When I came upon a short story by Connie Willis titled “Even the Queen,” I immediately knew exactly what it was about. Sure enough, it’s about menstruation–a scenario of the future, where women no longer have to deal with the messiness.
Anyway, the reason I knew exactly what it was about was because I had read something years before about a young girl (Victorian era) who starts her period with no clue of what it is. Since her mother hasn’t said anything, the maid winds up explaining about what it means. And the girl is surprised that every woman has this happen to her, and asks the maid, “What? Mother has this?..Even the Queen?”
I presume Connie Willis had read the same story, and that it was well enough known that her allusive title would be reasonably well understood by a lot of people. So…what was that story with the Victorian girl? I can’t remember at all where I read it!