The Palgrave Handbook of Menstruation Studies in Sport

This Handbook is the first to bring together scholars working in the quickly evolving field of menstruation in sport research. After decades of silencing, stigma and taboo, menstruation in sport is finally garnering the attention of sports organizations, media and the public alike. Yet many longstanding and new challenges continue to face menstruators as they participate in sport and physical activity environments. Focusing on health, wellbeing and performance, this foundational volume brings together researchers from different disciplines and contexts to advance new theoretical, methodological and practical insights into the historical, social, cultural, economic, mediated, technological, physiological and endocrinological complexities of menstruation in sport. With contributions from those living and working in a range of geographical contexts (Africa, Australia, China, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States of America and the United Kingdom), the Handbook explores the importance of cultural contexts in shaping knowledge, practices and policies relating to menstruation in sport and physical activity. The extensive transdisciplinary and international breadth of topics provides not only a cohesive summary of the current literature of menstruation in sport but critical perspectives on current debates, oversights, and next steps in the study, policy and practice of menstruation in sport. In so doing, the Handbook makes a timely and critical intervention for scholars, students, sports organisations and practitioners working to remove gendered barriers and obstacles in sport and physical activity.