杏吧原创

To many, menstruation is still a dirty word, referred to in whispers,
sniggers or euphemisms鈥攐f which 鈥淎unt Flo is visiting鈥� is just one of
thousands. The perplexing persistence of what Karen Houppert calls the culture
of concealment surrounding women鈥檚 periods forms the central theme of her
entertaining polemic, The Curse. The result of all this secrecy? A
sanitary protection industry insulated from adequate regulation, and the
perception of women as victims of their hormones. Published by Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, $24/拢14.70, ISBN 0374273669.