Hi Harry!
Well, though she [Prof. Martha McClintock] did attend Harvard as a graduate student, she really is Wellesley '69, was given an "Alumnae Achievement Award" and has her name and class on a huge plaque in our administration building.
I am currently working at Wellesley on reunion; her class comes back this year. And the College bookstore is hawking a book I've been reading: Rebels in White Gloves: Coming of Age with Hillary's Class - Wellesley '69 by Miriam Horn (Random House, 1999) [buy it!]. (A portion of the book was originally published in U.S. News & World Report. Miriam Horn is a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report). I will excerpt it (pp. 123 - 124). Since I do not know her personally, I supply this as evidence:
Martha McClintock was just twenty years old when, perched at the edge of a room full of the world's top biologists, she broke into their conversation with an observation that would become the basis for a study of major scientific importance. It was the summer after her junior year at Wellesley, and Martha was invited, with a handful of other students, to attend a conference at Jackson Laboratory in Maine. The scientists were discussing pheromones - chemical messages that pass between organisms without their conscious knowledge - and how they cause female mice to ovulate all at the same time. McClintock recalled the event for Chicago magazine: "Driven by curiosity despite my self-consciousness, I mention that the same thing happens in humans. Didn't they know that? All of them being male, they didn't. In fact, I got the impression that they thought it was ridiculous. But they had the courtesy to frame their skepticism as a scientific question: 'What is your proof?' I said it was what happened in my dormitory. And they said unless you address it scientifically, that evidence is worthless."
Her Wellesley faculty adviser, Patricia Sampson, encouraged Martha to take up the challenge, and the 135 women in her dorm agreed to participate. Each woman recorded the dates . . . . She wrote up her results as her senior thesis and the next year, in graduate school at Harvard, was urged by E.O. Wilson, the sociobiologist famous for his studies of chemical signaling among ants, to submit her findings to Nature magazine. Published in 1971, when Martha was twenty-three, the paper was the first scientific evidence ever presented of the functioning of human pheromones.
We are all very proud of our alumnae, and love claiming them as our own!! It's easy to forget undergraduate affiliations since one's work is usually done long after.
Laura
ever Wellesley '77!
I received a box of Instead from a drug trading show in Toronto, Canada, in 1999, and I have to say that this is the best thing I have ever come across. I have given some to my friends and relatives to try and have had good reviews. I hope that this company does or did not go out of business. I feel like I am a commercial for this product. I have convinced women to give it a try, with great success. I would really like to continue advising women about this product, but need more literature and maybe additional products to give on a trial basis. If anyone reads this letter please contact me for information on how to continue.
Aloha, [Guess where she's from! Doesn't it make you mad?]
I came to your site in search of menstrual cups (I was sent a sample by the Instead folks but when I searched the stores, I couldn't find them). I didn't particularly care for them for everyday use (my flow is heavy and when that thing leaks - well, it required a complete refresher on the female reproductive system for our three boys and husband). During light flows, when things are romantic, it does a good job allowing for intercourse (which was completely out of the question before I found this product).
As for menstrual pads that require belts, I can't believe that other women have not seen belts before. I had my three boys between 1987 and 1991 (at three different hospitals located in the Bay Area) and all three times I was given both humongous pads and ice packs (to relieve the soreness) that used belts. They were very similar to the fabric pads shown on your site.
Keep up the good work.
I suppose it is far too obvious to suggest that the correspondent suggesting that a museum on Hollywood Boulevard could open for free on Tuesdays should have suggested that the museum open for free once a month, or once in three to five weeks maybe, depending how you feel. [That's worth considering.]
Best wishes for a complete recovery from your operation and well done for a site that tackles a subject with an appropriate finesse. [Many thanks!]
Dear Harry,
I was afraid to visit MUM this past Monday and finally screwed-up enough courage to look in on you today. Geez, I'm glad you're back! [Thanks - I am too.] I hope you'll make a full recovery, because I and the girly world would sincerely miss your generosity, insight and humor. Thank you for the gift of MUM. [I'm happy to do it!] Be well and please give the kitties a squeeze from me.
An admiring fan,
Kathy =^..^=
Dear Mr. Finley,
I hope you continue to recover from your heart problems. Such problems run in my family, too.
I heard about your site in "Notable Women Ancestors."
Here goes: Modess did a presentation at my elementary school in 1972, complete with pamphlets and so indoctrinated me that at my menarche, in 1973, I demanded their product. About 1974 a girlfriend introduced me to Stayfree-type pads. By college I was using mainly tampons and loved o.b. until toxic shock syndrome. For the last six years I have been using Norplant as my birth control: I have to admit I love the almost total lack of periods. [Many visitors to the museum felt the same way.]
Menstruation has never been really painful for me; irregularity has been the main problem because I was always afraid it meant pregnancy. You are performing a great service. I had heard about menstrual cups and now I am going to look into using them.
I do have to admit it is very strange writing a letter like this to a man but it is really great to have someone interested in this subject who doesn't have a personal bias!
Good luck.
I just wanted to tell you that I think your museum is really cool. As a woman, I bleed for a significant part of my lifetime. It's wonderful to know that a place exists where this natural bleeding is not shameful or taboo but can be openly discussed.
Thank you.
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.