What did women use for
menstruation in Europe and America
from 1700 - 1900, and probably
earlier?
Many -
most? - women probably used
nothing.
Read
this translation of a German
quote (the original German is
a few paragraphs down):
"How did
women handle their
menstruation in daily life? In
1899 a German woman physician
wrote the following advice in
a book for German middle-class
women ("Health in the House"):
'It is
completely disgusting to
bleed into your chemise, and
wearing that same chemise
for four to eight days can
cause infections.'[Dr Sara
Read discusses
17th-century women
menstruating into their
clothing in the United
Kingdom.]
"This
was the age-old custom for
rural women and women from the
lower classes. Virtually only
women in the theater
professions wore close-fitting
pads [Binden - see a modern
American 'theatrical
tampon'] or sponges
and few women wore underpants
or even used pads, which they
made from cloth. Washing and
changing underclothing was
regarded as unhealthy, because
women feared it would block
the bleeding or cause more
intense bleeding."
(The above is my [Harry
Finley's] translation of a
quote, below, from "Zur Geschichte
der Unterwäsche 1700-1960."
1988. Historisches Museum
Frankfurt, p. 336, written by
two women, Almut Junker and Eva
Stille.
That
history museum in Frankfurt,
Germany, held a large exhibit
of the history of underwear
that included menstrual
clothing. The Hessian State
Museum in Darmstadt, Germany,
exhibited menstrual products
in the city of Lorsch from 26
November 1998 to 31 July 1999.
The German quote is
"Wie aber gingen die Frauen mit
der Monatsblutung im Alltag um?
Noch 1899 findet sich in einem
von einer Ärztin verfaßten
Gesundheitsbuch für bürgerliche
Frauen die Belehrung: 'Es ist
höchst unappetitlich, das Blut
im Hemd aufzufangen, und gar
dasselbe Hemd 4-8 Tage zu tragen
ist infectionsgefärlich.' [H.B.
Adams Lehmann: Die Gesundheit im
Haus, Stuttgart, 1899, p. 681.]
Dies war bei Frauen auf dem Land
und aus den unteren Schichten
eine von alters her bekannte
Praxis. Enganliegende Binden
oder Schwammkissen waren fast
nur in Theaterberufen in
Gebrauch, und nur wenig Frauen
trugen Unterhosen oder benutzten
schon Binden, die sie aus
Tüchern oder Leinwandlappen
gefertigt hatten. Das Waschen
und das Wechseln der Wäsche galt
in dieser Zeit als
gesundheitsgefährdend, weil eine
Stockung oder Verstärkung der
Blutung befürchtet wurde."
(Probably
because of the increasing
acceptance of germ theory, the
authors report that German doctors
in the 1880s and 1890s started
proposing menstrual devices for
women to wear to improve their
health, for example here and
here.
American patents for menstrual
devices start in 1854 for a belt
with steel springs to hold a pad,
but really don't pick up steam
until the 1870s. In her PhD
dissertation, Menstrual Technology
in the United States [1994], Laura
Klosterman Kidd writes that she
found no proof that anyone used
these patented devices, although
it seems likely someone must
have.)
Let's say
what Junker and Stille write is
true, as I think it is.
The second largest group of last
names in America is of German
origin, after that from the
British Isles, indicating that
many Germans settled in America.
My guess is that many of them were
from the lower classes, looking
for opportunities. Probably most
of them kept many of their
customs, including menstrual,
after arriving in America, as did
others from Europe with similar
customs, at least for a while. And
a certain proportion of them
migrated west as pioneers.
Menstruation and its customs are
almost never mentioned in the 17
pioneer women's diaries Laura Kidd
examined and reported on in her
dissertation (above); but she
found a passage in one diary that
hinted that the writer used
nothing to absorb menstrual
discharge other than her
underwear, which she told another
woman were dark, not white, and
advised her to use the same dark
colors. Kidd could find no extra
cloth in lists of recommended
items for women to bring on their
journeys, which might have
suggested menstrual use. Not one
woman mentioned any device
specifically designed to contain
menstrual blood. (In her
dissertation, Kidd refers to E.
Shorter's A History of Women's
Bodies [1982, New York. Basic
Books] which also reports that
European peasant women bled into
their clothing, even quite
recently. I have not read this
book.)
(In 2001
producers of a American Public
Television series about pioneers
called me to ask what the
modern-day participants
re-creating pioneer conditions
should use for menstruation. I
told them it was uncertain what
pioneer women used but that it
was quite possible some, at
least, used nothing. I
understand they gave the women
belts, possibly based on
19th-century drawings I sent
them, some on this site.)
I'm not sure what European and
American women from the moneyed
and ruling classes used, although
we probably can't regard them as
all doing one thing or another.
It's possible they used cloth and
belt, or something else, as they
could afford to do so, but not
necessarily. The authors of Zur Geschichte
der Unterwäsche 1700-1960 write of the
strong perfumes women wore and
used in their storage areas for
clothing to conceal body odors,
including those of bad teeth,
sweat, dirt, skin infections,
intestinal gas, and residue from
defecation, urination and
vaginal discharges, including
yeast and the awful-smelling
trichomonad infections; and
people bathed much less often
than today. Who knows what their
"wiping practices" were? For
reasons discussed here women usually
menstruated less often than
today and perhaps regarded
menstruation as an accident, not
completely predictable, and not
worth anything special, since it
could be disguised from the eye
by a long dress or chemise and
from the nose by perfume.
Today
there are cultures in which
women bleed into their clothing
- for example, at least one in India. A woman former
Peace Corps member who visited
this museum told me that she was
assigned to a region in Africa
in which women in a poor village
bled into their clothing;
according to her, the men paid
no special notice. Another woman
told me that there is a culture
on the Amazon river in which the
word for a woman is "the person
with a red streak down the leg."
I suspect there are many such
cultures. If so, why could that
have not been the case in
Europe? Maybe ethnic pride
prevents us from considering
this possibility. Europeans and
especially Americans are above
such a thing! Hah!
I believe
that one reason we read almost
nothing about what European and
American women used for
menstruation in the past two
thousand years is because there
is nothing to write, since they
used nothing special, bleeding
into their chemise or other
clothing. At least most of them.
Some e-mail supporting
the idea that (some? many?)
women used nothing,
and other topics:
In a
Mexican village
Hi,
I never thought I'd find
additional info beyond our
interesting email back-and-forth,
but to my surprise, my friend ****
and I somehow touched on this
topic (!!) when she visited me
about two weeks ago. She mentioned
that, as a child in the rural
village in Mexico where she grew
up (about 40-45 years ago, give or
take), she remembered her mother
having been one of the only women
in the village to sew underwear
for herself and her children, and
said that she assumes that her
neighbors and friends just
menstruated directly onto the
floor. As a matter of fact, she
vividly recalls (as a very young
child) watching a neighbor
hurriedly wiping a small puddle of
blood off the floor; shocked and
fascinated, she asked her mother
what was going on, but was hushed
and hurried away in scandalized
embarrassment! We both found this
behavior fascinating (if not a bit
repugnant), especially since the
customary dress then, for Sundays
at least, was floor-length,
bleached-white skirts...
hard to keep clean if you're
menstruating!
Remember, though, this was a very
rural village - they went to sleep
at dusk, woke at dawn, used
soap-berries to wash their laundry
at the river, etc - but I was
still fascinated to discover that
your research was accurate even so
recently as forty to fifty years
ago!
Thank you again,
****
April 2012
In June 2001,
I received this e-mail from a
writer doing research on this
subject in England:
Dear Mr Finley,
I have just found your Web site
on menstruation. Fascinating and
very informative.
I was particularly interested in
your theory that European and
American women didn't use sanitary
protection.
When
studying the Suffragist movement
and Selina Cooper [an
Englishwoman who lived from 1864
- 1946], I came across a very
interesting story about Mrs
Cooper. When working in the
cotton mills circa 1900, she was
horrified to discover that the
mill women used no sanitary
towels [menstrual
pads], the floor of
the work room was spread with
straw to absorb menstrual
fluids. Mrs Cooper also
mentions the smell. When Mrs
Cooper made sanitary pads for
some of the women there was an
outcry from some of the girls'
mothers as they were
worried that their daughters
would not find husbands as the
smell and flow attracted them,
both being considered signs of
fertility. The passage
is in Jill Liddington, A
Respectable Rebel: Selina
Cooper, Virago (1984). One could
interpret from this that the
use of sanitary pads depended
on the cultural background of
women.
There is further evidence from
other historical sources. I am
trying to work my way through
women's advice books from the 16th
and 17th century [so has another
person, Dr
Sara Read]. Culpepper for
example goes into great detail
about pregnancy, childbirth, etc.,
and so far I can find no reference
to the use of pads. [It's a
typical, but strange omission.]
It's very early days yet for this
research but I hope to get
something written in the autumn.
Regards
Jewish law
An e-mail sent in 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
****
More
about mikvas.
"The
unhealthiness of wearing
underpants" (e-mail from
a site visitor, July 2001)
The point of this is not to
titillate fellows who hope to
get a peek up women's skirts,
but to demonstrate that women
survived the last several
thousand years without
undertrousers/drawers/panties/underpants.
Without underpants women's
crotches are ventilated and dry
instead of unventilated and
damp. Fungi and bacteria
proliferate in warm, damp areas
where there is nutrition. Female
vaginal and vulval fluids are
nutritious, and underpants,
particularly tight fitting ones,
create a near-ideal environment
for undesirable fauna and flora.
For women who have trouble
with chafing thighs, simply
discarding the underpants will
in many cases reduce dampness in
the region and prevent chafing,
which is mostly caused by damp
skin rubbing together. Others
who still suffer from chafing
can wear thigh-high stockings
(hose) which will prevent
chafing, while the absence of
underpants will help create a
dry area above the stockings.
Loose drawers are much better
than tight-fitting panties, and
for those who are paranoid about
some X-ray-eyed male peeking up
the leg, loose "bloomers" that
are snug in the cuffs will block
any possible view. They do,
though, reduce ventilation.
Underskirts that are full enough
to drape between the thighs when
sitting, even with the thighs
spread a little, block any
peeking. They'll never know she
doesn't have underpants on.
Excessive washing removes the
oils that protect the skin.
Odor is reduced by the
elimination of panties, reducing
the perceived need for lots of
washing. The whole crotch area
of both men and women is mostly
self-cleaning, and outside dirt
is kept away by the outer
clothing.
Maybe women were smarter years
ago, wearing no underpants or
wearing open bottom or loose
drawers, and not being such
fanatics about scrubbing.
Shaving the legs also encourages
chafing. Women didn't used to
shave their legs at all and
still don't in most of the
world.
Men
aren't nearly as vulnerable to
dampness and chafing, but
wearing tight underpants holds
the testicles close to the body,
which raises their temperature,
reducing sperm count and vigor
(not that this bothers many who
don't want to be fertile,
anyway). Testicular cancer and
tumors are much more common
among tight brief-wearers than
among those men who wear loose
drawers ("boxers") or no
underpants.
No underpants is practical for
uncircumcised men, but loose
cotton or silk drawers protect
tender parts from seams and
zippers, and reduce soiling of
the outer pants by body oils.
Just came back from a Scottish
Highland Games festival. Bet
those guys in the kilts don't
have any dampness problems
(actually most wear Bermuda
shorts under them, not
underdrawers). Formerly men wore
loincloths under their kilts and
tunics.
An American woman born in
Germany e-mailed me this in
September 2001:
A family friend in a Kuhdorf
in Germany said how women with
their long skirts wouldn't wear
underpants presumably to pee
standing up while outdoors (farm
work, traveling) without cover
for privacy.
Read an earlier discussion of
this subject: What did European
and American women use for
menstruation in the 19th
century and before? - A very short
history of women's
underclothing from 1700 to 1900
Directory
of underwear on this site
© 2001 Harry Finley. It is
illegal to reproduce
or distribute any of the 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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