Period Hacks: Menstruating in the Big Data Paradigm

Abstract

Menstrual tracking and fertility apps have gained popularity in recent years, often sold as tools for self-empowerment through self-knowledge. While critics tend to focus on the gendered design of these apps, this article examines the self-tracking and analytic features of the popular apps, Flo and Clue, to argue that menstrual tracking and fertility apps reinforce discourses of menstrual concealment and bodily alienation. Beginning with an analysis of the daily log interface, the author situates the humorous icons in discourses of menstrual jokes and euphemisms to show how these apps participate in the suppression of menstruation. The author then turns to the analytics features to demonstrate how these apps encourage users to understand their lives through their menstrual cycle. The article ends with a call for collaborations between humanists, scientists, and designers to revise and mobilize these apps to explore under-explored issues of sexual and reproductive health.