Bound by blood: Sexism, speciesism and multispecies menstruation politics

Vegan feminist theory has argued that the oppression of women, other animals and nature is premised on a series of dualisms, especially that between civilized humanity and animalized nature. Politics of animality, in particular, have been leveraged for the purposes of otherization. This article argues that menstruation in the human species serves as a cultural marker of animality for women and other menstruators. The article finds parallels in the bloodshed of Nonhuman Animals in a patriarchal society, also a consequence of violent inequality and culturally hidden. This entanglement is relevant for critical menstruation studies, critical animal studies and vegan feminist theory in that menstruation troubles binaries between women and men, nature and human and nonhuman and human which are argued to serve in the maintenance of social inequality. Employing a vegan feminist lens, this article argues for a critical multispecies menstruation studies that interrogates the cultural meaning of blood loss as it is informed by exploitation, secrecy and sacrifice across the species barrier. The destigmatization of menstruation and animality is championed as necessary for deconstructing deleterious dualisms and improving the status of menstruating persons and Nonhuman Animals alike.