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To many, menstruation is still a dirty word, referred to in whispers,
sniggers or euphemisms—of which “Aunt Flo is visiting” is just one of
thousands. The perplexing persistence of what Karen Houppert calls the culture
of concealment surrounding women’s periods forms the central theme of her
entertaining polemic, The Curse. The result of all this secrecy? A
sanitary protection industry insulated from adequate regulation, and the
perception of women as victims of their hormones. Published by Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, $24/£14.70, ISBN 0374273669.