Channels of Information about Menstruation and Sexuality Among Hasidic Adolescent Girls

Women’s attitudes toward aspects of adolescence and sexuality, and sources of women’s knowledge about their bodies, are culturally influenced and different among various social groups. This article discusses aspects of adolescence and sexuality among women and girls in one of the most extreme ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups. In particular, it investigates the ways they acquire knowledge about menstruation. The findings show that mothers are the main source of information for the girls, but they also have other sources of information, mainly their peer group. The findings also show a variety of voices among the women regarding the information the girls acquire from their mothers, with some reporting the transmission only of technical information, while others reported positive messages about menstruation, associating it with the girl’s future ability to bear children. Despite these different voices, all the women who were interviewed considered menstruation a taboo subject, which must be kept private and not associated with sexuality. The way this issue is treated both reflects and maintains this ultra-Orthodox group’s stringent supervision over sexuality.