Key features of the Polish discourse about menstruation on the basis of interviews with women aged 22–24 (part I) Cover Image

Najważniejsze cechy polskiego dyskursu o menstruacji na podstawie wywiadów z kobietami w wieku 22–24 lat (część I)
Key features of the Polish discourse about menstruation on the basis of interviews with women aged 22–24 (part I)

Author(s): Hubert Jankowski
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Sociology, Gerontology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Keywords: conversational style; discourse about menstruation; menstruation; narration; spoken language; taboo

Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt to characterize the discourse about menstruation in which young Polish women participate. The author starts with indicating the difficulty that occurs in communicating about periods. Further, he presents the structure of the article — its division into a methodological part and the attempt to reconstruct the aforementioned discourse. In the methodological part, the process of collecting and processing linguistic material is described, and then the chosen research method (biographical interview), the criteria for selecting respondents and the recruitment process, the recording and the transcription of the interviews. In the following part, the author reconstructs the discourse about menstruation in private and public terms. In the private context, he focuses on the participants of such conversations and their thematic scope, whereas in the public one (in education and the media) he tries to capture its distinctive features and presents the attitude of respondents towards the form it takes. In the conclusions, the author defines the factors that may make communication about menstruation easier or more difficult. He also suggests potential uses for the conducted study and its continuation.

  • Issue Year: 13/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 163-180
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Polish