Qualitative Health & Quantified Cycles: The Use of Menstrual Self-Tracking Apps in a Neoliberal Context

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to address the place of menstrual self-tracking apps in a neoliberal context. By employing concepts like affect, embodiment, governmentality and self-surveillance, I have laid out the intersections that can be found between the fields of critical digital studies and the brand new field of critical menstrual studies, and how this can reveal more about menstrual self-tracking app usage, its roles in individual’s lives, and the implications in a bigger context of neoliberalism. My focus lies on showing how menstrual self-tracking apps relate to cycle & sexual health consciousness and the promotion thereof in menstruating bodies that move around in a neoliberal context, and how this very focus urges to take situated knowledges into consideration