Exploring Critical Menstrual Studies in the Nordic Region: The Importance of Local Specificities

Magazine article, 2023

In 2017, the walls of Stockholm’s subway system featured new art: black and white sketches of women participating in different activities, such as ice skating, with visible, red menstrual blood on their underwear. While feminist circles reacted with wide acclaim, the art pieces received mixed responses, both locally and abroad. The right-wing Swedish Democrats have since suggested bans for public menstrual art, but local artists and menstrual activists advocate for artistic freedom and the importance of de-stigmatizing menstruation. Other conservative political parties use menstrual art as a rhetorical weapon by positioning opposition parties as having “bad taste” and incorrectly prioritizing voters’ issues. This is one example of how public discussion about menstruation has increased across the Nordic region in the past decade.[2] The Nordic region has a long history of menstrual activism, art, and advocacy, but a miniscule research community for scholars in the field. This article introduces the Menstrual Studies in Scandinavia network (MeSS), the reasons why menstrual scholarship is urgently needed in the Nordics, and what we have found in the first year of our collaborative work.