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This essay investigates discourses connected to menses amongst teenage girls in a Swedish context from a qualitative perspective. My ambition has been to show what is mentioned in a conversation amongst classmates on the topic menses. What was taken for granted, what was considered unnatural and when were verbal lines drawn? The methods used in order to meet the purpose and answer questions, were focusgroupinterviews and discourseanlysis. Three groups were constructed by the participants themselves and contains 13 individuals in total. The empirical material used consists of soundfiles from the interviews converted into text.As a theoretical framework for this study, I chose to use social constructivism, stigma and discourse. Included is also parts of Mary Douglas Purity and danger in order to offer aspects on bodily fluids, and menses in particular. The most important findings that can be concluded are connected to the institutionalized behavior surrounding control of menses through medication. All participants in the study were aware of and practiced control of their menses through contraceptive pills. The main purpose of using contraceptive pills for the majority of the participants, were linked to enabling a functional structure of their menses rather than protecting from pregnancies. Further, the participants described how they in certain social situation were unable to discuss or reveal their menses. These particular situations were defined similarly within each group, but varied between them. The groups also brought up how being connected to menses in general was not a source of shame. However, on an individual basis, keeping your menses to yourself was often depicted as a matter of showing social consideration. |
