Diffractive Menstruation: Toward a Technical-Rhetorical Perspective of Menstrual Health Technologies

Abstract

Abstract This article provides a technical-rhetorical perspective regarding the impact of historical menstrual health technologies through a material feminist approach. My Baradian diffractive analysis builds on previous work from material feminist scholars as well as feminist technical-rhetorical scholars to explain how menstruation and the innovation of menstrual health technologies are often predicated on efficiency bias. Ultimately, I trouble well-worn dichotomies to disrupt bodily efficiency logics and problematize deterministic ideas about menstruation.