[T]he Food and Drug Administration has said that the tampon manufacturers are now using a different bleaching method. Instead of highly reactive chlorine gas bleach they are using chlorine dioxide. There is an oxygen between the CL group and any organic, thus you don't make dioxins, by definition. Hence the problem of dioxin becomes moot. [Dioxin is a carcinogen and present in tampons bleached with chlorine gas.] Note that even though Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York hasn't gotten her bill passed she has gotten her way - manufacturers are using a different bleaching process.
Good Morning,
Congratulations! I am pleased to be able to inform you that your outstanding site, The Museum of Menstruation, has been chosen to receive the prestigious Mining Co. Women's Health Best of the Net Award. You may view your link from my site at http://womenshealth.miningco.com/msub31.htm
Thank you for all the hard work you do educating women and others about menstruation. Your site is truly a fun and informative place to visit.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Tracee Cornforth
Women's Health Guide: The Mining Co.
http://womenshealth.miningco.com
Women's Health Headline News
http://womenshealth.miningco.com/library/blhealthnews.htm
The Mining Co.
http://miningco.com
We mine the Net so you don't have to
A provocative look at the way our culture deals with menstruation. The Curse examines the culture of concealment that surrounds menstruation and the devastating impact such secrecy has on women's physical and psychological health. Karen Houppert combines reporting on the potential safety problems of sanitary products--such as dioxin-laced tampons--with an analysis of the way ads, movies, young-adult novels, and women's magazines foster a "menstrual etiquette" that leaves women more likely to tell their male colleagues about an affair than brazenly carry an unopened tampon down the hall to the bathroom. From the very beginning, industry-generated instructional films sketch out the parameters of acceptable behavior and teach young girls that bleeding is naughty, irrepressible evidence of sexuality. In the process, confident girls learn to be self-conscious teens.
I realize that you have very specific ideas for your museum, and that my suggestion probably won't fit in well with them. But I'll toss it out anyway.
You should rent a space on Hollywood Boulevard [in Hollywood, California, the American movie capital], and charge admission. Maybe you could open it for free on Tuesdays, or something.
The plus side of this plan would be that you'd almost certainly stay afloat and be able to pay yourself a salary. And a great many people would see the museum.
The down side, which is probably unacceptable to you, is that such a setting would probably create, in many people's minds, a sideshow-ish connotation for the museum. But I would argue that you'd have control over the interior of your space, and you'd be able to make of it what you want.
I don't know if you've ever been to Hollywood Boulevard, and seen stuff like the Frederick's of Hollywood Lingerie Museum. [No, I haven't.] It's world famous, millions have seen it, and there's almost nothing there. It's a few display cases with some lingerie.
I'm certain that if you opened a museum in Hollywood, you would almost immediately become one of the most most famous tourist attractions in that city, and you'd get an enormous amount of free publicity.
I'm also fairly certain that as unfair as it is, the kind of museum you seem to be imagining - a stately structure in Washington, revered and taken seriously by all - is probably not going to materialize anytime soon, our society being what it is. Hollywood would embrace you, but Washington probably never will.
Anyway, it's just a suggestion. Thanks for the interesting site.
for a quick recovery! I was very sorry to read about your health condition on the MUM news this week. I really hope that with some rest and relaxation, things will improve for you. I love your site and the museum - it would be wonderful for it to find a permanent home, open to the public.
I have learned much from you, for example about menstrual cups. I'm a convert to The Keeper - loved it for the last six months and have convinced many others to try this wonderful device. I can say, Harry Finley, that you have changed my life. And speaking of life, I hope you have much more! [Thank you very much! Me too!]
Kind Regards,
Jennifer, a big fan
Hi. Terrific site. [Thank you!]
I was searching today for info on the Native American "moontime" (menstruation) ceremonies and did not find anything at MUM, but I did find something at http://www.earthcircle.org/moontime.html that you might be interested in.
Best of luck with your health. I've said a prayer for you. [Thank you!]
CCR
Hi Harry,
I visited the MUM Web site and like the additions.
I was contacted by Geneva Kachman [read her Traveling Menstrual Show] to view my video [about a girl's reaction to her first period] and realized that we moved last month and I need to let you know so you can update it on the Web site at your next revision:
3136 Heather Ridge Drive San Jose, CA 95136 U.S.A.
Home telephone:(408) 269-9757, work number is still (408) 235-4420.
And the price is $30; postage and handling are included in the price.
Thanks!
Molly
Hello, Mr. Finley,
I told a friend I was doing research on tampons and she recommended your site.
Yes, in the end, no pun intended I assure you, I did use your site, among other reference material, as a research tool.
I barely touched upon the depth of knowledge supplied by your MUM, which was bloody well done (pun shamelessly intended), and I believe readers would enjoy a spin around the Web museum, and towards that goal, I am suggesting a link to your site. I personally feel it's an excellent idea, and I'm sure your Mum, as well as my own, always stressed playing well with others and sharing blocks and sandbox tools.
If you'd like to check out the venue of "Our Friend the Tampon," just click here: www.frissonx.com. [The site is x-rated, but also artistic and literary; don't go there if you are under 18 or otherwise offended by explicit language or pictures.]
Cheers,
Marci Davis
Some time ago, we corresponded while I was drafting my paper, "Why is Period Porn So Rare?" [the paper is scholarly, but strong stuff, and you may be offended by it. Caution!]. The current version of it has been posted, thanks to the efforts of "Pixel Pete."
Since the more informed comment I get on the paper, the better it will become, I'd be grateful if you'd include a link to it somewhere in the MUM pages.
Thanks very much.
David.
--
David F. Austin
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Box 8103
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8103
(919) 515-6333 Winston Hall 006
David_Austin@ncsu.edu
Sexual Harassment Resolution Officer
NCSU Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy:
http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/provost/info/sexhar/sexhar.html
Dear Mr Finley,
I wrote some time ago with a soggy tampon problem when I do my synchronized swimming.
Well, one of the older girls in the squad told me how to squeeze my pelvic floor muscles REALLY TIGHT so as to make them stronger and more watertight. I've been doing that every day (nearly!) for several weeks, and it seem to be working, not one hundred percent, but it is better. She said her boyfriend (a really gorgeous hunk) appreciates it too. It seems my muscles were not getting any exercise, not having a boyfriend! I've got my Mum doing the exercises now, but I haven't heard of any results!
I've never heard about exercising pelvic floor muscles before, and I think people should know about it as it seems to be a very good thing for lots of reasons.
Another idea is to use Vaseline as a waterproof plug after putting in the tampon, but my Mum says it's not good to have greasy stuff in the vagina.
I read the As One Girl to Another leaflet [1942, Kotex] on your site. It said that single girls shouldn't use tampons unless the doctor says it's OK, because most girls have a hymen in the way. Well, nowadays nobody tells you about a hymen. All the ads say it's so easy to put in a tampon, it glides into place, etc. Well, most girls I know say that it's not easy at all. My Mum said her first time was like trying to push a champagne cork back into the bottle! [Mums have a way with words, don't they?] Many girls think there's something wrong with their bodies if it does not slip effortlessly into place on day 1 as the ads tell you. Everyone says there's so much choice for girls nowadays, but if you are on the swim team you don't have much of a choice!
I have got a sporty Muslim friend at school who would like to try tampons but she says she is just not allowed to use anything internally until she is married. Is that usual? [I don't think so. The percentage of women using tampons is probably greatest in Northern Europe and North America, excluding Mexico. Read comparisons of Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious attitudes and menstruation.] There are some Muslim sportswomen but not very many, I think. How do they manage? [Good question!]
My Mum (a great fan of yours) [we Mums stick together] says, Does anyone remember the Kotams, tampons with a stick applicator which were around about 1972-73? We can't find them on your site. [The museum has boxes of them, but I have not yet put one up.] They were in the U.S.A. a bit earlier than that, then came over to England, but they did not seem to catch on. It was like a Lil-let [a brand of European tampon] or o.b. with a plastic stick or wand pushed on the end to get it into position.
Thanks for a super site,
Katie.
Please, may I post a letter on your letter page?
I'm researching a documentary for the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] about menstruation - myths and facts and blessing or curse.
I have much information about the curse and prejudice but I am finding scant information about the blessing! I was thrilled to find medical information linking surgery for breast cancer and the menstrual cycle and the New Scientist report about differing medication levels required during the 28-day cycle, and the research about eating requirements differing during the cycle etc., but I want to hear from women who have evidence of the cycle as a blessing, for example, artists, writers, etc., who are at their most creative whilst menstruating.
I also want to meet women who practice menstrual seclusion, as with menstrual huts of the past [and of the present; women still use menstrual huts].
And anything and everything to do with research into menstruation.
Next week I am interviewing Mr Peter Redgrove and Penelope Shuttle who wrote the first book on menstruation that offered positive information, The Wise Wound, 1978. I am very excited about asking many questions resulting from the book. If you have any questions for them pertaining to the book or their second book, Alchemy for Women, about the dream cycle corresponding to the menstrual cycle, I would be delighted to forward them to them on your behalf. They are not on the net so any questions would have to have addresses!
Thank you so much for this glorious Web site [many thanks to you for saying that!] and I look forward to hearing from visitors to your site.
Ali Kedge.
ali@shortkedge.freeserve.co.uk or fflic.zip@business.ntl.com
Irregular menses identify women at high risk for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which exists in 6-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is a major cause of infertility and is linked to diabetes.
