SOURCE: TOI

Has the literary canon given enough space to women to talk about their menstrual experience, perimenopause and menopause? Definitely, Feminism has propelled the imagination of the writers in reimagining the lives of women in cloistered spaces but it has also overshadowed the physiological aspect no less important than giving birth. The present article aims to highlight the silence around the social taboo. Shrouded in stigma, women undergoing this biological transition have had scores of medical literatures but what about their feelings on the subject matter?

       A new study has emerged known as Menolit studies exploring menstrual experiences of women in academic spaces. An interdisciplinary field overlapping with medical literature, literary and cultural, it examines the social, economic and political aspects of this biological process with its depictions across various genres of literature be it poetry, drama or novels. Although scarce, traces of shreds of evidence in ancient, medieval and modern literature can be discerned but are covert in nature.

     In the ancient Greek and Roman texts, Hera and Hecate are mystical figures associated with ageing and fading fertility. Dealt with allusions, mysticism gives way to ambiguity. Demeter grieving over Persephone’s alleged abduction hints at the transition of women into the non-reproductive stage thus hinting at the cyclical nature of life. Demeter’s grief is the emotional aspect of this biological transition. Hippocratic Corpus views menopause as cessation of fertility. The words associated with menopause as ‘decline’, ‘fall’, and ‘cessation’ among others give us the male-centric interpretation of the narrative surrounding menopause. In contrast to the Western medical texts dealing with the topic of menopause, we have Charaka Samhita (ancient Indian text) and Huangdi Neijing (ancient Chinese text) exemplifying harmony and wisdom associated with the biological transition. In the Bible, Sarah, the wife of Abraham is beyond the reproductive phase. Thus, the societal obligation on women to embrace motherhood and her failure to do so to narrow down the role of women in a patriarchal setup.

     In medieval literature, scattered and scarce references take us to the Wife of Bath. Though not explicit, her remarriages and bold discussion of sexuality point to the subject of ageing and silence around women's sexuality which was normal during those times. If we look back to ancient texts like Ramayana and Mahabharata, we find the portrayal of Kunti and Gandhari as wise figures. Their biological stages are not explicit but intertwined with spiritual and religious allegory making it hard to separate the one from the other. Only in twentieth-century literature has the female body received wider acceptance and autonomy. Doris Lessing’s The Summer Before the Dark and Margret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin ride on the vehicle of Menopause deal with the theme of transformation, reawakening and debunking the societal attitudes around the same. Virginia Woolf, although not directly discussing menopause, explores the complexity of women's spaces. Not to mention Jane Juska’s candid memoir; it’s a revealing account on menopause which impinges upon the relationships she holds dear as well as her sense of self.

    With the new paradigm in academic inquiry, Menolit Studies not only pushes the boundaries but boldly redraw fresher narratives on femininity and identity. 

IMAGE CREDIT: DANIEL KUSHNER, MD