Conceptualization of Menstruation in Feminine Hygiene Products: An Examination on Experience Sharing Articles and Print Advertisement

The present study aims to examine how menstrual-related concepts are represented through metaphors in female’s online self-experience sharing articles and feminine hygiene product print advertisements, and probe into female body image and its social evaluation underlying these metaphors. Throughout history, menstruation has long been a taboo topic; however, nowadays Internet provides a private yet free environment for females to talk about it. Conceptual metaphor is not only considered as an important mechanism of human thinking, but a device to reflect social values. Basing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Kövecses, 2002; Lakoff, 1993; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and Simone de Beauvoir’s view of “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”, this study adapts two analytical perspectives: verbal output from female’s self and visual input from the society. By means of metaphor, we expect to understand how female’s self as well as the public see menstruation, and sketch out a relatively complete image of menstruation. There are two main findings in this study. To start with, the most seen menstrual-related metaphors in online experience sharing articles are: MENSTRUAL BLOOD IS HUMAN, SANITARY PAD IS BAD PEOPLE, and TAMPON IS INTIMATE PEOPLE; the prominent metaphors in print ads are: MENSTRUAL BLOOD IS WATER, MENSTRUAL BLOOD IS ENEMY, SANITARY PAD IS OBJECT, and TAMPON IS OBJECT. Women themselves tend to regard menstruation as a life journey companion, while commercial ads describe menstrual-related ideas as non-living objects, and see them as threats or vulnerable states. Second, attitude differences are found between sanitary pad users/ads and tampon users/ads in both experience sharing articles and print ads. In female’s self-narration, sanitary pad users hold a negative attitude toward menstruation, but tampon users hold a positive attitude toward it. On the contrary, in print ads, sanitary pad ads have a positive and gentle image toward menstruation, but tampon ads express hostility toward menstruation and see it as a rival to be defeated. In addition to menstrual-related metaphors, we found that despite in non-face-to-face online discourse, menstruation is usually mentioned in substitute names, and real menstrual blood has never actually been showed in feminine hygiene product commercials. The concealment reflects that people tend to hold isolation and avoidance toward menstruation, and this has strengthened the pressure of requesting women to well hide their menstrual period to satisfy society’s image of a “normal” body. The current study takes two analytical perspectives from both female’s self and the public, not only complementing single view from either female or the public in literature, but also providing a more general and complete image construction of menstruation.