월경경험과 여성의 정체성 인지(認知)-안동시 풍산읍 소산마을을 중심으로-

Abstract

The present study approaches menstruation as a usual experience of women to explore the substance of menstrual experience and to shed light on the perceptive process of women’s identity formed via the experience from the perspective of the patriarchal society. Presuming that menstruation was directly affected by the patriarchal society, this study surveyed a group of women aged 68 minimum to 91 maximum. The cases of menstrual experience examined here were categorized into ‘disgrace, contamination and inconvenience’ and ‘reproduction.’ Both aspects seem attributable to the patriarchal ideas inherent in the menstrual experience. The perception of menstruation indicates that menstrual experience mirrors the patriarchal ideas. Menstruation was viewed as a positive aspect in terms of reproduction, which was stressed too much in the patriarchal society to the extent that menstruation was regarded as a precondition only for reproduction. Other than its significance relevant to reproduction, menstruation was negatively perceived in light of the ‘odor of menstrual blood’ and as part of ‘excretion.’ Such a perception extended into the perception of female body, which was conceived of as ‘something that gives birth to life’ or ‘something imperfect and abnormal.’Menstruation-related knowledge and ideas in line with patriarchal statements affected women’s consciousness and subconscious emotion, leading to their perception of self-identity. In that menstruation is associated with the birth of life, the existence of women was considered a source of the birth of life. By contrast, in compliance with patriarchal statements, the significance of birth of life was over-emphasized to the extent that women were identified as ‘tools for giving birth.’ Meanwhile, the negative perception of menstruation was an obsessive thought of stereotyped images of women required in the patriarchal system, underpinning the passive and withdrawn identities of women. Paradoxically, it was women themselves who went through the patriarchal system that drove a wedge in their identity formed through menstruation.