A possible place for blood: : women's circles, menstruation and cyclicity

• Autor(a) principal: Guimarães Mesquita, Raquel
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Saraiva Paiva, Antônio Cristian
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Textos & Debates (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.ufrr.br/textosedebates/article/view/8002
• topic: Women's circles; Menstruation; Body; Círculos de mulheres; Menstruação; Corpo

Historically, in our society, menstruation has been understood, narrated and experienced as something shameful, dirty and impure. However, nowadays, certain groups of women have created new menstrual narratives in which blood takes on a positive value and the menstrual experience is narrated and lived in an alternative way, based on markers such as feminine spirituality, care practices (moon flowers, scalds, meditation, among others) and cyclicity. The so-called Women's Circles are horizontal spaces where women from the urban middle classes have been producing new narratives and practices about menstruation. During 2019, in Fortaleza-Ceará-Brazil, we systematically accompanied six women's circles in which the topic of menstruation appeared as something privileged. It is from this field experience that we discuss the transformations that the way of experiencing menstruation has undergone, based on the discourses and practices put into action in those Circles.