[Incidentally, the German word Menstruationsgift - literally, menstruation poison - is understandable to the average German, but the English menotoxin must be explained to even highly educated English speakers. This illustrates my favorite observation: that most German words, many of which look unwieldy to Americans, are actually much closer to everyday speech than many highfalutin English words, which often put a layer of Latin and Greek or something else between us and the meaning. German is homier to its speakers than English. I think this helps account for the huge vocabulary of English, greater than the amount of German words by about a third, and the number of French words by even more. But then the French are choosy about their language.]
"Although 35% of Americans believe that women's ability to think is impaired by menstruation, and 26% believe women cannot function as well at work when they menstruate, actual tests of women at different phases of the cycle, using all sorts of complex measures, almost always show no cycle-phase effects. This tendency to see menstruation as debilitating and the expectation that it will have an adverse impact on women's lives and activities persist in spite of more than 75 years of research demonstrating no impairment!"
Dear H. Finley,
Hi! My name is Andria, otherwise known as The Mehndi Mistress. My partner and I have been bringing Mehndi to Germany and other countries since September 1997. We are currently working on our book, and funnily found your site connected to Dr. Schneider from Munich. I was just wondering if you had some interesting info on the use of henna in the pubic regions (India, Pakistan), and the mennogogic effects of the henna berries on women.
Please reply, I would appreciate it.
Dear Harry,
I heard you on the Gerry Ryan Radio Show in Ireland a couple of months ago, and was delighted to visit your wonderful Web site. Well done! [Thank you!]
By the way, have you incorporated a section on women's art and menstruation? [Yes, the Art of Menstruation.] I know of one English artist/filmmaker, Judith Higginbottom, who did a piece on lunar cycles and menstruation; and there was the notorious COUM performance which featured used tampons at the ICA in London in the late seventies. I am sure there are lots of others as well. [See the film Under Wraps, which shows the work of two artists, Judy Chicago and Wenda Gu.]
Anyway, all power to you. Bleeding marvellous! [I think that is a take-off on "Bloody marvellous!" Clever!]
I would like to THANK YOU very much for your Web site. I wish there had been a site like this when I was a little girl to help explain what was going on in my life when this woman's curse started.
Young girls can now go to your site and get information they need without being embarrassed or thinking they are bleeding to death. I am 37 and thought I was dying when I started. No one explained any of this before I started. I say again THANK YOU. [You're welcome!]
Hi, me again, [name]. I had previously e-mailed this site regarding my problems with Instead [read comments about this and other aspects of cups] and leaking due to my having a tipped uterus.
Others who also have tipped uteruses have e-mailed me commenting that they too had the same problem. One woman was kind enough to take the time to e-mail me with the information that she had tried Instead and The Keeper and found both leaked (we think because of the tipped uterus).
She didn't understand why The Keeper leaked also, because it is designed to be worn well below the cervix (unlike Instead). Anyway, I wanted to share this information with other "tipped-uterus" women so that they might avoid frustration, hassles, etc., in trying these products and trying to figure out why they won't work for them! Thanks.
Dear Mr. Finley,
I just had to write and say how much I have enjoyed visiting your Web site. [Thank you!] I have been touring it in stolen moments at work, and I must say I have had to steal a lot of them! Your site goes on forever! In fact it has taken me the better part of a week to write this because every time I went to your site looking for your address I found something else I had to look at. The last distraction was your cat - who is a beauty, by the way. [Isn't he?! I tell Mack C. Padd - for such is his name - that every day.] I have a cat named [I dropped the unique name for fear of revealing the writer's name to her friends and boss, who might want to monitor her viewing habits!], one of four. [I have three - see the bottom of this page.]
I learned about your Web site on the Bob and Tom Show as I was driving to work one morning. Did they send you their song "Feminine Hygiene" as they promised? [Not yet.] It's funny. I think the main problem people have with those ads is that they are so boring. I guess that's your point exactly.
Have you considered a page - or do you have one which I missed - about old wives' tales regarding menstruation? [A brilliant idea! I will start soon, with your contributions and from past contributors. Readers, send yours!] My mother told me that if a girl EVER went swimming or took a cold bath during her period, her period would stop and she would suffer an agony of cramps (and possibly nausea, vomiting and fainting) afterwards. Even wading was risky. I can tell you from experience that this is untrue. Mom also liked to tell the story about the time my Aunt Margaret foolishly canned a batch of tomatoes during her period. Naturally they all spoiled. EVERYONE knows that you can't can tomatoes during your period. They will spoil every time. Something to do with the acid in your body. [What a coincidence! See the first dissertation discussed above in German Books . . . .]
As I said, I enjoy your Web site, and wish I could visit the museum, though that is unlikely in the foreseeable future. I have told several friends about it and, sad to say, their response is usually "gross!" I just don't understand that. Menstruation is a normal thing, and I'm tired of the world treating it like some dirty little secret. Good luck with the museum, and keep up the good work. I hope you can get your menstrual hut someday - I would like to see one. [Me, too, and thanks.]
Have you considered lending the whole collection to some large museum, or making it a traveling exhibit? [A member of the staff of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington twice asked for it. I approached several womens studies department at universities in this, the Washington area, but they didn't even call me back. The traveling exhibit idea is good, but requires m-o-n-e-y. A national traveling exhibit about women's health has already borrowed some items from this museum.]
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.