In_equalities, digitized: practices, experiences and consequences of app-supported menstrual tracking

Menstrual apps are a subgroup of health-related apps that support the observation and analysis of menstrual cycles and associated symptoms. Menstrual apps form part of one of themost recent and dynamic developments in healthcare. Despite their increasing popularity, relatively little academic attention has been paid to people's practices and experiences of app-supported menstrual tracking. The present dissertation addresses these issues by drawing upon a qualitative interview study with users in Austria and Spain, as well as an autoethnography. I explore users' motivations and purposes of menstrual tracking, investigate the consequences on the understanding of menses, bodies and health, examine the implications for processes of medicalisation, report on users' experiences and emotions regarding issues of data misuse and surveillance, and present on users' takes on menstrual app design. As part of the GRACE (Gender and Cultures of Equality in Europe) project, my research highlights the specificities and complexities of digital self-tracking and its implications for gender and other sociocultural in_equalities.