The Wise Wound: menstruation and everywoman [Paperback]

Penelope Shuttle (Author), Peter Redgrove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

“The first accessible book about menstruation as a human reality . . . entirely praiseworthy.”—The Sunday Times

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714534056
• ISBN-13: 978-0714534053
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PMS turned inside out, December 16, 2000

By 

"ladymorphia" (Manchester, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wise Wound: Menstruation and Everywoman (Paperback)

Pre-menstrual syndrome, with all its characteristics of cramps, pain, depression and headaches is nothing more than male programming or 'Howlback' according to the WW. Women have been conditionned to perceive the bleed as just a biological inconvenience which can be modified or 'treated' with drugs or ignored completely. Shuttled and Redgrove theorize the motivation behind this pattern and deconstruct it using examples from ancient cultures and horror film imagery of the menstruating female.

But the text covers much more than PMS; in a way, the latent significance of menstruation has been turned 'outside- in', concealed from and downgraded by modern society and suppressed. The WW demonstrates how the gifts of the bleed can be turned back inside (from the unconscious) out (to consciousness), that is back to the right and Natural place in the importance of our femality.

If you are looking for advice on how diet can help with PMS dont bother with this book. If you want to change the 'curse' into a very wise wound indeed, the you MUST read it. My wisebleed is now my 'call of the wild' and PMS is His-story !

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A different perspective, November 16, 2004

By 

elf (cornwall) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The wise wound: Menstruation and everywoman (Paladin Books) (Paperback)

This book changed the way I see my femininity for ever. I think everyone should read it.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read, February 5, 2005

By 

Cdixon (FL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wise Wound: Menstruation and Everywoman (Paperback)

This book is one of the books I recommend to anyone trying to understand more about modern culture and menstruation. Shuttle and Redgrove do a very decent job exploring myth, biology, and psychology to present the menstrual process as a holistic experience. The book is a hefty read which can at times be tough to follow, but for a beginning look at sociology and menstruation it really can't be beat.

There are reasons I didn't rate this book as 5 stars. The authors fall back on Jungian psychology for almost all of their assumptions. I find Jungian methods to be inherently flawed in their assumptions, that the active portions of the psyche are inherently male, and the passive portions are inherently female. The authors also rely on free association with myth and popular culture to tie the book together, diminishing the book's usefulness as a basis for a scholarly discussion on the culture towards menstruation.

In other words, a good place to start looking, but if you're serious about researching the phenomenon, keep reading other books after this one.