The history of underwear sheds light on what women
used for menstruation.
What
women used in earlier times: See nineteenth-century
Norwegian washable pads and an Italian washable
"rag" from before 1900 - German patterns for
washable pads, about 1900 - Japanese patterns
for washable pads (early 20th century) -
Contemporary washable
pads - Women sometimes wore washable pads
with a sanitary
apron - Egyptian
hieroglyphics telling of tampon use -
The first commercial tampons,
(U.S.A., 1930s) - Menstrual cups (1930s) -
Special underpants
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Articles and comments about European women
and menstruation from the
distant past through the early
20th century
...........................................
17th
century England
...........................................
"When they
menstruated, they left a trail
of blood behind them."
What did European and American
women use for menstruation in the
19th century and before? (With
additions about Muslim law and
Jewish law.)
Many people ask me what women did
in earlier times about
menstruation. It's usually
impossible to say for sure for
most cultures, although women
have used tampons, pads
("rags" and commercial ones),
sponges, grass and other
absorbent materials probably for
thousands of years.
In European cultures, the
history of women, especially their
everyday affairs, is inadequate;
men ruled the roost and women were
"good" for a limited number of
things, few worth recording - at
least, so thought the men.
Dr. Monica Green, of the Duke
University history department,
warned me of this lack of
information right before I opened
the actual
museum, in 1994. I had
written her after seeing her
quoted in a New York Times article
about ancient contraception.
But Dr Sara Read (Loughborough
University, U.K.) writes
that probably
many
17th-century
British
women menstruated into their
clothing. [More
articles and
information from Dr Read.]
Read
why I have concluded, in
May 2001, that most
European and American
women probably used
nothing at all, bleeding
into their clothing.
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Sabine Hering and Gudrun
Maierhof, in Die unpäßliche
Frau ("The Indisposed
Woman," Pfaffenweiler,
Germany, 1991), write that German
women almost never used commercial
menstrual pads in the late 19th
century [see a German
disposable from that time].
They write,
"Most women seemed to have
made their own pads or, like rural women,
wore
neither pads nor underpants.
When they menstruated, they
left a trail of blood behind
them." [My
translation of "Die meisten
Frauen scheinen sich mit
selbstgenähten Stofftüchern
beholfen zu haben oder wie die
Frauen auf dem Lande gänzlich
auf Einlagen oder Unterhosen
verzichtet zu haben.
Menstruierten sie, so zogen
sie eine Blutspur hinter sich
her." The authors don't say
what their sources were.] [See
German
patterns for homemade
menstrual gear from this
time.]
Read also more evidence for
bleeding into clothes from
another German source here.
I lived in Germany for 13 years
and know that in the recent past
Germans worried less about body
odor than Americans did, who seem
to object to any odor at all (I'm
an American). And I think that a
hundred and more years ago body
odor was much more apparent. I suspect that
the smell of menstrual blood was
much more common and, I suspect,
the sight of it, too. (Read more about
menstrual odor).
Telling the story of women who
fought as soldiers in the American
Civil War, the authors of "They
Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers
in the American Civil War" (DeAnne
Blanton and Lauren Cook Burgess; Louisiana
State University Press, 2002)
remark that most of these women
were from working class
backgrounds and couldn't write,
thus not leaving written records,
which would be the case with
menstruation if our German sources
are correct - not that literate
women would eagerly record theirs.
I wonder how this "open"
menstruation influenced the
behavior of men? It seems likely
that women had to conceal both
blood and odor before they were
able to extensively participate in
male business society. The
relationship between men, women,
menstruation and women's health is
unendingly complex - and
interesting.
Extrapolating, my guess is that
in
"European" America and Europe a
certain - large? - percentage of
women in the 19th century and
before (and into the 20th
century) bled into their
clothing, especially
those from the rural and lower
classes, and American women
migrating westward, "pioneers."
(See a more
detailed discussion, with
pictures, of why I believe this is
so.) After all, America and Europe
were mostly rural, and the
standards of living were low.
American slaves might have also
bled into their clothing. And
there apparently are societies
today, in India,
for example, where women do not
try to absorb their bleeding with
anything special, or hide the
process. But these are just my
guesses. [See some 19th-century Norwegian
knitted pads and Italian
washable pads, probably from the
19th century.]
By the way, Megan Hicks, former
Curator of Health and Medicine at
the Powerhouse Museum, Australia's
largest, wrote me that cloth menstrual
rags from a 19th-century women's
prison are on display at
that prison. It could be that rags
were used to maintain hygiene in
this enclosed environment,
something perhaps less necessary
if the women were free. It seems
likely that Australian customs for
women of European origin were
similar to the European ones of
the time, just as in America.
Keep in mind that prior to the
20th century, European and
American women menstruated
infrequently compared
with today. They
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- started menstruating
later, frequently in the
mid to late teens, and stopped
earlier, if they lived long
enough to experience
menopause, thus creating a
shorter time for menstruation
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- married earlier,
legitimizing the production of
children, which reduced
menstruation
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- had more children, and used
less contraception, stopping
menstruation for long periods
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- breast fed their children
longer (and more often), which
usually stopped menstruation
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- were more likely to be
under- and malnourished or
sick, or any combination
thereof, which can
stop menstruation
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- died earlier -
stopping it dead
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(Read many of these same points,
made by Prof.
Patricia Sulak, M.D., at
Texas A&M University.)
These
points apply to millions of
women today.
It's possible that women
attained adulthood and gave birth
to children, but never
menstruated.
People could, and often did,
interpret menstruation as
something bad
- a sign of infertility, for
example, and meaning the woman was
not doing her "job."
Reinforcing this was the fact that
the appearance of non-menstrual
blood indicated something amiss;
why should menstrual blood be any
different? This might partly
account for the many beliefs about
the evil effects
of menstruating women:
they weren't doing their job as
women.
And the ancient Greek physician
Hippocrates, of Hippocratic oath
fame, may have started the
practice of bleeding sick people
after observing women recovering
from bloating and aches and pains
after starting their periods!
Muslim
law:
An e-mailer wrote the museum in
November 2000, which I should add
to this discussion:
As with so many cultures,
there are rules and etiquettes
surrounding menstruation in
various Muslim cultures.
Religiously, there are certain
rites that women are required to
suspend (including a type of
formal prayer known as salat,
and also sexual intercourse)
during the time that they are
menstruating, which they resume
after fully immersing and
washing themselves in water
(known as ghusl) once the
bleeding has stopped. At the
time of the Prophet Muhammad,
the women in the Muslim
community used to approach the
wives of the Prophet, asking
them to inspect their cotton
wads they used as pads, to check
whether or not they had
'finished' their periods.
(Emission of non-menstrual blood
and other bodily fluids do not
require suspension of religious
rites, but do require a minor
ablution to be performed
beforehand).
The Prophet himself was asked
about what method a (particular)
woman should use to stem the
flow of severe menstrual blood.
He advised her that she should
use cotton or a cloth. Although
another report indicates that
for one wife of the Prophet who
had extra bleeding
(non-menstrual blood) to place a
tray underneath to catch any
blood while she prayed.
Another hadith (tradition)
reports that: "The woman who has
a prolonged flow of blood should
wash herself every day when her
menstrual period is over and
take a woolen cloth greased with
fat or oil (to tie over the
private parts)." (Sahih Bukhari
1:0302).
Jewish law
From an e-mailer, March
2012:
Hello.
I just stumbled upon your piece on
menstruation behaviors of women in
past generations - fascinating. I
just wanted to mention that it
would probably have been highly
unlikely that Jewish women did not
wear underwear or pads of some
sort, as menstruation has many
halakhic ramifications (in regard
to intercourse and other marriage
laws) which are still very much in
use today by Jewish women the
world over. Jewish law (halakha)
requires menstruating women to
count five days after the start of
their period, then insert clean
white cotton cloths vaginally
twice daily to assure that the
flow of blood has stopped, as well
as wear white underwear and sleep
on white bedding [a practice which
was, indeed, probably instituted
because bloomers were not pressed
tightly against the skin, or not
worn to sleep] for a week before
they may ritually wash in a mikva,
or ritualarium. These laws are
among the top two or three laws
that Jews consider "defining",
that
is, a "if he/she keeps these
laws, he/she is practicing Jew"
sort of thing.†
So - in summation - not only
are/were Jewish women highly aware
of their menstruation, and not
only was it not considered
something abominable or
embarrassing, it was governed by a
strict and encompassing set of
laws that makes me think that
there must have been undergarments
of some sort worn. I wonder if the
Talmud addresses this interesting
issue?†
In any case, just an interesting
cultural side point. Thanks for
bringing up the topic!
Most sincerely
****
..................................................................................................................
In September, 2006, a retired
American teacher wrote about her
family and NOT bleeding into
clothing and other matters, such
as no-belt
pads without underpants,
recipes for poisoning instead
of divorce, and interesting
birth-control methods in the
previous two centuries:
I have been reading the Web
site [scroll to the top of this
page] and I find it highly
doubtful that women just bled
into their clothing, I'm sure
they were more creative than
that, but I can only tell you
about my family. My mother (born
1913) never wore underwear and
used the diapers she had used on
me. (I was born in 1954.) Just
folded it and tucked between her
legs. I never remember it
falling out from under her skirt
either. When changing one she
would dampen the one she was
wearing, wipe well with it and
put it in the lidded enamel pail
of cold water, and tuck a clean
one between her legs. We were
very poor, living in a one room
house in the South with an
outdoor toilet and pump in the
yard and no privacy. I went to
live with an aunt at age 8 but
have clear memories of my mother
and it was just matter of fact,
no shame. I received the usual
sex ed at school that included a
film about menstruation and the
matching "Very
Personally Yours" booklet
that went with it in the sixth
grade and was given the sanitary belt
by Modess, the pink
package that you have on the Web
site where you are not sure of
the date. I received that
package in 1964 so that helps to
narrow the date.
I was visiting my grandmother
in the summer as I often did,
when I started my period one
night. I began menstruation at
age 14 as had my grandmother,
and am still menstruating at age
53; my grandmother's didn't
cease until age 56. She was born
in 1884, died 1973 and we were
very close. I went to her
because I didn't know what to
use and had only folded some
toilet paper between my legs.
The stores were closed.
Grandmother said, don't worry,
I'll make you a travel napkin.
She went to the kitchen got the
cheesecloth (she used it on
cheese, straining fruit for
jelly, wrapping fruit cake,
keeping flies off food, etc.)
then went and got some cotton
batting that she used in making
quilts, and went to the treadle
singer sewing machine she used
her whole life, cut a length of
cheesecloth folded into thirds
(single layer on top next to
skin, two overlapped layers
underneath the batting) around
four layers of the batting,
(flat cotton layers for quilts)
sewed both ends near the
batting, and when finished it
was almost identical to the
commercial Kotex that I was used
to, and she whipped up a second
one with three layers of batting
so I would have one to change
into in the morning when we
would go to the store to buy
some. So with two safety pins,
which you pinned to the elastic
of your underwear, and threaded
the napkin ends through like on
the belts,(you did not pin the
napkins), I was all set. I asked
why she called it a travel
napkin, and she said that when
she was young she wore cloth at
home but when you traveled, you
made these up so you could throw
them away. She told me her
sister used to make little
drawstring bags of cheesecloth
and stuff with cotton, leaving
the string and used like a
tampon, but you could open the
bag and change the cotton.
(Great Aunt Amanda was a
midwife, traveling on
horseback.) She had tried
it, but it leaked for her so she
would have to wear a napkin (and
she had always called it napkin)
anyway so she didn't like them.
She said when she was working at
the sheriff's office, 1904, she
would wear both in order to get
through the day, but usually
would just wad some extra cotton
between her and the pad and
change those extra wads. Since
she lived in Arkansas, near the
cotton fields, it was a cheap
alternative for her to make for
her daughters even in the
Depression. She still had the
carding tool she used to remove
cotton seeds herself. I asked
what her mother had used in
Indiana; she said her mother,
born 1848 in Kentucky (on a
tobacco plantation), used sheepskins
cut into the size of the napkin
body (without the tails). She
would rub tallow into the skin
to resist moisture and wear the
fur side next to her body to
absorb the blood. She soaked
them in cold water just like
cloth, and then would boil them
to clean them just as my
grandmother and mother had the
cloth ones. She said her
mother never wore underwear
either and at home just tucked
the sheepskin between her
legs, but hers did fall out
from under her skirt once in a
while, and she often was
reaching under her skirt to
adjust it. We decided it was
because she was so thin versus
my mother whose fat thighs
kept hers in place. (I have no
trouble walking around with
one stuck between mine
either.) When she went
out somewhere she would put a
leather belt under her clothing,
take a strip of cheesecloth
(obviously cheap and always
around like cotton batting) and
loop it over the belt and
between her legs to hold the
sheepskin in place. My
grandmother also had used that
method at times. Her mother
believed the sheepskins were
healthier and better because she
didn't bleed through the way you
would cotton because of tallow
on the back and they didn't
chafe her. She wanted her girls
to use them but neither
grandmother nor aunt Amanda
liked them because grandmother
insisted they smelled and that
even washing them the same way
as the cloth they held the odor.
According to her, she felt the
cotton was better. So, I can
only tell you back to 1848 and
assume my great grandmother had
learned from her mother but I realize
I am lucky to know that much
since the other people in my
family did treat the subject
like it was a dirty secret.
She also told me her cousins in
Indiana used travel napkins when
they came to visit on the train
from the farm in Indiana but they gathered
a fluffy material from a weed
in the fall of the year (I
can't remember the name of the
weed) that grew in fields to
use to stuff the cheesecloth
with, she had tried it too but
it didn't absorb as well
according to her. So,
women a hundred years ago had a
homemade disposable before a
commercial one was ever made
both as a napkin and a tampon,
150 years ago a sheepskin method
was being used that was probably
learned from a mother and I find
it hard to believe that women
ever deliberately just bled into
their valuable, scarce clothing
when it is so easy to wad at
least a rag between your legs.
Now, a word about birth
control. My grandmother
believed that a woman who had
too many children was "too
lazy to get out of bed" and
clean up, and said so often
and with disdain. She
used quilting
squares of cotton,
rubbed lard into the cloth
(about four inches square) and
used it like a diaphragm during
her fertile period (she kept
track of that too) and would get
up and clean afterward. She said
when Coca
Cola was available it
was easier to use, you just
shook up the bottle and inserted
it to douche and the six ounce
size was perfect. She had four
children which is how many she
said she wanted but got pregnant
once years later but miscarried.
Aunt Amanda (the midwife) and
Aunt Edith only wanted one child
each and that is all they had
but grandmother said they had a
couple of miscarriages. I am now
suspicious of the miscarriages
but didn't know enough at the
time to ask the right questions
as I am sure she would have told
me. She had learned to use
greased fabric squares from her
mother.
One last thing: my great
grandmother had divorced
in Indiana and at that time it
was such a disgrace that they
moved to Arkansas. Her oldest
daughter later divorced too. My
grandmother, in defense of her
mother and sister, said, well
at least they didn't poison
them, which lead to an
interesting discussion of
poison; according to my
grandmother, women preferred
over divorce. She said
the most common was castor oil
beans cooked in the same pot
with brown beans and also
oleander and mandrake root. My
grandmother knew a lot about
herbs from her mother and taught
me a lot (we used to make
shampoo from soapwort, and it
was the best to whiten old
linen; I wonder if
textile museums know that?) and
this had been passed down in the
family along with the knowledge
of poisons. So, you were looking
for a new topic, it would be
interesting how many women have
heard about this. I remember
years ago about a woman
writing in her diary about the
Civil War and including the
fact she had poisoned someone.
It may have been more common
when women had no rights to
property. I haven't
known anyone who admitted to
using it but I have known
other woman who had heard
about the recipes.
My grandmother had lived in
interesting times, she loved
yellow roses because they were
the symbol for a woman's right
to vote, and she was widowed,
working and raising four
children on her own before
getting that right. She told me
about the broadcast of [Orson
Welles'] "War of the Worlds" and
thinking it was true at first.
She told me about going from
horses to cars, electricity, the
bombing of Pearl Harbor and was
thrilled to live long enough to
see a man on the moon. I wish
everyone had a grandmother like
mine.
© 1999 Harry Finley. It is
illegal to reproduce or
distribute 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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