Menstruation in art and visual culture

Menstruation has a rich and growing body of academic literature, including on the use of language, the history of medicine, and cultural understandings. Since the 1970s, scholars have analyzed the visual impact of the marketing and branding of menstrual products, and its effects on menstrual shame. Artists have offered a different visual perspective, often utilizing menstrual blood directly. Recent scholarship about menstrual art has added to our understanding of shame about menstruation. In this entry we present and examine the key studies about menstruation in advertising, art, and other visual media, and situate this in a cultural, historical, and art historical context.