The Wise Wound: Menstruation and Everywoman |
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Author:
Penelope Shuttle,
Peter Redgrove
By Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $54.74
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Product Description
Answers many of the questions that one had never thought or dared to ask. From the Foreword by Margaret Drabble
This best-selling classic is now back in print after ten years. A groundbreaking study of the facts, fantasies and taboos surrounding menstruation, The Wise Wound has helped bring about a profound shift in women's attitudes towards a natural phenomenon that has been despised and denigrated for centuries. The Wise Wound explores the historical and cultural legacy of this repression, from its effects on the way medicine treats women to the displaced appearance of menstrual imagery at all levels of our culture.
Thoroughly researched yet highly readable, combining psychology, anthropology and poetry, their theories are illustrated using examples ranging from The Bible to the cult film The Exorcist. The Wise Wound also offers practical advice for women on how to get in touch with the hidden energies of their own moon cycle. First published in 1978, The Wise Wound has gone through numerous editions, with 100,000 copies printed. This is an important literary event. Other books on menstruation have followed, but this was the first and still has the broadest appeal. "
"The first accessible book about menstruation as a human reality ... entirely praiseworthy."?The Sunday Times
"It could bring about a major change in our understanding of the sexes."?Psychology Today
Penelope Shuttle is a noted feminist poet and novelist. Her acclaimed novels, including the most recent The Mirror of the Giant, are published by Marion Boyars. In 1996, Peter Redgrove received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. His highly praised manifesto on the Gaia hypothesis, The Black Goddess and the Sixth Sense first appeared in 1987.
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 A must read, 2005-02-05
This book is one of the books I recommend to anyone trying to understand more about modern culture and menstruation. Shuttle and Redgrove do a very decent job exploring myth, biology, and psychology to present the menstrual process as a holistic experience. The book is a hefty read which can at times be tough to follow, but for a beginning look at sociology and menstruation it really can't be beat.
There are reasons I didn't rate this book as 5 stars. The authors fall back on Jungian psychology for almost all of their assumptions. I find Jungian methods to be inherently flawed in their assumptions, that the active portions of the psyche are inherently male, and the passive portions are inherently female. The authors also rely on free association with myth and popular culture to tie the book together, diminishing the book's usefulness as a basis for a scholarly discussion on the culture towards menstruation.
In other words, a good place to start looking, but if you're serious about researching the phenomenon, keep reading other books after this one.
A different perspective, 2004-11-16
This book changed the way I see my femininity for ever. I think everyone should read it.
PMS turned inside out, 2000-12-16
Pre-menstrual syndrome, with all its characteristics of cramps, pain, depression and headaches is nothing more than male programming or 'Howlback' according to the WW. Women have been conditionned to perceive the bleed as just a biological inconvenience which can be modified or 'treated' with drugs or ignored completely. Shuttled and Redgrove theorize the motivation behind this pattern and deconstruct it using examples from ancient cultures and horror film imagery of the menstruating female. But the text covers much more than PMS; in a way, the latent significance of menstruation has been turned 'outside- in', concealed from and downgraded by modern society and suppressed. The WW demonstrates how the gifts of the bleed can be turned back inside (from the unconscious) out (to consciousness), that is back to the right and Natural place in the importance of our femality. If you are looking for advice on how diet can help with PMS dont bother with this book. If you want to change the 'curse' into a very wise wound indeed, the you MUST read it. My wisebleed is now my 'call of the wild' and PMS is His-story !
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.662
EAN: 9780714530550
ISBN: 0714530557
Label: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
Manufacturer: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 366
Publication Date: 2000-07-01
Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
Studio: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd |
