New this week: Amolin, The Personal Deodorant Powder (U.S.A., 1930s?) - Modess . . . . because ad (1973) - Modess True or False? ad (The American Girl magazine, January 1947)

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Letters to Your MUM

Iguanas, women and menstruation

A woman points to a phascinating article about pheromones (see also this Web site's articles here). (Read Prof. Martha McClintock's ground-breaking article about menstrual synchrony, which involves pheromones.)

I found this article very interesting, and I have observed these behavioral changes in my own personal observations.

I also just wanted to thank you for your great site, it has been informative and educational, and I know I will refer back to it often.

Thank you

She's discovered the interesting history of the culture of menstruation

Wow! I had no idea about all this stuff! Thanks for being so brave and giving us some very interesting information on something that happens to 50 percent of the population and seems so taboo! [Thanks!]


The Keeper and Instead menstrual cups, Astroglide and lactational amenorrhea

A woman writes,

It appears that the Instead is like a diaphragm, so they really "should" come in different sizes. Diaphragms stay in at least eight hours and no one worries about them being a breeding ground, do they? {Not usually.]

I bought The Keeper and it was miserable to get in the first time. Some friends told me to cut the tail all the way off, and that was the problem. It became so comfortable after that, even though it seems like it would be long.

The concerns about washing in public are just silly. I didn't have to change/clean mine except at home, although I chose to do so in the shower at the club once, and just poured the blood down the drain. Makes more sense to put the blood into the sewer system than into the landfill, doesn't it? Kind of like the difference between cloth and disposable diapers.

I did try to use Astroglide to insert it initially but it made it very difficult - The Keeper is so big and it's scary when it slips out of the fingers before it's in place. Tampons were giving me the hints of a yeast infection and I loathe all pads, even the Natracare brand, one of the worst for folding and creeping around.

Those months of lactational amenorrhea (LAM) [that's the stopping of menstruation during the general time of breast feeding] were wonderful - 14 months with my first daughter and 17 months to the day with my second daughter. I attribute the length of LAM to nighttime nursing (the girls both sleep with me and nurse at will until I get my period back), and my refusal to allow artificial lighting at night while I sleep.

[Recent research has indicated that light at night - even the light from underneath a door - can interfere with melatonin production, which affects in turn the production of estrogen, which of course affects the menstrual cycle. Some researchers have suggested that a tiny amount of light at night in the bedroom can increase a person's risk of cancer, because of the increase of estrogen. Wild stuff, no?]

Feel free to post my e-mail address

mailto:kolina@cs.colorado.edu and my home page - see the URL below.

Kate Hallberg, mom to Ursula (4.5) and Sage (2)

http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/8193/


Instead (menstrual cup) (Web site) is in business

Call 1-800-INSTEAD:

I'm not sure you can help me but here goes.

I was using Instead until they went out of business. I am back to using tampons. Instead was great because it kept me dry (I get a diaper-rash type thing if I use a pad no matter how often I change) and I could have sex when I was on my period. It seems that I am more easily aroused at that time (all my boyfriend has to do is touch me anywhere). Is anyone coming out with a similar product? I didn't know that they were not going to make Insteads any more, or I would have bought a couple of cases of them.

Any suggestions?


Tell Your Congressperson You Support the Tampon Safety and Research Act of 1999! Here's How and Why


The BBC wants to hear from you if your cycle is a blessing, makes you creative, if you have experience with menstrual seclusion, or know about current research !

Here's your chance to say how you feel about menstruation!

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


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?

Read about my ideas for the museum. What are yours?

Eventually I would also like to entice people experienced in the law, finances and fund raising to the board.

Any suggestions?


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!

See more medical and scientific information about menstruation.


New this week: Amolin, The Personal Deodorant Powder (U.S.A., 1930s?) - Modess . . . . because ad (1973) - Modess True or False? ad (The American Girl magazine, January 1947)

PREVIOUS NEWS | news | first page | contact the museum | art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | belts | bidets | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books (and reviews) | cats | company booklets directory | costumes | cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | famous people | FAQ | humor | huts | links | media | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | religion | menstrual products safety | science | shame | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour (video) | underpants directory | videos, films directory | washable pads | LIST OF ALL TOPICS

Take a short tour of MUM! (and on Web video!) - FAQ - Future of this museum - Tampon Safety Act - Contact the actual museum - Board of Directors - Norwegian menstruation exhibit - The media and the MUM - Menstrual odor - Prof. Mack C. Padd: Fat Cat - The science and medicine of menstruation - Early tampons - Books about menstruation - Menstrual cups: history, comments - Religion and menstruation: A discussion - Safety of menstrual products (asbestos, dioxin, toxic shock syndrome, viscose rayon) - A Note from Germany/Neues aus Deutschland und Europa - Letters - Links

© 1999 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