Interrelationship between attitudes towards menstruation, support of women's movement, body appreciation and self-esteem

Positive attitudes toward feminism (women movement) are positively associated with pleasant attitudes toward menstruation (0.128*), secrecy beliefs (0.302***), and the body appreciation (0.219*), also there are negatively associated with the relation to menstruation as to disability (-0.149*).

Annoyance toward menstruation are negatively associated both with the self-esteem (-0.132**) and the body appreciation (-0.219**). The relation to the menstruation at to the disability is positively associated with the self-esteem (0.096*). And pleasant attitudes toward menstruation are positively associated with body appreciation (0.219*).

It can be said that when women have positive attitudes toward menstruation and feminism, they will have a positive body appreciation and a high self-esteem, understanding the importance of being involved with women's movement and to talk about the period. On the other hand, when women have negative attitudes toward menstruation and feminism, they will have a negative body appreciation and a low self-esteem. They will be irritated about the menstruation and feminism, will find difficulties or changes into their daily activities (disability) due to menstruation. It should be mentioned that the indirect effects of feminist attitudes to self-esteem and the body appreciation are insignificant.

The above tests were considered to assess the fitness between the hypothesized model with the corresponding items and the data. Initially, the measures indicated acceptable fitness (CMIN/DF =1.863; P = 0.114; CFI = .991, RMSEA = .059 and PCLOSE= .340), which indicates good fitting models.

Discussion

Menstruation is a determining event in women's lives; it is a dying and a birth, to die to childhood and to be born to adulthood. During this transition, the girl experiences multiple changes in her body by hormonal processes that endow her with the ability to give life. In this way, menstruation is a fundamental element for perpetuation of the species so individuals give it various social representations depending on of each culture.

Menstruation: a unique feminine process. Something to be proud of but at the same time, to keep it hidden

Nowadays, menstruation is an indicator of a woman's health status, so health professionals include this aspect in their consultations. American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2006) understand the menstrual cycle as a vital sign and fundamental element for normal development in all dimensions of a woman's life. On the contrary, when a woman does not menstruate, she becomes ill and dies. Women, who have a positive experience with their femininity and menstruation, will have positive attitudes towards their bodies and will have high self-esteem. They see this uniqueness as something extraordinary.

It is relevant to mention that there are several studies which show that women are perceived as weak creatures and men as strong ones due to physical differences. “…When He created them, God made physiological and functional differences between men and women. These differences confer upon men a greater capacity to perform arduous and hazardous tasks” (Delaney, Lupton and Toth, 1988).

Changing routines during the period

During the menstrual period there are some symptoms such as swelling, abdominal pain, lack of energy, bad temper, anger, mood swings and others, which are alleviated by special care such as applying water cloths, drinking plant water, bathing with warm water, not going out in the sun, not washing clothes, not making efforts and mainly lying down resting. UNICEF Colombia (2015) It can be said that some women do change their daily activities due to the special care that menstruation needs and to the need to connect with themselves to avoid any negative experiences, but at the same time it leads to make women feel insecure, anxious, not satisfied with their bodies due to the swelling. Some women cannot even recognize their bodies and feel detached to this process, till having feelings to completely deny everything related to menstruation.

In addition, with regard to intimate relationships during the period, a few couples choose not to have them because the woman feels uncomfortable and also presents pain. Some women are ashamed to share with their husband because it is annoying and it is important to respect the woman in this cleaning time. This sexual abstinence behavior is prevalent in several cultures, as Crawford et al. (2014) talking about the prohibition of women in Nepal, by Hinduism, to share a bed with their husband while they are menstruating. Some women do not feel confident to expose their bodies and besides, the pain and hormonal changes, limit of them to fully continue their routines.

Kapoor and Khari (2016) argue girls experience several impositions and restrictions while they are menstruating, the ones which affect them psychologically; making them feel insecure; decreasing their self-esteem because they feel ashamed and disgust during this process. The authors claim: “Majority of girls impose self-restrictions like going to school or play based on wrong belief that they are physically weak on those days” (p.43).

In relation to the selected measures, both studies and applications of the BATM showed that the reliability for each scale of this instrument is high - good. In terms of strengths, the scale can be said to be quite reliable since an analysis produced high Cronbach alpha. In contrast with the article from which the instrument was taken (Development of a New Scale to Measure Beliefs about and Attitudes Toward Menstruation (BATM): Data from Mexico and the United States, 2006), it can be said that in the first study the authors concluded that they did not find significant differences on the six items. They analyzed that the final BATM is a:

45-item instrument with five factors, which were labeled "secrecy" (12 items; Cronbach's alpha = .82), "annoyance" (13 items; Cronbach's alpha -- .83), proscriptions and prescriptions" (9 items; Cronbach's alpha = .76), "disability" (5 items; Cronbach's alpha = .75), and "pleasant" (6 items; Cronbach's alpha -- .71). The total BATM reliability was estimated to be .89 using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The significant correlations were the following: The "secrecy" factor was positively correlated with "annoyance" (r = .26, p < .0001), "proscriptions and prescriptions" (r = .46, p < .0001), and "disability" {r = .44, p < .0001). Moreover, "annoyance" was also positively correlated with "proscriptions and prescriptions" (r -- .34, p < .0001) and "disability" (r = .42, p < ,0001). Finally, "proscriptions and prescriptions" was positively correlated with 'disability" (r = .37, p < .0001), but it was negatively correlated with "pleasant" (r = -.08, p < .01). (Marvбn, Vбzquez & Chrisler, 2006, p.462).

The previous study about attitudes toward feminism and the women's movement showed reliability to the measure and the current study showed the same results for that, according to the reliability. Both studies showed that this measure is useful as a feminist attitudinal measure and understanding that menstruation is a feminine process, both constructs fit together.

With the selected article for self-esteem and menstruation, it can be said that girls were also included and that might modify some results due to a not consolidated construction of beliefs and attitudes towards menstruation and feminism. Not all of the girls answered the questionnaire because maybe they are not so aware of the importance of this topic or they felt really ashamed. With this research, women were really involved and that is why 252 females took part in it. The same results were obtained, when girls had positive attitudes towards menstruation, they also showed positive attitudes about themselves.

It is relevant to mention that women have been granted multiple supernatural powers, beneficial and other harmful and although medicine has clarified the biological characteristics of the menstrual process, menstruation is still accompanied by religious and mystical conceptions in some cultures. Women are characterized by being: “tearful, tense, weak, physically ill, mentally unstable, easily enraged, out of control and potentially violent” (Marvбn, Vбzquez & Chrisler, 2014, p.280).

Conclusions

It is relevant to mention that the sample size was bigger than expected. About limitations of the study, the length of the questionnaires was too big, that is why it was necessary to modify the final version and it might have some impact in the results. The topic is still very unknown as it is fundamental to continue investigating, including other population/ Some participants mentioned that they really had some time to reflect about this topic and that is was really interesting for them to understand for the first time the beliefs and attitudes that they have related to menstruation. However, just few participants expressed that the questionnaire was a bit long and that for them some statements were not necessary to ask, but they did not specify which ones and why. It can be concluded that even after living in modernizing societies, there are still some people who do not feel so comfortable speaking about this topic and that is why they also get annoyed about it. But others expressed that it is essential to talk about this topic in different spheres to educate people. Two hypotheses were partially confirmed and one not confirmed.

1. Positive beliefs about and attitudes toward menstruation will lead to a positive body appreciation and high self-esteem. Partially confirmed.

2. Negative beliefs about and attitudes toward menstruation will lead to a negative body appreciation and low self-esteem. Partially confirmed.

3. Beliefs and attitudes toward menstruation are mediators of a link between feminism attitudes and body appreciation and self-esteem. Not confirmed.

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