The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo, Menstruation (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Village Voice reporter Karen Houppert intrepidly attacks the laissez-faire attitude of many "personal products" companies with The Curse, and her investigations should rabble-rouse women to action. Most notable is her pointed discussion of dioxin, a class A (most toxic of the toxins) carcinogen, and how studies have shown traces of it in tampons from every major U.S. manufacturer. Dioxin is a chemical that's been given "zero tolerance" status by the Environmental Protection Agency because of its strongly suspected link "to lower sperm counts in men, a higher probability of endometriosis in women, and a depressed immune system in both." However, Houppert quotes tampon spokespeople who deny any problem, even though a Food and Drug Administration memo mentions that "the risk of dioxin in tampons 'can be quite high.'" This is exceptionally creepy when you consider that the average American woman spends 36 years menstruating, and if she uses tampons, she'll eventually use more than 11,000 of them.

Houppert's amusement with the approaches used by Tambrands and other makers of "female protection" is entertaining at times, but overall, it is purposefully acerbic, especially when it comes to marketing and the damage she claims it has wreaked on women's self-image. Houppert says these corporations have created a pervasive "culture of concealment" surrounding menstruation, perpetuated by advertising and single-sex "puberty education" classes in schools (which, she points out, are usually sponsored by such companies as Procter & Gamble, maker of the infamous Rely tampon that was implicated in 38 toxic shock syndrome-related deaths in 1980). While it seems comical now to see Tampax ads from the 1920s claiming to "permit daintiness at all times" and the campaign of the 1990s that asserts "No one will ever know you've got your period," Houppert successfully argues that the advertisements add a cruel sense of mystery and shame to menstruation. According to a survey from the 1980s that Houppert found during her research, more than 30 percent of adults questioned "thought women should cut down on their physical activities while menstruating" and an even higher percentage of teenage girls didn't know what was happening to them during their first period. And we wonder why teen pregnancy rates are so high.

"Because ideas about menstruation tie into prevailing notions that women's bodies are dangerously permeable," Houppert writes, "they become a part of the controlling myths our culture has spun to manipulate our perceptions of ourselves and our sexuality. Menstrual etiquette is an element of a woman's experience that contributes to this disorienting effect." She points out that a woman is more likely to tell a coworker about an affair than walk down the hall to the restroom with a tampon in hand. Her book is a revelation, a brilliant analysis of corporate influence and personal shame and how both are detrimental to the health--physical and mental--of women. --Erica Jorgensen

From Publishers Weekly

In this history of "the culture of concealment" surrounding menstruation and the effect of that secrecy on American women, Houppert presents medical, historical, literary, religious and anecdotal material documenting attitudes toward menstruation dating back to the Bible. Writing with a bravura that occasionally crosses the line into crudeness, she also convincingly investigates the role of advertisers and manufacturers of "feminine" products in perpetuating "superstition, shame, and sexual self-consciousness." In 1995, Tampax "reduced the number of plugs in a box from forty to thirty-two and raised the price," which incensed Houppert and sparked her research. She found that when tampons were introduced in the 1930s, clergy of all stripes opposed them as a threat to pubescent virginity, but few stepped forward to protest in 1980 when 38 women died of "tampon-related toxic shock syndrome." The FDA did not implement regulations until a decade later, after 60,000 women had been affected. Houppert shows how feminine-products manufacturers are maneuvering to stave off the coming industry economic crisis when baby boomers enter menopause by "hawking to pubescents" in middle schools with "traveling menstrual shows" that effectively keep the culture of concealment intact. She shows how PMS "has slipped into the cultural lexicon to discount women's legitimate concerns," noting how it has been blamed for everything from indigestion to murder. The silver lining for Houppert is a Museum of Menstruation (called "MUM" for mum's the word) and Web site (www.mum.org). Illustrated examples of each era's advertising introduce each chapter.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 263 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; 1 edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374273669
• ISBN-13: 978-0374273668
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,387,393 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazon needs to edit reviews, July 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation (Paperback)

It seems a little unfair that Amazon would allow a writer of a previous book called the Curse--who obviously has an axe to grind against Houppert's witty, thorough and intelligent writing and sees it as competition against the sales of her own volume--to write such a mean-spirited diatribe in the "customer reviews" section. Even more bizarre that Amazon actually allows Ms. Tobin to actually REVIEW HER OWN BOOK on that book's page (giving it five stars, naturally).

As someone who has in the past taken the customer reviews seriously, it makes me really wonder whether anyone is minding the store.

Regarding Houppert's book: It's good. Buy it. Ignore Tobin. She's got a major chip on her shoulder. Listen to Alix Kates Shulman and Peggy Orenstein--they're better (and fairer) judges.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you for writing this book!, April 22, 1999

By A Customer

I've just finished reading "The Curse"--if you're female and aren't filled with righteous indignation after reading this, you're either brain-dead or in a huge state of denial! Every single one of my girlfriends is getting a copy of this book. When's the first scheduled Tampax bonfire?;->

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this Book!, March 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation (Paperback)

I'm also upset at the biased review written by the author of the other 'Curse.' Ms. Houppert's issues with both dioxin and capitalism fit perfectly into the book. The childbirth story was not only not long, but it related to The Curse's themes. And even as a life-long Judy Blume fan, I can honestly say her writing is pretty flat. It's clear your books are completely different, aside from the title, and I would never read your book based on that petty review. Not everyone is looking for a "gossipy history" of menstruation, some people are interested in facts.

Anyway, not only was this 'Curse' engaging and interesting, it really made me angry about the way menstruation is treated in our society. Another reader mentioned that she felt no anger because they were providing products that women need, to say the least I DID feel angry, and much more informed, after reading about the way companies have, as the quote on the back says: "taken the natural workings of women's bodies...are medicalized, sanitized, taken from us and sold back to us at a profit." This is really a must for all women.