Listening to Chinese Adolescents' Experiences and Feelings of Menstruation
Similarly, in contemporary China, sexuality-related content is delivered under the umbrella of “Health Education” or “Morality Education” (MoE, 2008). Yet, discussions about sexuality and menstruation in Chinese education still focus primarily on 'health' and 'protection' from a sexual abstinence perspective aimed at children (Kehily, 2005; MoE, 2008). Despite the policy and practice limitations within Chinese educational contexts, there have been shifts in public awareness related to sex education and menstruation in the broader social sphere, driven by non-state actors (Guo et al., 2022; Zhang and Zhang, 2023). Although menstrual activism has gained greater visibility in China, a significant gap remains between young people’s experiences of menstruation and the menstruation-related knowledge provided in the country (Hennegan et al., 2019).
This paper thus calls attention to the growing issues surrounding menstruation and offers insights from the Chinese context. Drawing on the theory of embodiment (Mason and Boero, 2020), this paper explores Chinese adolescents’ experiences and feelings about menstruation, amplifying their voices through focus groups, diary-interviews, and zine-making as research methods. This paper shares key findings on Chinese adolescents’ experiences, including their confusion and challenges with menstruation, as well as their experiences of gender-based discrimination surrounding menstruation, and their resistance to such discrimination. This paper not only challenges gender-essentialist and adult-centric views on menstruation but also introduces alternative research methods to amplify youth voices on sexuality.