New this week: How
to douche, and why you should (1937, in the book The Intimate Side of
a Woman's Life, by Leona W. Chalmers, Pioneer Publications, Inc., U.S.A.)
- Faultless douching syringe (U.S.A., 1960s-1970s?)
- And a ***Columbus day holiday bonus!***:
Constipation (1937, in the book The Intimate Side
of a Woman's Life, by Leona W. Chalmers, Pioneer Publications, Inc., U.S.A.)
- humor
Next update is 22 October because of visit
Megan Hicks, the curator of medicine for the Powerhouse Museum, Australia's
largest, visits the remnants of the physical Museum of Menstruation and
me (there are more remnants of me than of the museum) on 15 October, a Saturday,
which is one of the two days I spend updating this site, so I will postpone
that by one week.
She has also boosted my morale, although her teenage daughter did teach
me the word "grot," which she used in a letter to me to describe
this museum.
Click to increase breast cancer
awareness
(No money goes to the museum or Harry Finley.)
Letters to your MUM
Are males interested in menstruation? A woman writes,
I've found over the years that most of my male friends are very curious
about menstruation - how women feel about it, during it and over time how
they know when it's going to start etc.
They seem extra interested in how women experience and handle PMS,
emotional swings, pain, etc. It's mainly self-interest (how to handle their
girlfriends) but I think it's partly social as well. You know, men aren't
"moody," they're the same all the time, etc. (yeah, right! I
say). I had one very educated male friend (a graduate student in neuroscience,
no less) tell me he couldn't imagine being "controlled by his emotions"
on a regular basis!!! I really wasn't about to point out his own mood swings!
I think a man being interested in "it" - especially if he
has close relationships with women - is healthy normal. I've already referred
your site to a number of my male friends for education! When they found
out the site was run by a man they seemed a bit more comfortable with checking
it out; not surprising.
She'll use this site to help teach her kids
What a fantastic site and a wonderfully informative trip through your
collection. [Thanks!] I can't imagine what possessed you to start collecting
feminine hygiene products but I think it's great. [Curiosity about something
totally foreign to me, mostly.] This relaxed and humorous site will definitely
be part of my sex education arsenal when the time comes to teach my kids
Stopping menstruation another way
We have started a company to develop a product to give women the choice
of ending their menstrual periods. The address is www.impresmed.com.
We think a large percentage of women want a choice!
It's an interesting debate [see the debate page about stopping
menstruating].
Paul Danielson-CEO
ImPres Medical, Inc.
[An officer of the company told me that what they will offer has not
yet been granted a patent and they are reluctant to say too much, other
than that it is NOT a hormone but it is an implant.]
A Canadian mentions the film Period Piece
Dear Mr. Finley,
I have just become acquainted with your wonderful Web site. I have
spent the entire morning perusing it from "cover to cover." I
did not notice any reference on your site to a film called "Period
Piece" by Jennifer Frame and Jay S. Rosenblatt (1996, 30 min, Locomotion
Films). I saw a citation for this film in an online database yesterday.
The abstract is as follows:
"A different kind of film about menstruation, P.P. celebrates
this rite of passage in a girl's life. Women of various ages and ethnicities
share how they felt when they got their first period. Old educational films
are revisited in new ways adding humor and historical perspective."
Do you know of Period Piece? I thought if you hadn't heard of it you
might be interested. I just learned about it and haven't seen it, and I
doubt it's widely available, alas.
Anyway, thank you very much for your wonderful, radical work. [I wish
it weren't radical; menstruation is so normal!] I hope to be able to see
your museum some day.
Book about menstrual myths
I think your site is great. I came across it a while ago through Lesbian.com.
I'm writing a piece for an art book on menstrual myths (actual and
made up ones) and remembered your site. We thought we made up the most
ridiculous and unbelievable myths. But of course practically every one
already exists in some other culture.
[I asked the writer if it will be published, and if so, how do we buy
it?]
How did women on Little House on the Prairie handle menstruation, diapers,
etc.?
Just discovered your site and wanted to say thanks for providing the
info. I haven't read through the entire site yet, but MUM has already answered
a lot of the questions I've had over the years (I'm 38 years old now) about
how this process has been handled by women in "bygone days."
[Here are some clues.]
My curiosity was prompted recently when I began re-reading the "Little
House on the Prairie" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, stories about
leaving Eastern "civilization" to pioneer in the West during
the late 1800's. Ma, Pa, three daughters, (one an infant) traveling in
a covered wagon for months into Indian Territory and other unsettled areas.
How did Ma handle it, I wondered?
Of course the books don't speak of such ordinary things. Likewise they
don't speak to the subject of dealing with the disposal of a family's
worth of human waste while holed up in a claim shanty for for months during
winter blizzards when they could barely go outside to care for the
livestock. Surely trips to the outhouse - if there was one - couldn't have
been frequent or wise for safety reasons. Likewise, how did the covered
wagon pioneers deal with dirty diapers and the inevitable infrequent "laundry
days"? Anyone who's ever held a baby - in cloth diapers or Pampers
- knows leakage occurs. Ma wouldn't have been able to wash her clothes
often of baby urine or even change into a fresh outfit because likely those
folks didn't have as many changes of clothes we take for granted nowadays
- add blood to that - it must have been disgusting. [My not-brilliant guess
is that they simply put up with a lot more odor and mess than most people
of European heritage are used to. Cities in the the past - Paris, for example
- were much dirtier and much smellier, but people must have simply accepted
that. Few people brushed their teeth, bathed frequently, etc., but they
were used to it.]
Thanks again. I've passed the Web site link on to other women I know
who'll also be interested.
A correction to a description of Jewish belief, and a
book recommendation
Hi,
Two things:
First of all, I wanted to add a book to
your bibliography on menstruation in Judaism
on the site. It's a phenomenal collection edited by Rahel R. Wasserfall
(you have an article of hers listed) and it's called Women
and Water: Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law, published by Brandeis
University Press in 1999. [Many thanks! I just added it.]
And I was reading the discussion on Biblical
and Quranic attitudes towards menstruation [here] on your site and I came across a quote that distressed
me:
"The Jews believe Moses had interdicted Jewish women from going
near rivers, wells, fire or kitchen, grain fields, gardens and cattle."
It appears in a longer quote about Zoroastrian sources, I think. I
am not sure where the information came from, but
it is completely erroneous. [It came from the Zoroastrian site listed
there.] While I realize that the subsequent
discussion turned to Islamic beliefs, I feel that
it is important that this inaccurate information be addressed somehow.
There is nothing in the Old Testament indicating
that any of those things were off-limits to the menstruant. She
may have been in a state of ritual impurity that prevented her from approaching
the Temple and from engaging in sexual relations, but she was not prohibited
from having contact with any of the "non-holy" or "common"
items listed above. She could transmit her state of ritual impurity to
other people who touched her and anyone who touched her clothes, her bedding,
and anything she sat on or lay on, but these are the only prohibitions
listed in Leviticus 15, 18, or 20. Whatever the source of the beliefs mentioned
above, they certainly did not come from the figure of Moses.
While later texts such as the Mishna (edited in 230 CE) and the Talmuds
(Palestinian Talmud edited in the 4th century CE, Babylonian Talmud edited
in 5th or 6th century CE) do suggest that perhaps the menstruant was secluded
during her period (see Mishna Niddah 7:4 or Tractate Rosh Hashana 26a),
the evidence is paltry at best and probably only applied to Greco-Roman
Palestine where it was still a practice to eat only with those who were
in a state of ritual purity, despite the destruction of the Temple and
abolishment of the purity system. However, the more normative view is expressed
in Tractate Ketubot 61a where it is clear that menstruating women went
about all their domestic tasks as any other wife - which would surely involve
coming into contact with fire, kitchens, wells, gardens and cattle!
The only prohibition that remained was the taboo on sexual relations
between husband and wife. Subsequently many of the discussions throughout
rabbinic literature focus on curtailing the opportunities for intimacy
during this time when husbands and wives living under the same roof could
not engage in physicality.
However, there is a text dated to the 6th or 7th century, known as
Beraitade-Niddah, that although initially a fringe document, was assimilated
into popular belief. In this text, the idea expressed was that the menstruant's
breath, spittle, footprints, voice, and nail clippings were threatening.
Although earlier rabbinic literature specifically states that a menstruant
can study scripture and recite blessings without a problem (see Tosefta
Berachot 2:12) in Beraita de-Niddah she is prohibited from lighting candles,
entering the synagogue or being in a room with Hebrew books. A popular
medieval commentator known as Nachmonidies brought these marginal beliefs
into the mainstream and consequently, some of them, such as removing oneself
from the synagogue during menstruation, are practiced by women in some
communities to this day (for more information on this subject see a book
by Susan Sered called Women as Ritual Experts).
So yes, there is more than enough that is distressing in traditional
Jewish sources about the restrictions placed on the menstruating woman,
but the fear of menstruants approaching rivers, wells, fires, kitchens,gardens,
cattle, etc., is not in any tradition I am aware of. The idea that a menstruating
woman would be prohibited from approaching a river is the most absurd notion,
for Talmudic law itself requires that at the end of one's period a woman
should undergo ritual immersion in a pool of water known as mikvah and
a natural body of water such as a river full of spring water meets all
of the regulations of a mikvah. I guess I am particularly invested in this
subject because I am writing my MA thesis at the Hebrew University on approaches
to menstruation in the Talmud.
Sincerely,
Pap art exhibit starts 21 September in
Delray Beach, Florida
I am writing to request your participation and assistance in an exciting
and important project regarding women's health issues.
The world-renowned scientist and lover of the arts Dr.
George Papanicolaou, better known as Dr. Pap, inventor of the Pap smear
test, will be the subject of a special exhibition at the Cornell Museum
of Art in Delray Beach, Florida, beginning September 21, 2000. The
gala opening and artist's reception will be held on Thursday evening September
28, 2000. The foremost patient advocate and director of the Center For
Cervical Health in the United States, Carol Ann Armenti, will be the keynote
speaker.
The exhibition will run through November 12, 2000, and will feature
recent works by international artist Olga Stamatiou,
Dr. Papanicolaou's niece. Stamatiou's works will be available for
acquisition and the profits will go toward:
1. The creation of "PAP MOBILES," vehicles that would be
used to provide testing for under-served women in areas, with the highest
incidence of cervical cancer.
2. The creation of a traveling multimedia art exhibition.
3. The production of a documentary film based on the life, work and
scientific legacy of Dr. Papanicolaou and his wife Mary.
4. The Center for Cervical Health.
5. The Papanicolaou Woman's Corp.
Our organization "PAP" - Prevention and Protection - will
have as its goal to raise awareness about women's health issues, including
the importance of having regular Pap smears and the provision of information
on new and existing methods for detecting cervical cancer.
The traveling exhibition, to be viewed in public spaces and museums,
will be a multimedia environment drawing on and inspired by Dr. Pap's love
of the arts and sciences. This environment will include permanent built-in
units that will provide creative spaces for national and local women's
health organizations to inform women on what is available involving health
care.
The September 28th opening reception will also include international
guest artists and feature a wide range of styles and media. A percentage
of their work will benefit the above-mentioned projects.
Olympus Corporation of America will provide working microscopes and
monitors along with technicians on opening night to demonstrate how Pap
smears are read.
Washable-pad company for sale
Gayle Adams, owner of Feminine Options, wants
to sell the company to someone willing to put time and energy into it.
The Food and Drug Administration has already approved its products.
Call Gayle at (715) 455-1652 (Wisconsin, U.S.A.).
Call for Submissions: "The 100 Best Things
About Menstruation"
Looking for one-liners up to three paragraphs describing a "best
thing" about menstruation: Health-related, cultural, artistic; an
experience shared with an older or younger relative, or with a partner;
a dream, political statement, joke, proverb, and/or something overheard
at a party; scientific, sexual and/or religious . . . .
Be creative, be precise,
and make it a one-liner up to three paragraphs.
The book will start out with best thing #1:
"Menopause."
Which is a "joke" given to me by a woman in Australia - however,
I think it accurately expresses the menstruphobia most people feel, and
is a good starting point for the general audience
the book is aimed at.
From there, the book is a journey through all stages and aspects of
the lifetime menstrual cycle - and the last several "best things"
will be about menopause. So hopefully the reader will be brought full circle
- they will recognize their own menstruphobia in the first best thing,
but by the end of the book, they may be surprised to find themselves feeling
a bit . . . menstrufriendly!
Please include contact information for you and/or your group EXACTLY
as you would wish it to appear in the book - I think it will save a bit
of hassle down the road!
Any best things that don't make it into the book will be included in
a section on the Menstrual Monday Web site entitled "More Best Things
About Menstruation." I'd like the book to be
a snapshot of the worldwide menstrual movement in year 2000 - so
just like a group photo, there's going to be some adjusting and moving
people around and asking people to tilt their head a bit to the left, etc.
. . i.e., as editor of the book, I may e-mail back and ask you to expand
your best thing(s), or give some specific examples . . . so I hope that's
not going to put anybody off!!!
Here's another sample best thing:
#43. Cramping at the Savoy
I know it's traditional to lie in bed with a hot water bottle or heating
pad when one has cramps, but I can remember working in a fast-food restaurant,
and one day when I had my period, I'd worked an eight-hour shift from 6
am to 2 pm, and later that night, went dancing at 9 pm . . . I can remember
being on the crowded dance floor, and shouting up to my partner, "the
dancing's made my cramps go away!" and him shouting back (although
I could barely hear him above the music): "GOOD!!!"
So maybe the whole purpose of having cramps is to propel us onto the
dance floor!
Working deadline is October 1, 2000, for submissions.
Please feel free to e-mail me with your "best things," and
any questions or comments you may have!
Geneva Kachman [who has written poetry and
essays on this site and had toxic shock syndrome.
She founded Menstrual Monday.]
Money and this site
I, Harry Finley, creator of the museum and site and the "I"
of the narrative here, receive no money for any products or services on
this site. Sometimes people donate items to the museum.
All expenses for the site come out of my pocket, where my salary from
my job as a graphic designer is deposited.
You have privacy
here
What happens when you visit this site?
Nothing.
I get no information about you from any
source when you visit, and I have no idea who you
are, before, during or after your visit.
This is private - period.
Is this the new
millennium or even century?
You can get the correct information
if you go to these pages published by the U S Naval Observatory:
"whenIs")
A comprehensive site from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich will put right any doubts:
Help Wanted: This Museum Needs a
Public Official For Its Board of Directors
Your MUM is doing the paper work necessary to become eligible to receive
support from foundations as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. To achieve
this status, it helps to have a American public official - an elected or
appointed official of the government, federal, state or local - on its board of directors.
What public official out there
will support a museum for the worldwide culture of
women's health and menstruation?
Eventually I would also like to entice people experienced in the law,
finances and fund raising to the board.
Do You Have Irregular Menses?
If so, you may have polycystic ovary syndrome
[and here's a support association for it].
Jane Newman, Clinical Research Coordinator at Brigham
and Women's Hospital, Harvard University School of Medicine, asked
me to tell you that
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.
Learn more about current
research on PCOS at Brigham and Women's
Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University
- or contact Jane Newman.
If you have fewer than six
periods a year, you may be eligible to participate
in the study!
New this week: How
to douche, and why you should (1937, in the book The Intimate Side of
a Woman's Life, by Leona W. Chalmers, Pioneer Publications, Inc., U.S.A.)
- Faultless douching syringe (U.S.A., 1960s-1970s?)
- And a ***Columbus day holiday bonus!***:
Constipation (1937, in the book The Intimate Side
of a Woman's Life, by Leona W. Chalmers, Pioneer Publications, Inc., U.S.A.)
- humor
© 2000 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