“What’s Next? People Who Produce Sperm?” On Degendering and Period Positivity
“What’s Next? People Who Produce Sperm?” On Degendering and Period Positivity

Summary/Abstract: Period products’ advertisement is well-known for depicting blue liquid, women running in fields in white pants, smiling and smelling flowers. In other words, it is known for not depicting periods at all. The period positivity movement and the academic field of critical menstruation studies aims to destigmatize the reality of periods in advertising and in societal discourse in general. In this study, we focus on the reception of period positivity in advertising among the debaters in Czech marketing experts’ group exclusively for women called #HolkyzMarketingu. The aim of the analysis is defining specific points of the divide between the perspective of debaters, marketing experts, and the perspective of critical menstruation studies scholars. As a method, we are using feminist discourse analysis with the emphasis on the debaters themselves being mostly in the subordinate position of the discourse. Through analysing four debates taking place in the Facebook group, we pinpointed one important characteristic of the divide - the way menstruation is destigmatized in advertising is often taken as an attack on the notion of womanhood the debaters hold themselves, therefore they do not debate whether the destigmatization could be helpful for women in general, instead they debate their personal practices (e.g., concealing menstruation at all costs, defining womanhood through menstruation).

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