I want to be a “complete” woman! : explaining irregular menstruation through womanhood.

• Main Author: Lin, Alicia Huiling.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/22675
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper seeks to understand the paradox behind why although females find menstruation disruptive, they would seek help to remedy irregular menstruation. It attempts to argue that motivations behind taking action to remedy the irregularity is not just medically driven but also socially driven. Linking menstruation to womanhood, what is at stake, is not only a biological abnormality but a possible ambiguity in her being defined as a “complete” woman. Findings are substantiated by two semi-structured interviews done on twelve Chinese female undergraduates from NTU and NUS and are analysed using Turner’s liminality as a framework. Findings showed that respondents take action so as to rehabilitate themselves as a complete woman. Their actions are found to be orientated against the larger social structure of womanhood.