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This project mainly discusses the discourse analysis of BBC News and The Guardian on the topic of menstrual equality, and reveals the power ownership, political information and social values behind the words through discourse analysis.

·         Research on menstrual equality in mainstream media is important because it touches on key areas such as gender equality, social bias, public health, and media influence.

·          Due to social and cultural factors, this topic is often ignored or discriminated against. Research on menstruation can help reveal hidden stereotypes and biases in culture, advance the process of gender equality, and help promote women's health and public awareness.

·          Studying how the topic of menstruation is presented in Western mainstream media can help to understand its role in shaping social perceptions and public attitudes.

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The death of a Nepalese woman triggered global attention to the issues of menstrual taboos and inequality. Significant menstrual equality issues are also prevalent in India and other regions (Kaundal & Thakur, 2014). Approximately 25% of women and adolescent girls worldwide lack access to necessary menstrual management supplies (Sommer & Mason, 2021).

·         With the rise of the feminist movement, mainstream media has increasingly focused on menstrual issues.

·         The year 2015 is considered the "Year of the Period," and academia saw a significant increase in in-depth research on menstrual issues.

·         Scholars from different regions hold varying perspectives on the feasibility of achieving menstrual equality, with some being optimistic (Bobel & Fahs, 2020) and others believing that achieving menstrual equality still has a long way to go (Garg et al., 2012).

References:
Bobel, C., & Fahs, B. (2020). From Bloodless Respectability to Radical Menstrual Embodiment: Shifting Menstrual Politics from Private to Public. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, ₄₅(4), 955–983. https://doi.org/10.1086/707802

Garg, R., Goyal, S., & Gupta, S. (2012). India Moves Towards Menstrual Hygiene: Subsidized Sanitary Napkins for Rural Adolescent Girls—Issues and Challenges. Maternal and Child Health Journal, ₁₆(4), 767–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0798-5

Kaundal, M., & Thakur, B. (2014). A Dialogue on Menstrual Taboo. Indian Journal of Community Health, ₂₆(2), 192–195.

Sommer, M., & Mason, D. J. (2021). Period Poverty and Promoting Menstrual Equity. JAMA Health Forum, ₂(8), e213089. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.3089

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The study will use critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse ten selected reports on BBC News and The Guardian in menstrual topic.

·         Why CDA: CDA can reveal how power relations, social biases, and cultural perspectives are reflected through media discourse.

·         Research Design: The data source is from the BBC News and The Guardian websites, and the samples will be selected based on publication time, keywords, and content. The study will utilize Fairclough Norman's three-dimensional model of discourse analysis to conduct analyses at the micro, meso, and macro levels (Fairclough, 1992).

·         Reliability and Limitations: An analysis at the discourse level has the capacity to detect fundamental characteristics and patterns in the language used in news. However, the subjectivity of the research method and sample selection may have an impact on the research results.

References:
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Polity Press. https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130282271864346112

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·         In content, reports about Western countries tend to present more positive and progressive content, while reports about India, Nepal, and Africa tend to be more negative and depict a less advanced situation.

·         In discourse, stories about menstruation equality in Western countries are often portrayed with a more assertive and empowering tone. On the other hand, menstruation issues in Africa and South Asia are depicted with sympathy.

·         It appears that women in the West are advocating for more comfortable menstruation, while women in India and Africa are struggling for the most basic menstrual products and the right to a normal life during menstruation. Essentially, this highlights a significant disparity between impoverished regions and developed regions in terms of menstruation equality and even women's rights issues. The media output in this process predominantly promotes a more radical form of feminism with a Western influence.

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·        The coverages to some extent help more people understand the widespread menstruation issues in various regions around the world and also demonstrates the significant differences in the severity of this issue in different regions.

·         The words in these reports may also deepen people's biases about the circumstances of women in South Asia and Africa, portraying these regions as more backward in terms of women's rights, thereby making Western countries appear to be relatively more humane.

·         The political bias in favour of feminism advocated by British media, and the global advocacy for menstruation equality and solving menstruation issues, is indeed one of the key tasks of this revolution.