The Wise Wound

Menstruation and Everywoman

By (author) Penelope Shuttle By (author) Peter Redgrove

Book cover: The Wise Wound

Extent: 364 pages

Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers

Subjects: Asian/Pacific Studies & Religions, Gender & Sexuality

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(July 2005)

ISBN: 9780714534053

7.8 x 5 inches

Price: $18.95

In stock

This is a book of many questions and some answers. What is this menstruation that half the world undergoes? Has it any use, or any purpose? Which is it, blessing or curse? This groundbreaking study of the facts, fantasies, and taboos surrounding menstruation has helped bring about a profound shift in attitudes toward a natural phenomenon that has been reviled and denigrated over the centuries. Thoroughly researched yet highly readable, combining psychology, anthropology, and poetry, Shuttle and Redgrove illustrate their theories using examples ranging from the Bible to such modern-day pop horrors as vampire movies and the cult film The Exorcist.

Prelims
Foreword, Margaret Drabble
Prologue, Penelope Shuttle, Peter Redgrove
1. The Science of Bleeding
2. The Menstrual Epidemic
3. Animus, Animal, Anima
4. Does the Moon Menstruate?
5. Did the Ancients Have Wisdom?
6. Witchcraft: Nine Million Menstrual Murders
7. The Mirror of Dracula
End Matter
Epilogue
Afterword – The Menstrual Mandala
Appendix
Notes
Works Cited
Index

 

  • By (author) Penelope Shuttle
  • By (author) Peter Redgrove

"The first accessible book about menstruation as a human reality ... entirely praiseworthy." The Sunday Times "Answers many of the questions that one had never thought or dared to ask." Margaret Drabble, from the Foreword "It could bring about a major change in our understanding of the sexes." Psychology Today