Dr. Honorata Jakubowska
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Sociology at Adam Mickiewicz University. She teaches, conducts research and publishes on the sociology of sport, gender studies and the sociology of body. She is the principal investigator of the research project “Menstruation Management in Professional Sport: A Sociological Perspective”, financed by the National Science Centre in Poland.
X: @JakubowskaH
Email:
honorata.jakubowska@amu.edu.pl
Ewa Swoboda, a Polish female sprinter, qualified for the semifinals and subsequently participated in an interview with Polish Television (TVP). During the interviews, she disclosed, “I have the first day of ‘these days,’ so I’m feeling tired and nervous”. Addressing other journalists, she added, “I’ve got my period; we’ll talk tomorrow.” Following the semifinal, Swoboda returned to the topic of her menstruation, stating, “I am on my period, and it’s a particularly challenging time for me this month. However, I won’t attribute my weaker performance to that. I was only 0.01 seconds. I am well-prepared, and I don’t know what happened.”
Prior to the Olympic Games, Natalia Kaczmarek, a Polish runner with multiple medals from the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 and the European and World Championships, became an ambassador for the Always campaign “It’s a new period.” The campaign aims to increase awareness and foster open conversations about the impact of menstruation on female athletes. During the Olympic Games, viewers could also see an advertisement for the same campaign featuring British athlete Jazmin Sawyers. The slogan for this advertisement, “Let’s open our eyes to period anxiety and make periods an open part of the game”, could be perceived as a powerful message for women’s sport.
While menstruation is increasingly discussed in public discourse, it remains, to some extent, a taboo subject that should be concealed. This trend persists within the realm of sport. Studies indicate that the issues related to female hormonal cycles are overlooked within the sports environment. Communication regarding menstruation and the menstrual cycle between female athletes and coaches is infrequent. Key barriers to this communication include: (1) insufficient knowledge, (2) social norms related to the menstrual taboo and stigma that make conversations about menstruation embarrassing or awkward, (3) concerns about athletes’ privacy, and (4) the predominance of male coaches.
The silence surrounding menstruation may also be attributed to the specific nature of the sport, which is sex segregation based on the dichotomy between male strength and female frailty. In this context, using menstruation as an excuse for poor performance could reinforce the frailty myth and conviction that the female body, mainly during menstruation, is too frail for sport. Furthermore, disclosing menstruation can lead to perceptions of women as being influenced by “emotional fluctuations,” undermining the image of women as “real” athletes who are expected to control their bodies and emotions. As stated by Sawyers in the advertisement, “Nobody wants you to play the woman card.”
In this context, it is unsurprising that female athletes seldom publicly address menstrual ailments despite openly discussing other physical challenges encountered during competition. Notable exceptions include Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui, who attributed her weaker performance in the 2016 Rio Olympics 4x100m medley relay to her menstrual period that began the previous day, and Israeli marathon runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, who was forced to pause her run during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games due to menstrual cramps. The extensive media coverage of these cases, including the Polish media’s attention to Ewa Swoboda’s case during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, emphasizes the exceptional nature of such statements.
The silence surrounding menstruation may intensify periodic anxiety. This anxiety encompasses both women’s participation in sport and performance quality. Additionally, it involves apprehension about bodily leakage and the outfits worn during competition. While often associated with white color, this concern extends to the revealing nature of some sports uniforms, such as those worn in athletics and gymnastics. High-profile female athletes openly discussing menstruation during Olympic Games media coverage draw attention to period-related issues, including period anxiety.
The Olympic Games, with their global audience and extensive coverage of women’s sports, present an ideal platform to challenge the menstrual taboo. However, significant changes are needed, not only in sport but also in media representation. While Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda used the term “these days” (accompanied by laughter) in a brief interview with the journalist, she also employed the term “period” when speaking to Polish media. Notably, the term period was absent from discussion between journalists and experts (including a former Polish female runner). Instead of direct reference, viewers might have encountered euphemisms like “a woman’s difficult time of the month” or “this topic”, maintaining this way menstrual taboo. Given the Olympic Games’ status as both a sporting and media spectacle, how the media present menstruation-related issues during these events holds significant importance. In the sport environment, open discussion on menstruation may contribute to better communications, the development of education regarding menstrual issues and institutional support for female athletes. Moreover, female champions, as role models, impact girls worldwide and may help to mitigate the menstruation stigma beyond sport.
