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Many greet the new menstrual research with skepticism. Dr. William D. Walden, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Cornell Medical Center is "very wary of blaming everything on psychological problems." Weideger herself says "not all cases of menstrual or menopausal discomfort will be dramatically reduced or 'cured' by changes in attitude."
Weideger thinks that women will have to accept the reality of cyclical moods and deal with them, if necessary, through exercise or hormone treatment. Feminists are now exchanging home remedies all the way from lower back massage and raspberry leaf tea to taking calcium ("nature's tranquilizer," said Nutritionist Adelle Davis) before their periods. Some ardent feminists are even urging women friends to examine, smell and taste their own menstrual blood as a way of overcoming traditional attitudes toward menstruation. Others are promoting menstrual extraction—a risky suction procedure—to avoid days of bleeding.
What Weideger and other feminists want most of all is to end the taboo. One suggestion: a party for a daughter at her first menstruation. The taboo, Weideger insists, is based on "fears held by men and directed toward women. It is time for women to reclaim menstruation and define for ourselves how we feel about it."