The Word's MUM . . .
Comedian Susannah Perlman
e-mailed recently, saying that if you say MUM at the door, you will get
a discount when you see her show
in New York, which spoofs menstruation and feminine hygiene. MUM's
the word, as always. Enjoy!
. . . But not in Richmond, Virginia!
Meaning, that is, that people in Richmond have read about
MUM in a little magazine called Throttle, in an article by Kara West, who also took the accompanying pictures right here in the museum
(see yours truly in all his glory). Now you too can read the article on
the Internet; it says the nicest things!
The only other article mentioning MUM on the Web that
I know of is the Village
Voice article on the tampon industry a couple of years ago, although
many media have done things about this museum.
I'm Taking a Week's Break
As I've already mentioned, next week I attend the 12th
conference of The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research at the University
of Illinois in Chicago. I'm giving a presentation about this museum
for the first time to a large group of people professionally involved in
menstruation and women's health. It will be fun!
Look HERE for news of the conference in
two weeks, plus photos of all the action
- well, at least of people and speeches.
Toxic Shock Organism
Increasingly Resistant
A Japanese hospital reports that vancomycin,
an antibiotic of last resort in treating diseases resistant to other medications,
has failed to cure a woman infected with staphylococcus
aureus, a bacterium that lives naturally in the vagina, but which
can cause toxic shock under certain circumstances.
Other Japanese hospitals report this same resistance, and American hospitals
will soon start to look for vancomycin-resistant organisms.
Toxic shock
has killed and maimed thousands of women using tampons and pads, the most
famous outbreak centering around Rely and other super
absorbent tampons in the early 1980s. Toxic shock can also affect men, and
figures in many infections.
Dr. Philip Tierno, Jr., probably the most
prominent researcher of menstrual products and a MUM board member, says
in the film Under Wraps that if
he were a women, he would not use tampons, because of several dangers, but
especially toxic shock.
See also the Karen Houppert's article of a few
years ago in the Village
Voice discussing the tampon
industry (and this museum).
Treatment NOT a Big Factor in Cancer?
A researcher at the University of Chicago, long a skeptic of the efficacy
of cancer treatment, said in the New England
Journal of Medicine that most of the recent improvement in mortality
comes from the decline in smoking and improvement in the early detection
of cancer.
Philip Cole of the University of Alabama disputed John Bailar's contention,
although conceding that the decline in smoking does account for a large
portion of the decrease.
Girls Becoming More Violent
In our violent society, girls account for a increasing share of arrest
rates, as much as 20 percent now, compared with boys.
And the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry reports that in a study
of 436 poor women from Worcester, Massachusetts, almost
two-thirds reported that they had suffered harsh physical violence or sexual
molestation by the age of 12 from people charged with their care.
Abigail
Trafford in the 27 May Health section of the Washington Post writes
that girls are becoming more violent because of the violence done to them.
America champions the cowboy, crook and cop, all
in the name of excitement and settling scores. Deep down, America's the
problem.
Weight and Passive
Smoke Affect Women
Higher blood pressure and similar metabolic problems caused by obesity
caused 2.5 times the rate of ischemic stroke
in moderately overweight women when compared to the leanest in a study conducted
of almost 120,000 nurses, as reported in the Journal
of the American Medical Association.
The same researchers at Harvard studied 32,000 nurses who has been regularly
exposed to second-hand smoke, but who had never themselves smoked. The journal
Circulation reported recently the group's finding:
that even women who had reported only occasional second-hand smoke exposure
had a 60 percent higher heart attack rate than
those who had never been exposed.
© 1998 Harry Finley. It is illegal to
reproduce or distribute any of the work on this Web site in any manner or
medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org
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