Talk about stopping menstruation! See the play Even the Queen, in New York
I was looking around your Web site today and loved it. I found it by typing "menstruation" into Yahoo! :) I just wanted to let you know about this event and if you could post it on your site it would make me a very happy girl! If you're in New York City I'd ; love it if you attended.
Even the Queen, a dark red comedy by K. T. Bradford, presented by The Little Gem Theater Company, directed by Nicole Bischoff. Pantheon Theater, 303 W 42nd St. (@ 8th Ave across from Port Authority) 2nd floor.
Thirty years in the future women have achieved what some would consider the ultimate goal: the elimination of menstruation. But in this world where personal freedom is not only a right but protected by law, a girl struggles to rebel by doing the only thing that will get everyone's attention: having her period.
March 21st @ 7pm, March 22nd - March 25th @ 8pm, March 25th @ 3pm.
www.RoyalFortress.com for more info. Admission is free.
[Read Would you stop menstruating if you could? to consider others' ideas about this, even men's! And two e-mailers to this site have mentioned a short story with the same name and theme; it has to be the inspiration for this play.]
A German woman wonders, "Has anyone tried this sponge?"
Image comes from the company site
I saw this on the Internet, an ad for Beppy menstrual sponge sold in the Netherlands: http://www.asha.nl/engels/beppy.htm
Has any woman used this and would like to tell if it was good? [I'll put replies on this site.]
Best wishes,
[See some sponges in this museum.]
A Christian woman writes about blood from herself and -
I just came across your site . . . well, actually a few hours ago. I have been looking it over and have found it fascinating! Something that stuck me, though, is the idea throughout the years of blood being "unclean" and even evil. It seems funny to me since as a Christian woman, I know that what has saved me is the blood of Jesus. His blood washed away all of our sin, yet we (especially the American culture) view blood as shameful. Crazy, isn't it?!
My periods are highly irregular; I go for months in between. Yet I am always happy to have it arrive. It makes me feel clean and pure. It is a preparation for my body to carry a child. My period after having my daughter was so strange to me. I looked at the blood and tissue that came out and was amazed at how all of that helped to create and sustain the life of my amazing baby girl. I discussed it with my husband and he thought that was pretty cool! I love an enlightened man!!
Recently, I switched to washable pads [see some]. I soak them after I use them and then use the water for my plants. My plants have never looked better! [This museum has a bowl made for this purpose; one of these days I'll put it on the site] I thank God for my "period," even when it seems in the way.
Thank you for your site. It is so informative. The is no way I will be able to get through it tonight. I will bookmark it and come to it often!
And a woman writes about Islam and menstruation
I was reading your section about menstruation and religion, particularly in Islam.
First of all, there is nothing in the Qur'an that states that a woman menstruates as a punishment for eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden (in fact, both Adam and Eve have the blame, and other men and women are not responsible for their sin).
I am including some ahadith (traditions of the Prophet - peace be upon him) from the book of Sahih Bukhari (these are authentic traditions of the Prophet - peace be upon him - and are second to the Qur'an in deriving Islamic law):
Sahih Bukhari (translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan)
Volume 1, Book 6 The Book of Menses
#293
Narrated Al-Qasim: Aisha said, "We set out with the sole intention of performing Hajj and when we reached Sarif (a place six miles from Mecca) I got my menses. Allah's Apostle (pbuh) came to me while I was weeping. He said, "What is the matter with you? Have you got your menses?"
I replied, "Yes."
He said, "This is a thing that Allah has ordained for the daughters of Adam. So do what all the pilgrims do with the exception of the Tawaf (circumambulation) round the Ka'ba."
Aisha added, "Allah's Apostle (pbuh) sacrificed cows on behalf of his wives."
#294
Narrated Aisha: While in menses, I used to comb the hair of Allah's Apostle (pbuh).
#296
Narrated Aisha: The Prophet (pbuh) used to lean on my lap and recite Qur'an while I was in menses.
#297
Narrated Um Salama: While I was laying with the Prophet (pbuh) under a single woolen sheet, I got the menses. I slipped away and put on the clothes for menses. He (pbuh) said, "Have you got Nifas (menses)."
I replied, "Yes." He then called me and made me lie with him under the same sheet.
#298
Narrated Aisha: The Prophet (pbuh) and I used to take a bath from a single pot while we were Junub (in a state of sexual impurity). During the menses, he used to order me to put on an Izar (dress worn below the waist) and used to fondle me. While in Itikaf (seclusion in the mosque), he used to bring his head near me and I would wash it while I used to be in my periods (menses).
#301 (shortened)
The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle (pbuh)! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?"
He (pbuh) said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?"
They replied in the affirmative.
He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?"
The women replied in the affirmative.
He (pbuh) said, "This is the deficiency in her religion."
#303
Narrated Aisha: Fatima bint Abi Hubaish said to Allah's Apostle (pbuh), "O Allah's Apostle (pbuh)! I do not become clean (from bleeding). Shall I give up my prayers?"
Allah's Apostle (pbuh) said, "No, because it is from a blood vessel and not the menses. So when the real menses begins give up your prayers and when it (the period) has finished wash the blood off your body (take a bath) and offer your prayers."
#304
Narrated Asma bint Abi Bakr: A woman asked Allah's Apostle (pbuh), "O Allah's Apostle (pbuh)! What should we do if the blood of menses falls on our clothes?"
Allah's Apostle (pbuh) replied, "If the blood of menses falls on the garment of nay of you, she must take hold of the blood spot, rub it, and wash it with water, and then pray in (with it)."
#312
Narrated Aisha: An Ansari woman asked the Prophet (pbuh) how to take a bath after finishing from the menses.
He replied, "Take a piece of cloth perfumed with musk and clean the private parts with it thrice."
The Prophet (pbuh) felt shy and turned his face. So I pulled her to me and told her what the Prophet (pbuh) meant.
#321 (shortened, regarding the Eid celebrations)
(Narrated by Aiyab) I (Um 'Atiya) heard the Prophet (pbuh) saying, "The unmarried young virgins who often stay screened and the menstruating women should come out and participate in the good deeds as well as the religious gathering of the faithful believers, but the menstruating women should keep away from the Musalla (praying place)."
Hafsa asked Um 'Atiya surprisingly, "Do you say the menstruating women?"
She replied, "Doesn't a menstruating woman attend Arafat (on Hajj) and such and such (other deeds)?"
#329
Narrated Maimuna, the wife of the Prophet (pbuh): "During my menses, I never prayed, but used to sit on the mat beside the mosque of Allah's Apostle (pbuh). He used to offer the prayer on his sheet and in prostration some of his clothes used to touch me."
By the way, I found your site very interesting and informative. [Many thanks!]
Women's health site
Hello,
I recently enjoyed visiting your health site, and would like to exchange links with you.
Our site's URL: http://www.womens-health-info.com, Women's Health VidBook Guide
Free expert medical information on topics relating to women's health issues, including breast cancer (and how to prevent it), mammograms, breast self-exams, eliminating premenstrual syndrome (PMS), holistic healing and more.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Marshall Jones
http://www.womens-health-info.com
Book about menstruation published in Spain
The Spanish journalist who contributed some words for menstruation to this site last year and wrote about this museum (MUM) in the Madrid newspaper "El País" just co-authored with her daughter a book about menstruation (cover at left).
She writes, in part,
Dear Harry Finley,
As I told you, my daughter (Clara de Cominges) and I have written a book (called "El tabú") about menstruation, which is the first one to be published in Spain about that subject. The book - it talks about the MUM - is coming out at the end of March and I just said to the publisher, Editorial Planeta, to contact you and send you some pages from it and the cover as well. I'm sure that it will be interesting to you to have some information about the book that I hope has enough sense of humour to be understood anywhere. Thank you for your interest and help.
If you need anything else, please let me know.
Best wishes,
Margarita Rivière
Belen Lopez, the editor of nonfiction at Planeta, adds that "Margarita, more than 50 years old, and Clara, 20, expose their own experiences about menstruation with a sensational sense of humour." (Later this month more information will appear on the publisher's site, in Spanish.)
My guess is that Spaniards will regard the cover as risqué, as many Americans would. And the book, too. But, let's celebrate!
Two weeks ago I mentioned that Procter & Gamble was trying to change attitudes in the Spanish-speaking Americas to get more women to use tampons, specifically Tampax - a hard sell.
Compare this cover with the box cover for the Canadian television video about menstruation, Under Wraps, and the second The Curse.
An American network is now developing a program about menstruation for a popular cable channel; some folks from the network visited me recently to borrow material.
And this museum lent historical tampons and ads for a television program in Spain last year.
Now, if I could only read Spanish! (I'm a former German teacher.)
If you had a party or created a ritual to celebrate your first period, we would be interested in hearing your story and seeing your videos, pictures.
This would be for possible inclusion in a television documentary called
Reinventing Rituals, Coming of Age in a Modern World for Vision Television, in Canada.Series consultant is Ron Grimes, internationally recognized expert on ritual and the author of numerous books on ritual including his most recent, Deeply Into the Bone, Reinvented Rite of Passage.
These three one hour specials, Coming of Age in the Modern World; Marriage Separation and Divorce; and Birth and Death are co-production between Northern Lights Television in Toronto and Ocean Entertainment in Halifax for Vision Television Network. They will air on Vision TV, a Canadian specialty channel whose mandate is to cover multi-faith, multicultural stories about the human spirit.
Reinventing Rituals will explore exotic cultures and ceremonies that may, on the surface, bear little resemblance to the hallmarks of our own lives. We will witness dramatic initiation ceremonies from Africa, complex funerals from New Guinea, and elaborate wedding and courtship rituals from South America. Viewers will become acquainted with traditional rites from many different cultures, contemporary and historic.
However, at the core of this series are the North Americans who are exploring new ways to mark transitions. We'll meet parents who are preparing to spend their children out in the mountains to spend grueling days and nights in initiation ceremonies; individuals who are approaching the end of life determined to design all aspects of their own funerals; and expectant couples who are redefining appropriate behaviour in the birthing room. This series is about these men and women and their quest to reinvent traditional rites of passage; but it's also about the connections that can be drawn between these modern pioneers and their counterparts in other times and places.
Program #1 The Bridge: Coming of Age in the Modern Reinventing Rites of Passage.
Reinventing Rituals is a compelling series of television documentaries that explore the dramatic resurgence in ritual and how it is being interpreted or recreated in order to give meaning to our lives.
From first menstruation ceremonies to vision quests, traditional societies have used ritual to help young people mark and make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. All but abandoned by Western culture, initiation rituals are suddenly becoming more popular.
The increasing profile of street gangs, drug wars, and teenage promiscuity in our communities have contributed to rising the popularity of the coming of age rituals. Many parents fear that if they do not provide an initiation scenario their children will initiate themselves using sex, drugs or dangerous behaviour. By enrolling their children in complex and often dramatic initiation rites, families can help young people make the difficult transition to adulthood. In this program we meet youth at the National Rites of Passage Institute in Cleveland Ohio who have spent the past year in a coming of age program. And then we'll join up with teenagers who've enrolled in a 10 day-long program outside Calgary, Alberta as they prepare to spend three World
If you are interested and/or need more information, contact
Deannie Sullivan Fraser
reinventing_rituals@hotmail.com
902-423-9056 phone
902-423-9058 fax
SNAIL MAIL: Ocean ENTERTAINMENT, SUITE 404, 1657 BARRINGTON STREET, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA B3J 2A1
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.
