New this week: "To Save Men's Lives Science Discovered Kotex," (a prototype for the first ad, about 1920) - The first Kotex ad, January 1921 - Company booklets page - humor

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Letters to Your MUM

The Guardian, a British publication, had an article on 27 July about menstrual pads, cups, etc. (The Guardian gives you one free 24-hour period - no, not menstrual, but wouldn't that be nice? - to visit the site, then you must register.)

It estimates that about 800 British women have bought menstrual cups, although the writer may mean just The Keeper; to me, it's not clear. Many thousands of Americans have bought The Keeper, and even more, Instead.

Dear Harry,

I've been a follower of your site for a couple of years now; it's great.

Thought you'd like to know that yesterday [27 July] your site got a mention in an article about sanitary towels in the British Guardian newspaper.

http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/health/story/0,3605,68713,00.html

[Please tell me when the paper takes it off the site!]

It's right at the bottom.

Keep up the good work.

A male reader of the Guardian sends an English euphemism:

The article in The Guardian, London, 27 July, [see link above] prompted me to look up your Web site. Pity it wasn't available - or the knowledge therein - to more people way back when not only boys but whole generations of girls did not know about their bodily functions until they happened.

I was born in Dublin in 1930 and can testify to the horrors that were bred of ignorance so fundamental that couples could marry without even the basic understanding of procreation. The misery hidden away in tens of thousands of homes while they struggled with this, and the burdens that came afterwards when there was no access to nor understanding of contraception staggers the mind. [That reminds me of what inspired Margaret Sanger - also from Ireland, I believe - in the United States to start her education and contraception movement; Planned Parenthood (named by adman Albert Lasker, of Kotex fame and for whom the Albert Lasker awards in medicine are named) is her creation.] My British origins took me back to Britain and some degree of enlightenment, but even in this country the period (no pun intended) up to the sixties was not much more advanced.

Euphemism to add to your list: the city of Nottingham has a football team known as "Nottingham Forest." When they play on their own ground they are said to be "playing at home." They wear bright red shirts on the football field. Girls/women in the city speak of "Forest playing at home" when their periods occur.


Why would women want to use menstrual cups?

What a highly informative Web site this is. [Thank you!] I got the Web site address from The Guardian (a British daily newspaper) and am very surprised at the fascinating contents of this Web site - congratulations.

I have heard of re-usable washable pads and sponges which are available from mail-order companies in the United Kingdom; however, I had never before heard of the menstrual cup. I have considered the re-usable type of pad before, as it is a 'greener option,' but not yet tried one. I was impressed by the volume of comments about the Instead product and the praise of it, but I can't understand why women would want to use one as it is not biodegradable and is disposable. The Keeper sounds intriguing and is obviously an option for those wanting to do less damage to the environment but it does look rather odd.

I think women (and men) all over the world must find your Web site and the historical information it contains so interesting and liberating! [Thank you! I hope so.]


The Kafirs in Afghanistan used menstrual huts as late as 1971 (see a Hawaiian menstrual hut) and perhaps do today, according to the material that follows, sent to MUM by an interested - and patient - site visitor. I lost the information once, and then almost did again, but I'm glad I found it.

These are excerpts from "Chitral and Kafiristan," by Lt. Col.Mohammed Afzal Khan (no publishing data available, although it must date from after 1971, which is when Lt. Col. Khan visited the area for the first time). I have let style issues be; the sense is there.

[In the Kafir valleys,] [w]omen are to be avoided for five or six days every month, throughout their menstrual period, and whenever they are pregnant. During these unclean periods [original emphasis, as are the other italics] they are segregated in a special house, called Bashaleni, every fair sized village has one. The Bashaleni is something like a quarantine station. Anyone who enters it incurs serious contamination. Un-cooked food is left on a stone opposite to the Bashaleni, and one of the inmates comes out and collects it. If for any reason it is essential for a woman to come into the Bashaleni from outside (e.g. midwife, to attend a birth) she must take off all her clothes before crossing the main entrance of the house, and leave them outside. Once she is naked, she may set foot inside the place. On coming out again she must take a complete bath before putting on her clothes.

Elsewhere the author writes that women may not eat the flesh of a male animal; may not enter "the sanctuaries of the gods," except under certain circumstances, like marriage; and may not keep their comb in the house, but must put it under a stone near the stream where they wash and set their hair every three days.

My Columbia Desk Encyclopedia (third edition) says Kafir means infidel in Persian, and that the "Kafirs were animists until forcibly converted to Islam in 1896."


She got it right the first time with the Instead menstrual cup:

Hi there,

Again, kudos for all your hard work on the Museum. I visit here regularly, and often re-read many of the same articles, letters, etc, as they contain so much valuable and interesting information. [Great!]

I'm in my mid-thirties, and, to be honest, had never heard of the menstrual cup or anything close to such a concept until I visited MUM. I became fascinated, especially since (through many links available through MUM) I became more familiar with the dangers of tampons. I kept reading and re-reading the letters on your Instead vs Keeper page [also, click back through the News pages for the past year], and finally bit the bullet, ventured out to Walgreen's [drug store] and bought a box of Instead. I was hesitant and not at all confident when I attempted my first use of it yesterday (I'd tried o.b. tampons on several different occasions and failed miserably).

There I was in my bathroom, Instead in one hand, instruction pamphlet in the other, prepared to be in there for a good hour or more 'till I either got it right, or gave up. Imagine my surprise when after my very first attempt, Instead basically disappeared - I couldn't even feel it. My goodness, one try and I had done it! I must say I'm overjoyed with its performance, as well. Absolutely no leakage whatsoever, and no discomfort. I only wish they'd had this out back when I was a teen. Maybe I'm the exception to the rule, but I also found removal (which I approached with equal trepidation) to be a snap - one try, and voila! And it really wasn't that messy, to be honest.

Thanks again, I think you're doing a wonderful public service; and I most certainly would never have found/tried Instead without your help!

[I did not pay her to write this letter.]


I Am Trying to Make the Site Easier to Use

As you see on the PREVIOUS NEWS line, above, and the line above it, I am making directories for related items reachable from this and as many other pages as possible.

My first one is for those booklets put out by manufacturers of menstrual products, which I call company booklets.

Rather than having to go to the directory every time you want to get to a topic, you can just click on a page showing you related items, for example, tampons, cups, pads, etc. But I will keep the directory, which, when up to date (it isn't), will show everything on this site on one page.

This is a huge site, and it will take time for everything to be so "rationalized," but it's worth the effort. And about time.


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: "To Save Men's Lives Science Discovered Kotex," (a prototype for the first ad, about 1920) - The first Kotex ad, January 1921 - Company booklets page - humor

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