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Through an examination of how menstruation, childbirth, and the menopause are represented in second-wave feminist texts, Chapter One contextualises the book’s cross-cultural approach to representations of the female body in contemporary women’s writing in French. This chapter emphasises that the second-wave feminists were the first to break the silence that surrounds certain female bodily experiences and sought to challenge normative and patriarchal discourses which paint the female body in a negative light. It focuses on three second-wave feminist texts, namely: Parole de femme by Annie Leclerc, Pouvoirs de l’horreur by Julia Kristeva, and Autrement Dit by Marie Cardinal. The chapter subsequently examines how the second-wave feminists have been criticised for their idealism and essentialism by feminists such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Audre Lorde.

Chapter two examines literary works by authors who explore women’s experiences of menstruation, childbirth, and the menopause in France. It argues that women’s writing from France primarily frames the female fertility cycle in terms of the medicalisation of the female body. These works position medicalisation as having a negative impact on women’s corporeal experiences and attitudes towards their own bodies. This tendency reflects, and situates within a more contemporary context, Leclerc’s criticism of the medical profession. This chapter also presents another key tendency in contemporary women’s writing from France, which is to inscribe the female body in violent, abject, and traumatic contexts. It analyses novels by well-known authors such as Virginie Despentes, Marie Darrieussecq, and Catherine Millet alongside lesser-known authors such as Laurence Tardieu and Nathalie Schweighoffer.

Chapter Three examines novels which depict women’s experiences of menstruation, childbirth and the menopause in an Algerian context. This chapter argues that representations of the female body in Algerian women’s writing are primarily inflected by Islamic practices, doctrine and traditions. Algerian women’s writing illustrates that women’s choices can be restricted by a patriarchal culture which justifies its mistreatment of women by perverting Islamic doctrine. Certain novels reveal that the patriarchal oppression of women is reified through it being legally sanctioned by the state. These novels expose a variety of practices which have a harmful impact on female bodily experience. Practises include the belief that menstrual blood is impure, sequestration, and repudiation. Algerian novels also reveal that women’s bodily experiences have been significantly influenced by the changes in education, living conditions, and politics, that occurred since Algeria gained its independence in 1962. In addition, Algerian women’s writing often inscribes the female body in violent and traumatic contexts. The chapter examines the work of Maïssa Bey, Leïla Marouane, Malika Mokeddem, and Nina Bouraoui.

Chapter Four examines women’s experiences of menstruation, childbirth, and the menopause, in women’s writing from Mauritius. It argues that in Mauritian literature, the female body is often framed within the tensions and inequalities that exist in the multicultural society of Mauritius. Through its portrayal of the female fertility cycle, Mauritian literature highlights the class divide between Indo-Mauritian Hindus and Creoles. Representations of the female body in Mauritian women’s writing expose the disaffection of the Creole class over whom hangs the legacy of colonialism. Issues of class, race, and poverty, are intertwined in the portrayal of Creole characters, thereby illustrating that female bodily experience can be shaped by a complex network of issues even within the same national context. Mauritian literature also considers the impact of religion and wider political issues on the female body. In addition, female corporeality is used to disrupt the touristic image of Mauritius as an island paradise. This chapter focuses on novels by Ananda Devi and Shenaz Patel.

The cultural and subjective gazes continue to characterise the process of female ageing as one of loss, in which the female body is both desexualised and degendered. This chapter explores the relationship between these two deeply problematic concepts, drawing on a public menopause discourse from the lifestyle media and the growing sub-genre of semi-autobiographical mid-life narratives. It compares these public voices with the private voices of a group of women’s individual accounts of the menopause, taken from a series of qualitative interviews. The draws on age theorist Margaret Gullette’s contention that the menopause is culturally constructed, that the profusion of menopause discourses (‘the menoboom’ 1997: 98) artificially conflates menopause with inevitable decline, creating a single narrative of loss: of physical strength, of emotional stability, and of sexual attractiveness. The chapter concludes that the notion of an older female body which can still be sexual remains too challenging for the narrow ideological, visual and linguistic repertoire of a prevailing culture.

Life-history theory describes why species have particular patterns of growth, development, reproduction, and mortality, determined by an evolutionarily optimized allocation of resources to maximize reproductive success. This requires trade-offs, such as age versus size at maturity, number versus quality of offspring, current versus future reproduction, and fecundity versus lifespan. Humans are characterized by large brains and long lives, as well as by a singleton pregnancy, long post-natal nutritional dependency, a prolonged juvenile period, delayed sexual maturity, and modest sexual dimorphism. Females terminate reproduction before the end of their intrinsic lifespan. Humans produce few offspring, which benefit from high parental investment and a high rate of survival to adulthood. Disconnection between the age of biological puberty and acceptance as an adult can lead to problems of adolescence. Evolutionary considerations can explain the unusual characteristics of human life history, including the long childhood phase, the pubertal growth spurt, and menopause.

Sexual reproduction may have evolved to address the threat from parasites. There is a broad range of reproductive strategies across species. The investment of males and females in reproduction is very different. Each species has an evolved equilibrium of interests between the sexes, as reflected in patterns of parental investment, mate choice, and social structure. The mammalian reproductive strategy relies on placentation and lactation to provide nutritional support and immune and physical protection to the offspring. The human reproductive strategy includes delayed puberty, few pregnancies, and high parental investment. The menopause is a distinctly human characteristic with several potential evolutionary explanations. Sexual dimorphism in body shape, behavior, and physiology is reflected in the higher risks of morbidity and shorter lifespan of human males. There is a growing mismatch between the evolved rate of ovarian ageing and the trend for women to delay the age of first pregnancy.