Menstruation and Procreation in Early Modern France

Early modern bodies, particularly menstruating and pregnant bodies, were not stable signifiers. Menstruation and Procreation in Early Modern France presents the first full-length discussion of menstruation and its uncertain connections with embodied sex, gender and reproduction in early modern France. It destabilizes long-standing assumptions about the 'gendering' of menstruation and raises important questions about the nature of historical evidence and bodily truths.

Cathy McClive is Lecturer in Early Modern European History at Durham University, UK.

Contents: Introduction: blood, menses and the myth of 'menstrual misogyny'; Leviticus and the problem of sex during genital fluxes; Menstruation, conception and the timely use of marriage; 'I await my rules which do not arrive': menstrual regularity and irregular menstruation; Detecting and proving pregnancy; Menstrual time and the moons of pregnancy; Bleeding hermaphrodites and menstruating men; Conclusions; Select bibliography; Index.