menstrual product. In the advertising video, blood was shown trickling down the thighs of a showering woman. Despite its novelty, the image of the bleeding woman in water calls back to longstanding debates about menstruation, water, and cleanliness. In this article, I discuss the visual and cultural history of this imagery, exploring how Bodyform's campaign compares to older narratives. Drawing from ethnographic material, critical menstrual literature, and historical research, I investigate how the seemingly groundbreaking 'Blood Normal' campaign leans on decades of links between periods, water, and cleanliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]