Why Women Need Menstrual Synchrony
Written by Laurel Geraci
Edited by Pooja Dandekar
May 2, 2021
Edited by Pooja Dandekar
May 2, 2021
We’ve all heard the myth that women who live together are more likely to have synchronized menstrual cycles--but is there any truth to it? In terms of media representation, menstrual synchrony is an established phenomenon that unites women who bleed together. While scientists have neither proven nor disproven this theory, there is certainly a social motivation to believe it is true: the idea of gender collectivism and solidarity. Even if female roommates, relatives, or couples can’t magically sync up their menstrual cycles, banding together through complaints about PMS evidently erases embarrassment around menstruation and strengthens present-day sisterhood*.
Let us begin by looking at menstruation from a historical perspective. According to Johnston-Robledo et al. (2006), women from cultures all around the world are traditionally taught many false notions about their periods, including but not limited to menstruation being unclean, unnecessary, and a detox for the female body. With constant propaganda being pushed towards their “fundamentally dirty” bodies, it’s no wonder that women have adopted a silent and shameful attitude towards menstruation. The idea of menstrual synchrony provides the perfect segue into conversations about the negative aspects of menstruation. Instead of the sexist narrative many women grew up with, period synchrony gives women a platform to voice their hardships and receive social support from other women experiencing the same thing. This solidarity puts sisterhood in terms of real feminine struggles of bloating, cramping, and bleeding (Arden et al., 1999). Overall, women expressing concern for other women and uplifting one another directly denounces the patriarchal practices of pitting women against each other.
There is a biological basis as well for believing feminine bodies are putting themselves in hormonal synchrony with other women. Evolutionary biologists such as McClintock (1998) and Burley (1979) speculate that societies composed of many women and a few men could actually benefit from menstrual synchrony, since the men could efficiently impregnate multiple women at the same time by sensing their feminine hormones all at once. In more modern urban societies, women are having more years of menstruation and more pregnancies than their ancestors or nonurban counterparts (Strassmann, 1997), which is another reason why women could be experiencing consistent menstrual synchrony.
Menstrual synchrony shouldn’t have to be a cause of social stigma. With a worldwide feminine population of about 50%, we owe it to women to give them a space to speak freely about their bodies and physical strife. Even though scientists can’t agree on whether it actually exists, it’s clear that the social benefits of believing in menstrual synchrony outweigh the scientific validity.
*Note: This article exclusively discusses the idea of sisterhood in cisgendered women.
References
- Fahs, B., Gonzalez, J., Coursey, R., & Robinson-Cestaro, S. (2014, December 9). Cycling Together: Menstrual Synchrony as a Projection of Gendered Solidarity. Retrieved January 6, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23293691.2014.966029
- Johnston-Robledo, I., Barnack, J., & Wares, S. (2006). Kiss your period “goodbye”: Menstrual suppression in the popular press. Sex Roles, 54, 353–360.
- Arden, M. A., Dye, L., & Walker, A. (1999). Menstrual synchrony: Awareness and subjective experiences. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology,17, 255–265.
- McClintock, M. K. (1998). Whither menstrual synchrony? Annual Review of Sex Research,9(1), 77–95.
- Burley, N. (1979). The evolution of concealed ovulation. American Naturalist, 114, 835–858.
- Strassmann, B. I. (1997). The biology of menstruation in homo sapiens: Total lifetime menses, fecundity, and nonsynchrony in a natural-fertility population.” Current Anthropology, 38(1), 123–129