“Life is Much More Difficult to Manage During Periods”: Autistic Experiences of Menstruation

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Steward, R., Crane, L., Roy, E. M., Remington, A., & Pellicano, E. (2020). “Life is Much More Difficult to Manage During Periods”: Autistic Experiences of Menstruation. In The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies (pp. 751-761). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0614-7_55

Publication date: 1 Jan 2020 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Book chapter Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
  1. Robyn Steward *
  2. Laura Crane
  3. Eilish Mairi Roy
  4. Anna Remington
  5. Elizabeth Pellicano

Abstract

Abstract Starting from the assumption that menarche and menstruation are overwhelmingly negative events for developmentally disabled women, Steward et al. conduct much-needed research focusing on the experiences of women with autism. This preliminary investigation is a brief online survey on post-menarcheal autistic (n=123) and non-autistic (n=114) respondents. Although autistic respondents report many overlapping issues and experiences with non-autistic respondents, they also highlight distinct—and sometimes distressing—issues relating to menstruation, especially a cyclical amplification of autistic-related challenges, including sensory differences and difficulties with regulating emotion and behavior, which have a significant, negative impact on their lives. These initial findings call for systematic research on the potential causes, correlates, and consequences of menstrual-related problems in autistic individuals—across the spectrum and the lifespan.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 17:07.

Cited references
20
With a DOI
18
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
2
1 / 20 (5.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 20 (5.0%)
References with detected author names
19 / 20 (95.0%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
2
References with raw author names still to review
1
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
50
From DOI or external metadata
50
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
11 / 50 (22.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 39 / 50 (78.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
1 / 50 (2.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 1 / 11 (9.1%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 1 / 48 (2.1%).
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