More Than a Period: Creative Engagement and Storytelling to Transform the Menstrual Communication Landscape

This project addresses long-standing taboos, misinformation, and negative communication about menstruation that contribute to its persistent stigmatisation. It reveals discontentment experienced by menstruators in professional, institutional, and communal systems. This centres on dissatisfaction with menstrual leave policies and invalidation of debilitating menstrual pain by medical professionals, as well as insufficient emotional and empathetic support from non-menstruators. This thesis situates itself in the gap between the physiological challenges of menstruation and the psychosocial needs of menstruators. These concerns are addressed by investigating how design can foster meaningful knowledge, positive messaging, and open communication about menstruation. By employing a practice-based methodology led by provocations in material form, this project initiates conversation around the power structures that assert control over women’s bodies. Through ethnographic interviews, participatory workshops, co-creative projects, and storytelling, the research gathers significant insights into a diversity of lived experiences of menstruation. The research culminates in the establishment of two interconnected menstrual communication networks–Bloom Club, a vibrant and inclusive community centred on knowledge sharing through personal accounts, the inclusion of non-menstruators to build allyship, and the use of playfully provocative messaging for accessible and engaging advocacy–and Bloom Talk, a podcast show that unravels a diversity of menstrual experiences through candid, personal stories. These outcomes serve as case studies of creative communication systems that foster community building to enable healthy, positive, and curiosity-driven attitudes toward menstruation.