This belief was popular among Christians across Europe throughout the late medieval and early modern period, including in Great Britain, Germany, and Spain.
[1] However, it was believed that Jewish men were more like women, and had a lower body temperature, and therefore had to menstruate, typically through nosebleeds, bleeding hemorrhoids, or urination, in order to expel impure blood.
[2] Allegedly, as reported under interrogation, they committed the murder in order to drink the youth's blood as a remedy for both male and female menstruation.
[2] In recent centuries, the image of the menstruating Jewish male has been used in antisemitic propaganda, including in Nazi Germany.
[2] In this work, Fritsch argued for the antisemitic claim that male menstruation was a sign that Jewish people had a different sexuality from non-Jews.