How Menstrual Education Can Shape Body and Sex Positivity

This essay explains why menstrual education can impact how girls feel about their genitals, genital areas, and sexuality overall. Menstrual cycle experts Drs. Peggy Stubbs and Evelina Sterling offer that menstrual education is a valuable opportunity to provide girls with a more accurate, positive, and embodied view of their genitals as they develop a sexual sense of themselves.

“Stubbs and Sterling begin this chapter by discussing pubescent girls’ negative attitudes about their bodies ‘below the belt’ within the context of preparation for menstruation during pubertal education. As menstrual education presents mostly negative expectations for girls, the authors argue that it is a key contributor to girls’ negative attitudes about ‘down there.’ Instead, Stubbs and Sterling offer that menstrual education is a valuable opportunity to provide girls with a more accurate, positive, and embodied view of their genitals to access as they develop a sexual sense of themselves.”