<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This article’s ambition is to study the needs and motives embedded in the everyday usage of period trackers.<fn id="j_nor-2019-0017_fn_001" symbol="1">A period tracker is an app for smartphones to monitor the female cycle.</fn> Based on twelve in-depth interviews with Danish women who use period trackers, I explore the connections among menstrual stigma and the usage of period trackers and investigate how digital traces from their datafied<fn id="j_nor-2019-0017_fn_002" symbol="2">By datafied body, I mean the representation of the fleshly, physical body created by tracked data.</fn> bodies transmit meaning to their everyday life. The women in the study described how the app provides them with reassurance and privacy, and thus the article finds that 1) period apps are experienced as private, shame-free rooms for exploratory engagement with the menstruating body and 2) the risk of embodied data potentially becoming shareable commodities does not affect the everyday self-tracking practice of these women.
</abstract>

This article’s ambition is to study the needs and motives embedded in the everyday usage of period trackers.A period tracker is an app for smartphones to monitor the female cycle. Based on twelve in-depth interviews with Danish women who use period trackers, I explore the connections among menstrual stigma and the usage of period trackers and investigate how digital traces from their datafiedBy datafied body, I mean the representation of the fleshly, physical body created by tracked data. bodies transmit meaning to their everyday life. The women in the study described how the app provides them with reassurance and privacy, and thus the article finds that 1) period apps are experienced as private, shame-free rooms for exploratory engagement with the menstruating body and 2) the risk of embodied data potentially becoming shareable commodities does not affect the everyday self-tracking practice of these women.

A Room of One’s Own?: Using period trackers to escape menstrual stigma

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"A Room of One\u2019s Own?: Using period trackers to escape menstrual stigma"}

This article’s ambition is to study the needs and motives embedded in the everyday usage of period trackers.A period tracker is an app for smartphones to...

	First-cycle coding	Second-cycle coding
To seek insight, as a private calendar, to keep notes on bleeding private, to decide who to share menstruation with.	Privacy	→ private data, privacy policy, sharing preferences
To navigate days of pain, to avoid menstruation being used against you, to hide reproductive labour.	Shame	→ menstrual stigma, reproductive shame, shaming others, shamed by culture
To compare length of cycle, to explain unstable emotions (PMS) and physical symptoms (pain, cravings), to gain reassurance.	Reassurance	→ the app as reassurance, coping with negative emotions, PMS

Name	Age	Profession	App	Tracking period
Nana	40	Office assistant	Clue	2 years
Maja	37	PhD fellow	Clue	2 years +
Susan	28	BA in drama	Woman’s Log	2 years +
Sonja	32	BA in nutrition and health	My Days	5 years
Sandra	26	MA in media studies	Clue	1 month
Donna	26	Consultant	Clue	1 year 3 months
Eve	31	MA in natural science	Woman’s Log	6 years
Dea	49	State attorney	Clue	1.5 years
Judith	36	CEO in PR company	Clue	4 years
Ruby	29	PhD fellow	Clue	4 months
Freya	28	MA in Scandinavian languages	Natural Cycles	¾ years
Silvia	28	MA in aesthetics and culture	Clue	2 years

A Room of One’s Own?: Using period trackers to escape menstrual stigma

Published Online: Jun 28, 2019

Page range: 111 - 123

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0017

Keywords
female self-tracking, apps, privacy, datafied bodies, menstrual stigma

© 2019 Amanda Karlsson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Main reasons for use

Overview of the sample

A Room of One’s Own?: Using period trackers to escape menstrual stigma

Published Online: Jun 28, 2019

Page range: 111 - 123

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0017

Keywordsfemale self-tracking, apps, privacy, datafied bodies, menstrual stigma

© 2019 Amanda Karlsson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Main reasons for use

Overview of the sample

Keywords
female self-tracking, apps, privacy, datafied bodies, menstrual stigma