Bleeding Cities
What would a city built for menstrual dignity look like? Dr Maria Tomlinson explores how workplaces, schools and public spaces can better support periods and menopause.
In this month's episode, Beth and Tom mark World Menopause Day (18 October) through an exploratory conversation with Dr Maria Tomlinson (School of Information, Journalism and Communication, University of Sheffield) about menstrual dignity, justice and the city. World Menopause Day is an international awareness day set up since 2009 by the International Menopause Society, in partnership with the World Health Organisation, to break taboos, combat stigma and educate the public about the menopause.
Together they discuss how employers, city councils, schools and community organisations can be involved in creating indoor and outdoor environments for people to bleed with dignity, the challenges of increasing heat, and why urban studies needs to take menstrual justice more seriously.
Also on the radar:
- The long impacts of Rowntree's seminal poverty report in York in 1901
- What Japanese tax, superheros and toilets have in common
- Edi Rama's architectural dreams for Albania
- What Sagal Abdi-Wali's election as the first Somali MP tells us about race, religion and gender in Camden, during the Holborn and St Pancras by-election
- Why we should all be scared of El Nino
- Blocked streets, barricades in the banlieue: France is on strike (again)
Guest:
Dr. Maria Tomlinson is a lecturer in public communication and gender at the University of Sheffield. Her research examines the impact of health communication on social inequalities. For the last ten years, her research has focussed on menstrual health, menopause, and endometriosis. Findings from her latest book, The Menstrual Movement in the Media: Reducing Stigma and Tackling Social Inequalities (2025), have been used by charities, schools, and government bodies to improve menstrual education and reduce menstrual inequities and have been published in the Independent.
Recommended Reading:
- Irise International - Global Menstrual Justice
- BS 30416:2023 Menstruation, Menstrual Health, Menopause | BSI UK
- ISO 45010:2026 - Occupational health and safety management — Menstruation and menopause in the workplace — Guidance
- Heatwaves and Women: Why Rising Heat in the UK is a Feminist Issue
- PINE: a geopoetic work about menopause and wildfires (Sarah de Leeuw)
- Welcome - Menopause Geographies - Cardiff University (Kate Boyer, Kirstie O'Neill, Nina Ross)
- Fòs Feminista
Credits
- Guest: Dr Maria Tomlinson (Lecturer in Public Communication and Gender at the University of Shefield)
- Podcast Production, Presentation & Editing: Beth Perry (Professor of Urban Epistemics at the University of Sheffield and Director of the Urban Institute)
- Podcast Production, Presentation & Editing: Tom Goodfellow (Professor of Urban Development at the Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester)
- Post-Production Editing & Marketing: Dr Sam Burgum (Urban Institute Visiting Fellow at the University of Sheffield)
- Training & Production Support: Jack Clayton (Creative Media Service Support Adviser at the University of Sheffield)
- Distribution, Promotion and Marketing: Vicky Simpson (Research Manager at the University of Sheffield)
- Podcast Cover: Dan Farley Designs
- Music: Horizon (Music by Tom Goodfellow, Recorded & Produced by Alan Thomson), Falling Down (Music by Tom Goodfellow, Performed by the Dice, Produced by Alan Thomson)
- Image Credit: Dr Maria Tomlinson
- Special Thanks: Supported by the Faculty of Social Science and the Creative Media Suite at the University of Sheffield and University of Manchester and their Media Suite
