Breaking the Silence: Leveraging Cycle Syncing to Promote Gender Inclusivity and Menstrual Awareness within Athletics

M. Earwood, Matilda

Breaking the Silence: Leveraging Cycle Syncing to Promote Gender Inclusivity and Menstrual Awareness within Athletics

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10456/59176

Author(s)

M. Earwood, Matilda

Date Issued

May 1, 2025

Abstract

My research proposes an alternative framework for fitness by offering a cycle syncing inspired fitness program inclusive to all who menstruate, regardless of gender identity. Influenced by the stigmatization of menstruation within athletics, as well as silencing accurate discussions of biology, I offer accessible background knowledge of menstruation, as it is essential to have a baseline understanding of biological structures prior to getting involved in fitness to avoid injury or overworking. However, due to the binary structure of organized athletics and fitness alongside the toxicity its reinforcement creates, large portions of the population are either excluded or controlled by assumptions about their bodies. In order to make menstruating people feel comfortable with fitness and address health concerns that can be solved by exercise, it is imperative that societal norms regarding gender and menstruation be destigmatized.

Major

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

First Reader(s)

Shaw, Barbara L.