Ethnographical Analysis on the Suffering of Female Athletes

Soccer Players Coping with Menstruation

Abstract

The following research aims to discuss an issue that has been thought to belong within the "private" sphere - menstruation of female athletes. The research tackles menstruation beyond the realm of an individual's own physical experience, and extend the understanding of the issue in relation to an individual's "social" standing. Arthur Kleinman (Kleinman, 1988=1996) raised the point that the individual experience of suffering should be interpreted in terms of "illness", and underlined the need for taking the patient's local knowledge system, social relationships, and the respective social contexts and meanings into consideration when approaching such experience. Thus, the research adapted the perspective of "illness" as suggested by Kleinman and attempted to utilize this perspective in understanding the players of soccer team "K" and their meaning of suffering. Results revealed that players often experience three different types of menstrual suffering: 1) suffering expressible to anyone regardless of sex, 2) suffering expressible only to females, and 3) suffering expressible to no one. The research further indicated the different types of suffering each meant different levels of suffering. The third type of suffering, especially demonstrated that the social context bars females from expressing their suffering to other females, even though menstrual suffering is a common experience among females. In other words, the research revealed that menstruation is not only an issue between different sexes, but instead entailed double-sided concerns - different types of menstrual suffering and "perceived status" based on the player's characteristics. Therefore, this reseatch studies the difficulties female athletes face due to menstruation not in terms of a simple male/female dichotomy, but instead by analyzing those difficulties with respect to the social order and relationships within a team. With such understanding in mind, the research suggests the need to establish the topic, "Sociology of Suffering."