A new chapter in the fight for menstrual justice By Anita Diamant, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, and New Delhi: Scribner. 2021. pp. 170. ISBN: 978‐1‐9821‐4430‐2 (e‐book)

Is menstruation just a natural process? Anita Diamant says a “big NO” in her new book, Period. End of Sentence: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice. Anita Diamant, the celebrated writer and activist, problematizes the politics of menstrual justice and rejects menstrual silencing, distancing, agony, violence, and shame. Based on such understanding, this book provides a collection of personal experiences, tales, and poems to explore the lives of 800 million menstruating women on planet Earth. Thematically, the book discusses menstrual politics in the larger contexts of the menstrual periods, hygiene, period poverty, and commercialization of women's bodies. Structurally, the book is divided into five different parts dealing with the sociocultural and socioeconomic aspects of menstruation and explores how menstruation is detached from its natural forms and becomes part of patriarchy, religion, and power. Politically, the book stands for menstrual equality by critically approaching socioreligious systems, patriarchy, racism, and capitalism. Diamant painstakingly presents what can be termed as a “bird's eye view” of menstruation's transition since ancient times. Nothing much has changed, she demonstrates, and our approaches to the issue of menstrual justice are still primitive. Part 1 examines how curse, shame, and stigma constitute menstruation's social elements. Diamant demonstrates a striking continuity from antiquity in characterizing menstrual periods as a curse. The book shows that the ancient Roman scholar Pliny the Elder viewed menstruation as a curse, but The Lancet, an esteemed medical journal, also expressed similar viewpoints in the 1920s. To Diamant, such negative characterization of menstruation is part of every society and person. Diamant quotes Gandhi to prove her argument, who once argued that menstruation is a “distortion of women's soul because of their sexuality.” Diamant confirms that no drastic transformation must be expected in modern times, as menstruating women are forced to undergo primitive approaches. Further, the book demonstrates that even in modern times, ostracism dominates the social space of menstruation, and such discourses influence women's lives. Diamant quotes extensively from case studies to prove her arguments. She argues that the perfect example of menstrual ostracism is in Nepal, where menstruating women are forced to observe chhaupadi, an ancient custom. In this old Hindu custom, menstruating women are “barred from sleeping under the same roof as their families.” On further inquiry, the book examines how colonization changed the premodern practices of women's lives, especially by eradicating worldwide customs. Diamant draws that Flower Dance (Hoopa Valley Tribes), Waiwhero (New Zealand) Bashali (Pakistan) are some of the essential traditional approaches to menstruation. Still, they lost their sanctity in the wake of European colonization. Part 3 deals with one of the essential menstruation issues—Period Poverty. Diamant shows that period poverty is an unbearable reality. The book demonstrates that while menstruating women spend $17,000 on an average during their life, period poverty is not just the lack of period products. Instead, it is a condition where menstruating women experience inadequate sociocultural and socioeconomic support to have a decent menstrual period. Further, Diamant brings to analyze the lives of women facing period poverty in different situations. Women in the garment factories of Bangladesh and the sugarcane fields in the Beed region of Maharashtra (India) are cited as examples of period poverty. Based on such case studies, the book theorizes that the 6600 hysterectomies during 2016 and 2019 in Beed show how period poverty affects women's lives, especially in marginalized sectors. Delving further into contemporary society, part 3 presents the atrocious practices that the US prisons are fated to experience. Diamant's study demonstrates that historically, all the US prisons were made to accommodate men, but women were also incarcerated over the years. Though the prisons were made for men, the world's large percentage of women prisoners are now in the United States, and they are forced to acclimatize with the prisons primarily meant for male inmates. To Diamant, such deranged structural adjustments lead women inmates to severe physical and mental trauma. To prove her claim, Diamant quotes a report in 2015 which shows the evidence of deliberate harassment of women during menstrual periods in the New York prison. Part 4 examines the transition of menstruation as a public affair. One of the fascinating side effects of this, Diamant demonstrates, is the rise of the menstrual business. The book presents a fascinating history of period adjacent products and period products. Diamant shows that the history of menstrual products is intertwined with profit, business, social activism, philanthropy, and compassion. In modern times, menstruation is a multimillion industry where corporate competition dominates the markets. Diamant adds that such corporate domination impacts women's lives, but the presence of nonprofit organizations and individuals does resist corporatism. Diamant goes on to detail the contributions of Arunachalam Muruganantham, Hindo Kposowa, Tim Katz, and others in creating a more menstrual-friendly world through their efforts. In part 5, the book calls for a more sustainable approach to menstruation. To Diamant, the announcement of a new shade named Period by Pantone, the global arbiter of color, is a sign of relief. This is so because time changes positively for periods. Further, part 5 shows that earlier secrecy ruled the world of menstruation but no longer is it so. Finally, this section also demonstrates how television channels, advertisements, comedy programs, and so on, engage with the issue of menstruation and discuss the issue of seeing red positively. Overall, the book stands for gender justice and advocates that states, societies, institutions, and individuals should formulate menstrual policies to develop a stigma-less and curse-less world of menstruators. The book explains how cultural taboos such as shame, impurity, and indecency are produced and reflected in women's lives and seeks ways to eradicate such issues. Diamant suggests that global policies include menstrual leave, tax-free tampons, free menstrual products, and awareness programs.

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