Pamela Laufer-Ukeles, University of Dayton School of Law; Academic Center for Law & Science (Mishpat College of Law), is publishing The Power of Blood: The Many Faces of Menstruation in Jewish Law and Beyond in volume 41 of the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law (2021). Here is the abstract.
This Essay discusses competing narratives relating to menstruation as portrayed in Jewish law and culture, and assesses the implications of such narratives for modern legal systems. These narratives depict menstruation in all its contradictions — as taboo and power, as health and imperfection, and as reflecting biological difference but not inequality. Each narrative will be discussed from a textual, legal, communal and, occasionally, personal perspective, conveying different meanings that have different cultural impacts, modern applications and reflect different aspects of the quest for equality.
Download the essay from SSRN at the link.
