Period History, Part 2: From Sacred to Shameful - How the Patriarchy Changed the Narrative

In Part 2 of our Period History series, inPhase turns toward the shadow side of the story—how something once revered as sacred became something to hide.

Robin and Lauren trace the cultural shift from ancient societies that honored menstruation as powerful and intuitive, to a world where it became stigmatized, medicalized, and silenced. They explore how the rise of patriarchal structures reframed the female body as something to control, not celebrate—and how that shift rippled through religion, medicine, and society at large.

From the persecution of midwives and healers during the Salem witch trials to the systematic removal of women from positions of authority over their own bodies, this episode unpacks how fear and misunderstanding of female biology shaped centuries of shame. What was once seen as cyclical wisdom became labeled as hysteria. What was once communal became private. Hidden.

But this isn’t just history—it’s context for how we experience our bodies today.
This episode invites you to question what you’ve been taught, reconnect to what was lost, and begin rewriting the narrative around your cycle—not as something inconvenient, but as something inherently powerful.