Cover of 1963 edition of "Growing Up and Liking It" booklet from Personal Products, Inc.
A recently published population-based study of teens in Australia found that menstrual pain is the norm among young women: Typical menstruation in adolescence includes pain (93%), cramping (71%), premenstrual symptoms (96%) and mood disturbance (73%).
This surprises me; I (mistakenly) thought the literature showed painful periods and PMS to be more common in the thirties, and fairly infrequent in the teen years. I can’t help but wonder if these reports of such high levels of pain and PMS are influenced by the pervasive cultural representations of periods as unpleasant and/or painful. It’s noteworthy that only 1% of the girls surveyed reported periods with no pain and no symptoms, and 78% consider their periods to be ‘normal’ most of the time. Assuming those other 22% significantly overlap with the 33% who experienced pain severe enough to consult a physician, I infer that most girls think painful periods are normal.
Please note that I am NOT suggesting that girls are lying about pain or that their period pain is “all in their heads” or psychosomatic; I am merely suggesting that our bodily experience and our perceptions of our bodies always take place in specific cultural and historical contexts. It may also be that dietary and environmental changes have influenced the rise in menstrual pain these researchers document.
(To see more editions of “Growing Up and Liking It”, visit the Museum of Menstruation.)
I wonder how it was originally determined in the medical studies that pain was NOT normal in the teen years.
I always assumed it was the other way round – teens experiencing pain and menstrual problems due to hormone irregularity and possibly related to junk food consumption, and negative attitudes towards menstruation…or maybe I just assumed that because *I* suffered terribly from cramps in my teens, none at all now in my 20’s, that it was similar for others.
Well and I just thought pain was normal, regardless of age. I am in my mid-20s and the majority of my friends have definitely shared stories with me about menstrual pain. My own experience is that I still have pain, though it’s less than when I was a little younger – but definitely still there.
I agree with Jadea and the junk food connection. What I learned about period pain management as I got older was that limiting sugar intake pre-menstrually – and that would mean all refined carbohydrates that are quickly metabolized into sugar – made a big difference in the level of pain or discomfort I felt. Today’s youth as a group are huge consumers of refined carbohydrates and sugar (think about all those sweet drinks at Starbucks for one example) This could play a role in why this study found that menstrual pain is considered the “norm” by teens today. Several years ago when in my late forties, I experienced one of the most painful menstrual periods I could ever remember. The cramps started in the early morning after a party during which I drank way more red wine than was normal or wise.
It’s hard not to view this through the lens of our own experience. I admit, I was surprised by this finding not only because I recall reading that PMS and other period difficulties are worse in the thirties but because I don’t remember having any negative symptoms as a teen. Nor do I recall hearing many girlfriends talk about period pain.
More fodder for my assertion that our bodily experience and our perceptions of our bodies always take place in specific cultural and historical contexts, eh?