See cutting-edge tampon art!
Dear Harry,
After the go-signal from Doris I launched Tamponart.com this morning. Please let me know if there are any broken links; I've tested and tested but still it's all hanging on one slender wire between London and San Francisco.
I hope you are well and happy and taking care of yourself.
Best always,
Holly [the developer of the site]
The Question: What did women use for menstruation?
Hello,
I stumbled upon your Web site while looking for information on Laura Klosterman Kidd [who wrote an important Ph.D. dissertation on menstrual technology in the U.S.A. Read a little about it.]. What a great find! I am researching menstruation during the American Civil War era - 1850s to 1870. I would like to know if you can help me with anything specific to that time period regarding products, ads, beliefs, insanity, surgery, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
I replied with what little information I had, including that it's possible many American, and other, women used nothing, bleeding into their clothing. Read a discussion of this.
Hi, Harry,
Thanks for your reply. I have been reading medical books from the mid-19th century. Though they do mention the menstrual cycle and on occasion suggest to the lady how to care for herself at this time, there is no mention of what she is supposed to use to protect her clothing! [It's one of the fascinating omissions in women's history, an omission essentially extending back millennia in Western culture.] I have many books and newspaper ads from the time period that tell women how to "dislodge" obstructions and how to "cure" suppressed menses, but no info on how to deal with menstruation when it's happening! I even found a newspaper that has an ad in it for a "truss" to help support a fallen womb - with a picture. As a woman myself, I find it totally unacceptable that an educated woman would bleed through her clothing. I personally believe they would have concocted something from old clothing to use as menstrual rags (ever read the transcripts from the Lizzie Borden case? She had to explain what she was doing at the time of the murders and, if I remember correctly, she was in the kitchen washing out her menstrual rags. I believe PMS [premenstrual syndrome] - or as it was called then, temporary insanity - was her plea). [By the way, Borden apparently used to word "fleas" for menstruation. Read a visitor's comments about this.]
The Answer: Nothing, for many women?
Dear Mr Finley,
I have just found your Web site on menstruation. Fascinating and very informative.
I was particularly interested in your theory that European and American women didn't use sanitary protection [actually, just that a large number didn't in the 19th century and before].
When studying the Suffragist movement and Selina Cooper [an Englishwoman who lived from 1864 - 1946], I came across a very interesting story about Mrs Cooper. When working in the cotton mills circa 1900, she was horrified to discover that the mill women used no sanitary towels; the floor of the work room was spread with straw to absorb menstrual fluids. Mrs Cooper also mentions the smell. When Mrs Cooper made sanitary pads for some of the women there was an outcry from some of the girls' mothers as they were worried that their daughters would not find husbands as the smell and flow attracted them, both being considered signs of fertility. The passage is in Jill Liddington, A Respectable Rebel: Selina Cooper, Virago (1984). One could interpret from this that the use of sanitary pads depended on the cultural background of women.
There is further evidence from other historical sources. I am trying to work my way through women's advice books from the 16th and 17th century. Culpepper, for example, goes into great detail about pregnancy, childbirth, etc., and so far I can find no reference to the use of pads. [It's a typical, but strange, omission.] It's very early days yet for this research but I hope to get something written in the autumn.
Regards
Joy Shillaker
[It's extraordinary that men considered the sight and smell of menstrual blood not objectionable; today, in America, at least, every effort is made to conceal any hint of menstruation. This could explain why not using menstrual protection in the past wasn't the awful thing we Westerners (or most of us) would guess it to be - it had a positive function. Wouldn't it be interesting to discover why and when this attitude changed? See some American ads showing the present attitude. Again, my thoughts on the subject are here.]
Read about the politics of menstruation
Hello, Ladies! [Hi, there! Um, your MUM's a guy!]
I wanted to let you know about my new Web site Menarchy.com. It's a site concerning the politics of menstruation, with an emphasis on alternatives to tampons and creating a less wasteful mentality.
I have included a link to your site, and after you come and visit my site, I hope that you will reciprocate the link!
Thanks,
Rebecca
Take Back Your Blood.
Does anyone know about "The Red Tent" times?
Blessings,
I am part of a forum discussion group, and am looking for any information, concerning early biblical times, and the history of "The Rent Tent" [the name of a recent best-selling book in America] - a place where women gathered for the seven days of their menstruation. Do you have any information concerning this, or know of anyone I could contact?
Lynn
Ontario, Canada
[There is some information on the religion page.]
"Menstruation a disease?" continued, from a German site visitor
You wrote on 13 August 2000,
Menstruation a disease?
A bloody menses is a disease!
Viktoras Kulvinskas, in his book "Survival Into the 21st Century" presents a detailed report on how only female animals, including humans, who have a breakdown in their immune systems suffer from a bloody menstruation. There is evidence that females not exposed to the pollution of society do not suffer from this bloody disease. Check it out.
[I have not read or even heard of the book - has anyone? I'm no biologist or physician, but a very heavy period sometimes indicates a problem; all periods are bloody. Lack of blood would in itself indicate a problem.]
Here is an excerpt from Kulvinskas' book (in German):
http://www.tierversuchsgegner.org/Gesundheit/kulvinskas.html ["tierversuchsgegner" is German for "opponents of using animals for product, drug, etc., testing." "Gesundheit," which some Americans say when another person sneezes, means "health" in German.]
Greetings,
She likes Instead menstrual cup (history of menstrual cups, comments about Instead and The Keeper)
I have been using Insteads for just over two years. They are not that easy to find here in the New England area. I heard a rumor that they were being discontinued? [Just a rumor.] I sincerely hope not! They are a lot better to use than tampons. I had trouble inserting them the first few times I used them, but once I became more comfortable with that process, they were simple!
They last much longer, so I'm not sneaking off to the ladies' room with my pocketbook in hand, or worrying about a pad bunching up between my legs. No odor and better yet, I have even had sex with the Instead in place unbeknownst to my partner! What a difference they make!
She likes the site!
THANK YOU dearly for putting up a site like this - - women and men alike need it! I didn't learn anything about my period until I was in high school, because I went to a private school that was, well, PRIVATE. Hehe. [Join the crowd of millions!]
I looked on the euphemisms page and I am going to start calling it "chocolate time" like some of your visitors. Thank you for such a wonderful, light-hearted site! (If I hear of any places that might come available for the museum, I will let you know - - I live in Virginia though, and I AM a red-headed cousin! [she refers to a menstrual euphemism on the page; no, I won't tell you where! As soon as she finds some property, I've asked her to send me the deed so we can get this museum OPEN!])
Fitness from Las Vegas!
Hi, my name is Nadia. My husband and I are from Beverly Hills (he's a nutritionist and a writer). One of our last customers to buy his book mentioned your site so I thought I should check it out. Could we exchange Web site links? Please drop by and let me know what you decide.
http://www.yourinsidelasvegas.com/ads/donlemmon/fitnesspage.asp
Sincerely,
Mrs. Nadia Alterio-Lemmon, B.A. in neuropsychology
http://www.DonLemmon.com
http://www.Nadia-Alterio-Lemmon.com
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Book about menstruation published in Spain
The Spanish journalist who contributed some words for menstruation to this site last year and wrote about this museum (MUM) in the Madrid newspaper "El País" just co-authored with her daughter a book about menstruation (cover at left).
She writes, in part,
Dear Harry Finley,
As I told you, my daughter (Clara de Cominges) and I have written a book (called "El tabú") about menstruation, which is the first one to be published in Spain about that subject. The book - it talks about the MUM - is coming out at the end of March and I just said to the publisher, Editorial Planeta, to contact you and send you some pages from it and the cover as well. I'm sure that it will be interesting to you to have some information about the book that I hope has enough sense of humour to be understood anywhere. Thank you for your interest and help.
If you need anything else, please let me know.
Best wishes,
Margarita Rivière
Belen Lopez, the editor of nonfiction at Planeta, adds that "Margarita, more than 50 years old, and Clara, 20, expose their own experiences about menstruation with a sensational sense of humour." (Later this month more information will appear on the publisher's site, in Spanish.)
My guess is that Spaniards will regard the cover as risqué, as many Americans would. And the book, too. But, let's celebrate!
Two weeks ago I mentioned that Procter & Gamble was trying to change attitudes in the Spanish-speaking Americas to get more women to use tampons, specifically Tampax - a hard sell.
Compare this cover with the box cover for the Canadian television video about menstruation, Under Wraps, and the second The Curse.
An American network is now developing a program about menstruation for a popular cable channel; some folks from the network visited me recently to borrow material.
And this museum lent historical tampons and ads for a television program in Spain last year.
Now, if I could only read Spanish! (I'm a former German teacher.)
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.
