I think you need a better hobby than women's personal hygiene! [It's not a hobby, it's a mission.]
Not only that, I think this "museum" idea might be more palatable if there was some dignity displayed. Those pictures give off a tawdry, cheap impression - it appears like something out of a filthy porn shop. [Unlike a clean porn shop? Tawdriness, cheapness and filthiness often reside in the beholder. Please tell us about your experience in porn shops.]
It may have also not occurred to you, but most women prefer to keep menstruation a personal and private matter. [The words in red also appear in a letter I received in 1995 - see the end of the first paragraph in the first letter pictured]. Just because Madison Avenue had tried to "depersonalize" the subject to make money, doesn't mean women are thrilled at being subjected to tasteless commercials for feminine products.
Why not a museum dedicated to men's crotch itch? [Sassy magazine long ago recommended I do this, and folded soon afterwards. Sheer coincidence?] Or men's condoms? [Apparently it's already been done in at least two places, darn it! Another angry reader suggested I start a toilet museum - why are these people giving me ideas to start things they object to? - but someone in England has already done this, as an American judge wrote me in 1996. The judge supported this museum, by the way, mentioning former Surgeon General of the United States Koop.]
Because it would be inappropriate, that's why.
This museum is bizarre and inappropriate too.
And the fact that you, as a man, actually hope to make money off of this is disgusting to say the least!
Shame on you.
Hi,
I just looked through your MUM site. Missed seeing the much-hated and -despised booklet I remember: "You're a Young Lady Now." Probably either Modess or Kotex [it was Kotex] put it out in the early 1960s [they apparently started in the early 1950s], all in pink with delicate little flowers. [See more of these menarche booklets.]
Here's the whole booklet. At left is an early cover.
Kotex published a booklet in 1940, As One Girl to Another, graphically similar to this.
The company also created a long-running cartoon series of etiquette advice, Are you in the know? using contemporary teenage language - cousin to "cool" - that will make you smile. See also many ads directed at teens.
You might be interested to know that my Beloved Partner (a great-granddaughter of Lydia E. Pinkham) remembers using sanitary napkins made by the Lydia Pinkham Medicine Co. Not sure whether they were for "testing" purposes, or were a complementary product to the Sanative Wash [apparently a douche liquid, advertised in her Home Talks, right-hand page].
Harry,
Here's a story. (I doubt it's material for your collection, just pass it along for whatever chuckle it elicits.)
When I was a kid, my family went to my grandmother's three-story shingled house for a few days each summer, and I spent a certain amount of time in her attic, opening strapped trunks and twine-tied boxes and trying on old clothes and strange costumes from amateur theatricals. Off in a corner stood a plain gray cardboard box that seemed nearly as tall as I was, early on, filled with enormous cotton pads wrapped in layers of cheesecloth. My aunt called them her "World War II Kotex." (Can't argue the historical validity of brand names.)
As an adult, I spent a certain amount of time in the same attic helping my aunt sort, rearrange, and toss things. Each time, I asked if she wanted to get rid of the box of sanitary napkins, and she said, "No, Sweetie, I want the boys to have to figure out what the hell to do with them when I'm gone."
When she died, my cousins called and asked me to come help them decide how to distribute certain items. Aunt Kate's big box of World War II Kotex led the list of imponderables. I told them she'd planned for that impasse for a long time, and we had a good laugh about it.
It would amuse her even more to know that my recollection of that memento would find its way down the years to you.
Cheers!
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.