This Handbook is the first to bring together scholars working in the quickly evolving field of menstruation in sport research. After decades of silencing, stigma and taboo, menstruation in sport is finally garnering the attention of sports organizations, media and the public alike. Yet many longstanding and new challenges continue to face menstruators as they participate in sport and physical activity environments. Focusing on health, wellbeing and performance, this foundational volume brings together researchers from different disciplines and contexts to advance new theoretical, methodological and practical insights into the historical, social, cultural, economic, mediated, technological, physiological and endocrinological complexities of menstruation in sport. With contributions from those living and working in a range of geographical contexts (Africa, Australia, China, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States of America and the United Kingdom), the Handbook explores the importance of cultural contexts in shaping knowledge, practices and policies relating to menstruation in sport and physical activity. The extensive transdisciplinary and international breadth of topics provides not only a cohesive summary of the current literature of menstruation in sport but critical perspectives on current debates, oversights, and next steps in the study, policy and practice of menstruation in sport. In so doing, the Handbook makes a timely and critical intervention for scholars, students, sports organisations and practitioners working to remove gendered barriers and obstacles in sport and physical activity.

Holly Thorpe is a Professor and Associate Dean Research in the Division of Health, University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. She is an award-winning sociologist of sport, physical culture and gender, with more than two decades of research focused on women's health, performance and wellbeing in sport and physical activity. She has published more than 100 journal articles, written five books, and co-edited six books. She works with an array of international, national and local sports organizations to build more equitable and supportive sporting environments for all. She is the recipient of Fulbright and Leverhulme Fellowships, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Bath.

Monica Nelson is a PhD candidate at the University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. Reflecting her long-term and multifaceted involvement in Olympic Weightlifting—as an athlete, coach, and a member of international media—Monica’s research primarily explores the impact of gender on athletic performance in strength sports. Monica’s research has been published in a range of academic journals, including Sport, Education and Society, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and Sociology of Sport Journal. 

Sarah Zipp is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at York University in Toronto, Canada. She has taught sport management in the US, UK and Netherlands. Dr Zipp has served as a research consultant and advisor to Nike, the Women's Sports Foundation, and the Global Observatory for Gender Equality in Sport. She is also the founder of the Power to Play Period, a project on menstrual health education in sport.

Agatha Gibbons (PhD) is a Fijian scholar whose research examines the intersection of gender, culture, and menstrual health in sport. Her doctoral work investigates Pacific sportswomen’s menstruation-related knowledge and embodied experiences, drawing on a culturally grounded Masi Methodology and talanoa-based inquiry to foreground perspectives often marginalised in mainstream sports science. Through this research, she highlights the need for more culturally responsive approaches to indigenous women's health and wellbeing. Dr Gibbons also serves as a Pacific Health Science Academy Coordinator, where she supports Pacific students’ progression into health science pathways through academic mentoring, programme development, and community-engaged initiatives.