This master's thesis analyzes menstrual taboo in the Christian, more specifically, Roman Catholic religion, from antiquity to the 19th century, when the binding discourse on menstruation shifted from religion to medicine. Menstruation is a natural biological phenomenon that is (or has been) subject to negative interpretations and practices in many societies and religions. A lack of understanding of its cause, origin, and meaning has led many to fear it, leading to the creation of taboo precepts and rituals. Although there is no official menstrual taboo in Catholicism, the prohibitions on women's public participation in religion reveal a taboo concept of menstruation. This thesis describes in detail the social situation that led to the formation of the Catholic menstrual taboo. It shows its development slow and dependent on other social and medical perceptions. Knowledge about menstruation is fluid and always dependent on place, time, and interpreter. The thesis shows that the Catholic menstrual taboo has a distinctly patriarchal character. It places the taboo in the broader context of celibacy and the rigid sexual morality of the Roman Catholic Church. Alongside widespread ideas and speculations about menstruation as an unclean and dangerous bodily fluid, it has been taboo in Catholic circles especially regarding sexuality. Thus, the Catholic engagement with menstruation represents only a minor, peripheral part of the discourse on women, which is mainly characterized by the specific Catholic perception of sexuality and the representation of women as responsible for the fall of Eden and the appearance of evil.
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