Exercise Might Protect Against Breast
Cancer
A Norwegian study provides strong evidence that exercise,
especially in women right before or
after menopause, protects against breast cancer, as
reported in a recent New England Journal
of Medicine article. Although the mechanism is not known, it may be that by reducing excess body weight,
exercise indirectly reduces estrogen production, which
is linked to breast cancer. Many studies have shown a link between exercise
and the reduction of breast cancer.
Win Two Prizes of $249.99 Each in the First Museum of Menstruation Research Contests!
In what I envision as an annual event (at least, and I hope the award
increases), I want to announce a contest for researching the early history of commercial tampons, this year's theme.
Contest #1 (Prize: $249.99): Find the earliest reference (patents excluded),
at the latest in the 1930s, to the American tampon fax, which I have discussed on this site.
I suspect that fax appeared on the market in the early 1930s or late 1920s.
Your reference, which might be an advertisement, must be dated, or the date must be obvious
in some way. For example, an advertisement might be found in a dated newspaper
or magazine, or an associated news item might refer to a contemporary event
or person. Obviously, the reference must be authentic and must withstand
strong scholarly scrutiny as to its date and authenticity; this decision
rests with Harry Finley - me - director of the Museum of Menstruation. Click here for some hints to start you off!
Contest #2 (Prize: $249.99): Find the earliest reference
to a commercially produced tampon (patents excluded) before Wix,
and not including fax (see above). The time in question is in or before 1933, and most likely in
the U.S.A. This reference, just as in Contest #1, must be dated, and might be an advertisement
in a dated newspaper or magazine; an associated news item might refer to
a contemporary event or person. Obviously, the reference must be authentic
and must withstand strong scholarly scrutiny as to its date and authenticity;
this decision rests with Harry Finley - me - director of the Museum of Menstruation.
In each case, the
person submitting an authentic reference with the earliest date wins the
money,
together with a museum T-shirt (if I have your size!) and a fancy, framed certificate. I will write something in this Web site
about the contest after it's over, announce the winners, etc. Harry Finley of this museum makes the final decision as to who
wins.
You may submit as many entries as you wish, but they must
be postmarked on or before 31 December
1997. In other words, you have the rest of the year! Send
them to Harry Finley at the post office box address listed on the first
page.
Your entries must clearly show the reference, even if
it's just a photocopy. It's possible that later you will be required to
submit a photo, written report about the reference, notarized document,
etc., to support the entry. You must convince me.
In case of ties - two entries giving references the same
date - the entry dated earlier wins.
Go ahead, if you want, and make your research
part of a school paper, etc., and even write and publish your paper before
the contest is over. MUM's
just looking for the fax (oh, that's terrible, I know, but I've
been building this whole item up to that!); the entries become the property
of this museum, but the research is yours.
Why $249.99? Because
in good ol' American advertising tradition, no one sells something for an
even number! It's always a penny or two under some outrageous price to lull
you into buying! And this museum started
out as basically a history of the advertising for menstrual hygiene products;
it has since grown wiser and larger.
Why am I giving away my money? Because
I think it's important to spend what I can afford to find out as much as
possible about the history of an underreported, important subject, the world-wide culture of women.
Read about the winners in January 1998
in this News, Notes and You section! And
get working!
Dutch
Web Site Makes
MUM the Site of the Week!
I received this e-mail this past week:
It may please you to know that this week
your web site is 'Site of theWeek' in my
site, which contains, among other
things, 6000 links to museum sites in 120 countries.
Best wishes,
Rob Elsas
http://www.elsas.demon.nl/
It does please me, and thank
you very much! Check out the museums,
folks - some are just great, and in 120 countries!
© 1997 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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