Menstrual stigma and exercise behaviour among young women: the role of shame, visibility, and self-control

The impact of menstruation on physical activity is often examined through biological symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and bleeding; however, shame and concealment norms surrounding the public visibility of menstruation may also shape exercise behaviour. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study examined the relationships among menstrual shame/social anxiety, general self-control, and exercise behaviour during menstruation in young women aged 18–24 years, and used qualitative interviews to explain how quantitative patterns were experienced in everyday life. Drawing on the doing gender perspective, menstrual concealment and the regulation of bodily visibility were interpreted as practices through which young women negotiate normative gender expectations in everyday social interactions. The quantitative phase included 479 young women, followed by semi-structured in-depth interviews with 24 participants selected to represent different experiential profiles. Descriptive findings indicated low levels of regular exercise and a high prevalence of menstrual symptoms. Qualitative analysis generated four interconnected themes: menstrual silence; normative self-control; visibility threat and spatial withdrawal; and context-dependent reconfiguration of exercise. Participants’ expressions such as ‘not letting it show’, ‘managing it’, and ‘appearing normal’ pointed to a normative performance aimed at suppressing the social visibility of menstruation, distinct from general self-control. The findings suggest that physical activity during menstruation cannot be adequately understood through symptom management or individual volition alone; rather, attention should also be paid to a process of ‘gendered visibility management’ in which talk, bodily presentation, space, and movement are jointly regulated. By integrating quantitative associations and qualitative accounts through a doing gender perspective, this study highlights how the social regulation of menstrual visibility may shape not only whether young women exercise, but also where and how they participate in physical activity.