Menarche is when a woman gets her first menstrual period. “Mounting evidence has established the significance of menarche as both a footprint for chronic disease risk and compass for health and developmental trajectory” (NCBI). This contributes to the reasons many females react in a scared, negative way when getting their first menstrual period. There is fear of the unknown and also some shamefulness for having to deal with this once a month for many years to come. Although, in some cases, there is a celebration of this a signal becoming a woman which is exciting for young girls.

Traditional Native American approaches to puberty in girls, such as the Apache, were four day long ceremonies and celebrations of girls going into womanhood. This includes traditions, feast and nights of praise to the gods and girls compared to contemporary ways of viewing puberty which is less of a celebration and more of a normal everyday duty woman keep up with. Women in the United States have negative views on menstruation because they do not want to have to upkeep with the hygiene part of it and with so many hormones in our foods and differences in our bodies, most females periods are far from normal. This makes most females not want to have one at all and the ease of access to birth control helps this desire to become accomplished with little to no effort.

In the Jewish Orthodox society, there are rules on omens menstruation cycles. Such as, “No physical contact at all [for two weeks]? Nothing not even a high five or small kiss” (youtube video Metropolis). The origin of their views is Judiasim and this empowers their lives because once a month for two weeks they change how they sleep, act and what they do just because of the menstrual cycle. The issues associated with menstruation in other countries is their low economic income rates which leads to little/no access of needed hygiene products. This leads to increase the risk of diseases and death. I think this cycle is a way of life and it is healthy to keep having it and not trying to get rid of it. Although, I think people should not change their everyday lives around for it because it is easy to handle and not that big of a deal.

Help Received: internet and class resources


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3912848/