DIRECTORY of all topics
 
|
 
Continued to next earlier News
& Notes
NEW this month (news & letters
BELOW):
Would you stop
menstruating if you could?
Words and expressions
about menstruation: New: Australia:
Drain the sump, Raising the Japanese flag, Riding the white surfboard; England: Full stop; Germany:
I'm working on something, You're homemade; Jamaica:
I'm having my ladies' period [more comments]; U.S.A.:
(Employing the) Doubled barreled technique, Menestrate
What did European and American women use for
menstruation in the past?
Humor
Low-ranking monkeys become depressed, lose estrogen, and
die earlier, but still menstruate
The online edition of New Scientist magazine (www.newscientist.com,
5 February) reported,
"Lower-ranking females were more likely to become depressed,
the researchers found: they slouched around staring at the floor and lost
all interest in their environment. They were also more likely to die prematurely.
Five out of the nine most depressed animals died before the end of the
experiment. The team's results appear in The Journal of Biological Psychology
(DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.11.006).
"The most depressed monkeys had earlier lost body fat,
developed higher heart rates and become less active. Their blood accumulated
fatty components linked with heart disease, they had increased bone loss
and their stress hormones were disrupted. Levels of oestrogen and progesterone
both dipped, indicating impaired ovarian function. 'That's five or six
major systems in the body that are dysregulated by depression,' [Carol]
Shively [of Wake Forest University School of Medicine] told New Scientist.
We tend to think of depression as purely psychological, but there is more
to it than that. 'Depression really is a whole-body effect,' she says."
"[Barr] fails to mention frequent and sometimes substantial
bleeding, the FDA . . . said"
Barr Pharmaceuticals makes Seasonale, a hormone drug
that allows women to have only four periods a year - at least that was
the plan. But read on . . . .
"FDA Warns Barr Over Seasonale Commercial
"Fri Dec 31, 2:49 PM ET Health - Reuters
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A television commercial for
Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Seasonale misleads consumers by excluding risk
information to make the birth control pill seem safer, U.S. health regulators
warned in a letter released on Thursday.
"The commercial suggests use of the oral contraceptive
leads to only four menstrual periods a year but fails to mention frequent
and sometimes substantial bleeding, the FDA (news - web sites) said in
the Dec. 29 letter.
"Barr's advertisement plays down the risk of irregular
menstrual bleeding that can be as heavy as a regular period by suggesting
it would subside with continued use of the pill, the letter said.
"The FDA posted the letter Thursday on its web site
at www.fda.gov/cder/warn"
(a pdf from December 2004)
Read more about suppressing your period here.
Buzz off if you're menstruating!
How often does this happen? Caitlin Flanagan writes in the
New Yorker magazine ("The Price of Paradise," 3 January 2005)
that she was a guest in a mega-luxury hotel in Hawaii, The Grand Wailea,
and
"During our first night there, a letter from the concierge
was slipped under the door, informing us of the next day's roster of fun
and also instructing us not to go to breakfast in bare feet or to the Napua
cocktail reception in a bathing suit. The fine print on the sumptuous Spa
Grande brochure forbids 'ladies on their cycle' from sullying the Jacuzzi."
Does anyone know of other hotels, resorts or such public
areas prohibiting menstruating women from doing something, like entering?
If so, write me and
I'll put it on this news page.
"Menstrual blood" makes "terrorists"
talk?
An American woman interrogating an allegedly terrorist Muslim
man imprisoned in Guantanamo, Cuba, smeared menstrual blood on his face
to help him fess up. Apparently the blood was not real. I suspect the technique
would have worked almost as well, if it worked at all, with Christian men.
("Demütigende Verhöre im Minirock," Spiegel Online,
www.spiegel.de, 28 January)
Australian Museum opens menstruation site
The largest museum in Australia, the Powerhouse, shows some
of its collection of menstruation items ("The Rags: an unmentionable
history") at http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/rags/
, which includes menstrual anecdotes gathered from around Australia.
The Powerhouse will get this museum's - MUM's - roughly 5000
items if I fail to find a permanent public place for it in America. Its
menstruation guru, Megan Hicks, visited me and MUM in 2000. Read about the
visit here.
Tax on menstrual products might end in New York
The Albany (New York) Times Union newspaper ran the following
(I print just an excerpt) on 20 December 2005 (Web site here)
"In New York state, condoms and hair loss remedies used
by men are tax-exempt medical necessities. Menstrual products are not, meaning
the 5.2 million New York women who use them are paying more than $10 million
a year in sales tax to state and local governments for tampons and sanitary
pads.
"Two dozen members of the state Legislature want to
change that. Three bills to exempt tampons and sanitary pads from sales
tax are pending, and one in each house is sponsored by a majority party
member with several male co-sponsors."
Letters to your MUM
Tampaction for healthy menstrual products
Hi,
I love your Web site, and wanted to recommed another site
to add to your links page: www.tampaction.org
. It is a national student run campaign to bring healthy menstrual products
to menstruators in our communities. Hope you find it interesting! If you
would like more info, please feel free to contact me!
Andrea Mickus
Tampaction Campaign Coordinator
215-222-4711 (SEAC office)
amickus@temple.edu
"How Bill Gates cured my PMS"
Australian group thinking of reading MUM words
Our moonblood circle is considering the idea of doing an
impromptu reading and discussion of some of the more colourful expressions
[in Words and expressions
about menstruation] It's a fantastic list. Keep it up!
****
She likes the Instead menstrual cup
Dear Mr. Finley,
Great site! As an active feminist, I am certainly impressed
by your knowledge of and comfort with menstruation. Kudos!
I write because I've been using menstrual cups for years
now; I first bought the Instead cup [http://www.softcup.com]when
it came out. (I was in junior high at the time). I used it and loved it,
but found it too expensive for general use, so I switched back to tampons
until I came across the DivaCup several months ago. I absolutely love it.
I am quite comfortable with my body, and I have found little difficulty
with the cup. One thing I did discover after some investigation is that
to ensure that it doesn't leak, it is important for the cup to completely
cover the cervix. (I check by sticking my index finger back into my vagina
after inserting the cup and making a circle around the cup with my finger
to see if I feel my cervix. If not, I'm good to go for 8-12 hours with
no leaks!) I had minor discomfort on occasion when the little "stem"
on the cup stuck out my vagina and poked me (much like a tampon not inserted
in far enough), but I solved that by snipping off maybe 1/8th of an inch
of the stem. I have had no problems since.
I can't say enough good things about the cup, especially
for overnight use. I also find it a moving experience to interact with
my own blood, if that makes sense. I feel more connected to my body and
more of a participant in my moon-time. (It's also a good way to save blood
for making menstrual artwork, but that's another story.) :)
Thanks for your great site!
****
And more about Instead: "[T]here's no way in hell that
sucker's gonna fit up there," but it did
I've used tampons since I started with my period, because
I hated the bulky nastiness of pads. Tampons were better than pads, but
tampons still leaked, tampons have a certain odor, and tampons have that
nasty little string dangling out all the time. Plus, after a friend went
through toxic shock syndrome, I was a little bit frightened.
I saw Instead [menstrual cup] at a Walgreen's near my house,
came home, did a bit of research, went back and bought a box. When I first
opened the package, my initial reaction was "there's no way in hell
that sucker's gonna fit up there." The female body's a miraculous
thing though, and with a little bit of poking and prodding, I felt... nothing.
I can't tell it's up there. It hasn't leaked yet, through sleeping, swimming,
horseback riding, and sex. This is miraculous. I haven't had a single problem
with insertion or removal.
****
Read about and see a new tampon
I received the following e-mail:
What is Gynotex?
Discover the advantages of the tampons of the new generation.
\No woman of today can feel that having her period is particularly
pleasant. Even without the - only too frequent - physical discomforts,
menstruating all too often gets in the way of daily life and of cherished
pursuits. You know: the weekend you were looking forward to is spoilt,
once again, by your being unable to take part in sports, to go swimming,
or to visit a sauna. And, maybe worst of all, during menstruation, sexual
intercourse very often looses all its attractions.
After I asked about its Web site, I received this, in
addition to samples later:
We do have a Web site www.gynotex.com.
For several countries we are looking for distributors. If you would like
to receive samples, please let me know.
Best regards,
Mark Dujardin
Flushaway products available
Hi, there,
Thanks for putting the info up regarding the Flushaway biodegradable
pads and liners. Your visitors might like to know that they are now
available at www.drugstore.com.
Thanks,
****
Now 89, she started douching
with Lysol when she was 17!
Good morning,
I happened to be checking the 'Net just to see if good old
Lysol would be safe to use on some new Pergo floors my hubby recently installed
in a couple of rooms.
I'm going on 89 years YOUNG . . . LOL . . . and was very
amused by the Lysol douche ad. I don't know if
I'm "still the girl my husband married" as I have pretty bad
osteoarthritis (could it have been the Lysol?), but used Lysol as a douche
and contraceptive ever since I married at age 17!! I had two children,
both sons who turned out very well, in spite of the Lysol!! LOL
It's rather funny as I used it every day for many, many
years because back in the early days, we didn't have the "Pill"
and Lysol was used after "the act" to prevent unwanted pregnancies
by just about every lady I knew, including my mother and grandmother who
had just ONE child each.
Oh, well, we must have been TOUGH as I don't recall any
problems!! LOL. Just thought I'd drop a line as I got a big kick out of
your site and the old info.
Sincerely,
****
Toilet sign directs her to MUM
Hi there,
I saw a sticker on a toilet door at uni and decided to investigate
. . . And it landed me here!! I was amazed at the amount of feedback on
menstrual cups on your Web site!! The only problem for me is that I am
from Australia and there are NO manufacturers of such products here (or
I have found none so far).
Although they appear similar to the Keeper, has anyone commented
on the "Mooncup" (www.mooncup.co.uk)
or "Divacup" (www.thedivacup.com)?
Or better still - know somewhere I can get one in Oz? [Click back through
the earlier news pages, where there are scattered comments. And I have
collected comments from 1996-1998 here.]
I am determined to get a cup now - but now I have to weigh
up which will be best with the international postage and handling costs
on top of the cup itself!!
With delight!
****
Perth, Australia
MUM artist has exhibit in Hungary
This is a late notice - my fault - but Fanni Fazekas,
who exhibits some of her work
on this site, has an exhibit right now in Hungary. Read her generic e-mail,
below the notice.
Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Fanni Fazekas and I am in my final year of an
"Art and Design" degree course at the University of Bolzano,
Italy.
In 2003, I held a very successful exhibition in south Tirol
(northeast Italy) entitled "The Invisible," concerning female
sanitary wear (ref: www.mum.org/armenff.htm).
The aim of the exhibition was to make users aware of the different types
of sanitary wear available with a clearer insight to each product and what
it can offer, allowing the user to choose products appropriately according
to personal needs and requirements.
I have also been invited to repeat the exhibition in Budapest,
Hungary (population - 2.5 million) from 8 to 26 February, 2005. The exhibition
will be held at "The Studio of Young Artists and Designers."
I therefore invite you to offer your brand-name and product
samples in order that visitors can view your design and take a sample away
with them to try out. This would clearly be both a marvelous marketing
opportunity for yourselves as well as a chance for me to further my studies.
Thank you very much for giving your time and attention to
this letter and I look forward to hearing from you and receiving your samples.
Please send them to "The Studio of Young Artists and Designers"
in Budapest at the following address:
For: Fanni Fazekas
" lathatatlan " kiallitas
Fiatal iparmuveszek studioja egyesulet
'Studio of Young Artists and Designers'
H 1054 Budapest, Kalman Imre u. 16.
Hungary
Camelia scion wants information about his family and the
company
Camelia was the first large commercial maker of disposable
pads in Germany in the 1920s; a German predecessor was the Hartmann
company, maybe the first commercial maker of disposables in the world.
See a Camelia ad from the 1940s.
Dear Sir:
My name is Peter W. Obermeyer, Jr. and I am an heir to the
original owners of the Camelia Company in Nuremburg, Germany.
I am beginning research regarding the history of the company
and would greatly appreciate any information you can offer.
My father, Peter Obermeyer, Sr., died at the age of 41,
when I was 9 years of age, and my grandparents (his parents) are long gone
as well.
I have many photographs of the original and bombed factory
after WWII and am interested in finding out more about my family history.
Thank you in advance for your kind reply.
Respectfully yours,
Peter Obermeyer
The History of Contraception Museum - the only such one
in the U.S.A.? - opens
Percy Skuy, a former president of Ortho Pharmaceuticals,
Ontario, Canada, donated his collection of contraception artifacts to case
Western Reserve University, which is displaying them in its medical library.
In the Los Angeles Times, Stephanie Simon, writes (2 January),
"It is a lonely obsession. And a frustrating one. As
Skuy, a retired pharmaceutical executive, points out with some sorrow,
'there's really no motivation to save an old contraceptive.'"
Hm, sounds like this museum.
Visit the museum Web site here.
Making her own rags for menstruation
Hello,
A friend found your site and I am fascinated. I have been
talking openly about bleeding for thirty years even though it makes many
people uncomfortable. I began using rags in California in 1977, as a result
of hanging out with feminist hippie dykes in the country who were doing
that. Some were also choosing to bleed into their clothes or let it run
down their legs, as we were outside most of the time. [My guess is that
many women through history have done this; read What
did European and American women use for menstruation in the past? See
an old Italian washable rag and more on washable pads and rags.]
I began with a bandana wrapped arrangement tied to a belt,
but eventually began simply folding up pieces of cloth (ripped up remnants
of old clothes) and wearing them inside my underpants. It is a really good
system with much better results than commercial paper and plastic products.
I am glad more women are turning to cloth, but I want to
tell them all you don't need to buy anything and you don't need to sew
anything. Simply fold up two layers of cloth (one piece, inside, shorter,
to add fullness in the middle section). The cloth can be any cotton --
old underpants, flannel nighties, sheets, towels, t-shirts, literally anything
that is worn out and can be recycled. I cut it into pieces suitable for
folding into the right shape for me. You don't have to hem the edges. It
is a rag! Every woman can figure out the right shape for herself, and it
is variable for different flows. Sometimes I use heavier cloth, sometimes
lighter.
Each rag gets unfolded after use and tossed in a soak pail.
At the end of my period I wash them at the laundromat (and no one has yet
dared ask what all those stained cloths are for). [The 2003 movie The Magdalene
Laundries shows the punishment of washing others' menstrual rags meted
out to unfortunate women in the Catholic Magdalene Sisters' laundries in
Ireland.] They do stay stained, but I don't care. They're bloodrags! When
I go out for the day I carry as many as I need in a plastic bag, with another
bag for the dirty ones. It is simple. I think when paper products first
arrived on the market it must have seemed like a convenient alternative,
but consider that (a) they didn't have washing machines; (b) they didn't
have plastic bags; and (c) everything about menstruation had to be hidden
from view. They couldn't even hang up their pads on an outside drying line
because someone might see them. At my grandmother's boarding school they
had to do their "linen" washing at night in the basement at allotted
times, and hang them up down there.
I think rags are quite manageable with modern washing and
carrying facilities and they are so much more comfortable and effective,
never mind the environmental and health benefits.
I didn't intend to write an essay on it, but I do get frustrated
with the commercialization of the "alternatives."
In the mid nineties I wrote an analysis of menstrual product
advertising in Chatelaine magazine from the twenties through the sixties,
for a history course. I am not sure it is electronically accessible any
more as it is probably on some low density Macintosh diskette, but I do
have hard copy somewhere. I would be pleased to show it, along with the
pics I took from the microfiche, if anyone is interested. What I found
particularly interesting were the ads from the second world war period,
with admonitions to not be a "stay-at-home Sue" and to send for
their booklet to learn how to cope with war work and menstruation.
Anyway, it is late and I should sign off. Thanks for an
interesting site.
****
Ottawa, Ontario
She questions my ideas on what women used for menstruation
in the past
It seems to me that many women in the European past,
maybe a majority, used nothing special for menstruation, bleeding into
their clothing. Read more here.
Dear Mr. Finley:
I have read your site with interest and amusement. The
Museum of Sex was recently opened in New York City and when I visited it,
seemed to have quite a bit of unused space. I am uncertain whether
or not this space is intended for future use, but would think that even
a temporary exhibit under their umbrella might well be an interesting option. They
do have a Web site and a Google search is sure to uncover it.
My observation is actually an argument against women bleeding
into their clothes in previous centuries. I am an avid amateur researcher
in the history of fashion and dressmaking and my knowledge in these areas
prompts me to disagree with you regarding the use of the crotchless bloomers
and the overall utility of women bleeding into their clothes.
First, what we now think of as crotchless underwear was
so designed with urination in mind, not menstruation or the evaporation
of female emanations. The physician you quote is an aberration. The
crotchless option allowed women to simply lift their skirts when they had
to "go to the necessary" as it was termed, without having to
take down or draw drawers. When you consider the amount of clothing
that women wore in every period except the regency and the most contemporary,
this will make sense. Holding up several layers of skirts and petticoats
and attempting to untie the drawstring waistbands (remember - no elastic
waists) and lower the pantaloons would already require more hands than
the usual standard issue of two and would leave none free to devote to
the task at hand.
In addition, most women had very few clothes and what clothes
they had had to be handmade in the home and in some cases the fabric had
to be handwoven as well. Women would be extremely reluctant to ruin
clothing in this way for practical, social and aesthetic reasons. Menstruation
has always been a taboo topic and women would be reluctant to advertise
their menses by both active bleeding on their clothes and the stains that
would be left even when menstruation was not present.
Which brings me to my next objection, namely laundry. The
laundering of clothes was extremely HARD work until fifty years ago. Nineteenth
century laundry required an additional maid devoted to only this task in
middle and upper class households and each "load" of laundry
required a minimum of eight steps of huge vats of boiling water and chemicals. Even
in a lower class household, where some steps might be omitted, laundering
clothing was a huge, labor intensive undertaking and steps to keep
clothing as clean as possible as long as possible would have been practical.
So, what did women do? I tend to approach history thinking
about the body and only the body. It is our one changeless touchstone;
attitudes towards urination, defecation and menstruation and their concomitant
organs may change, but the organs and their functions are ceaseless and
changeless. So, I ask myself, what would I have done?
And the answer is that when menstruating, I would have used
rags, padded at the point of vulval contact with additional rags and would
have basted the ends of the rags to the fronts and backs of the crotchless
and later crotched pantalets.
Too much trouble you say? Think about material in an
average household; virtually every scrap was used and reused until it disintegrated. That
which was not used for clothing, patching clothing, interior decoration
and the mending of that decoration, quilts, doll clothes and cleaning rags
would have eventually cycled down to use as menstrual rags. The outer
rags used to hold the smaller rags together may have been dedicated to
the purpose and discarded when they disintegrated or washing could not
cleanse them adequately. This would also explain why few or no examples
survive.
Ladies of other centuries were also much more adept with
a needle and took care of much of their bodily functions in their bedrooms
with the help of a chamber pot and a chamber maid. So, in conclusion,
my arguments against women bleeding into their clothes and for use of rags
are as follows:
1. Clothing was too valuable a commodity and too time
consuming to make to spoil it in this way. Clothing also serves a
social and aesthetic function and women would not want to ruin their sole
unsung, sanctioned art form.
2. Laundering of any clothing, especially bloodstained
clothing (bloodstains are a problem to this day) was so labor intensive
as to be avoided whenever possible.
3. Menstruation has always been a taboo and women
would not advertise in so blatant a fashion.
I hope you will think about these arguments and their solution
and possible present them on your Web site.
Regards,
****
I replied and she sent this:
Dear Harry:
Thanks for writing back. The bleeding into the clothes
could go either way and you make a good point with the fact that books
warned against it - it is like laws, they don't make them if there isnt
a need. I still stand though with my idea that clothing construction
and maintenance was so time consuming that women would be loathe to ruin
their clothes in this way and that even poor women are often proud of their
clothes. It is an interesting topic.
All of this said, I did actually know a woman who bled into
her clothes some years ago - she had fairly light periods and just bled
into the crotch of her jeans. She was a pretty free spirit as well. [I
know some as well.]
I also wanted to mention that I loved the pictures of your
cats on the site. I am a cat lover and as
I am now a cancer patient, my cats have become my staunchest allies and
best company.
Happy Holidays!
****
How can he help with his girl friend's menstrual problems?
Hello,
I am a 15-year-old male and found your site by a Google
search on "cures for PMS." I know this is weird, but I just have
a few questions and comments for all the girls out there, since well, I
wouldn't ever be able to answer them.
First of all, is there anything I can do for my girlfriend
to ease the pain? I know heat and Advil can, but I want to really help.
I TRY to be extra nice to her when she's on her period, and give some back
rubs, but I feel that is not enough. Is there anything I can do to make
it easier and less dreaded? If you know anything I can try, please e-mail
me at davidabunton@hotmail.com so I can start helping out.
Next, is, I don't understand why girls have so much pain
in their lives when a guy's life is basically a walk in the park compared.
(Note I am only 15 and haven't had the full deal.) I don't like to compare
girls and boys since i think they are so distinct from each other, but,
I don't understand it. Why do girls have so much pain and boys don't? Girls
get monthly cramps, guys may get the occasional one from sports, but nothing
like cramps from their period.
Next, depression. Most guys my age, I never see sad or mood
swings. Girls, on the other hand, well, that is much different. I don't
understand why girls have to go through so much and guys so little. It
just doesn't make any sense to me.
Next, I think girls are much stronger and well, pretty much
better then the male for a few things. Girls' lives are harder then males,
well, I'm sure you know much better then me about that, but it's true.
Girls have things in their lives that hurt quite a bit (I have no idea,
and please, please, don't think I'm saying I do) while guys don't. Period,
Pregnancy, and well, that first time through the hymen. What do guys have?
The only thing I can think of is getting kicked in the ol' family jewels,
and well, after 5 minutes of so called "pain," it doesn't quite
hurt for much longer. That's about it.
Why though? No one will ever know, and I won't try to explain.
I mean, I can understand why giving birth hurts (I think this is obvious
to most people of why) but why does the first time a girl have intercourse
(not all girls) hurt, and why is her period so painful? It just doesn't
make sense to me. Any guy saying that menstruation is a joke, or thinking
it is easy, I think you have the right to slap him, or better yet, give
him some of his own "menstruation," if you know what I mean.
Girls deserve all the best, for help through this time,
(again, please don't think I'm saying it's easy or close, I have no idea,
and never will) and shouldn't have to deal with the jerk guys in the back
row of the classroom making fun of Sally Sue's red stained shorts. I just
wish I could experience what girls have to go through, so I could have
a better understanding of what it feels like, so I could help, and actually
know just what I could do. I wish I could be the one having a period, instead
of my girlfriend, and it makes me sad because I can't experience it, and
have to watch her go through all the pains of menstruation.
In conclusion, I just want to say that I think girls are
much stronger, and definitely better then their opposite. I think that
you should be proud that you have to go through something that someone
else doesn't. That is what makes you strong, and what makes you better,
well, in my opinion at least. I hope you all can find some way of easing
the pain, and someone, somewhere will help along the way.
Thanks!
More about Kleinerts
Dear Mr Finley,
You were asking recently about Kleinerts sanitary panties
[in a previous news item].
They were around in the UK in the early and mid 1960s and
were popular with younger teenagers.
They had a waterproof gusset with a pocket at each end to
hold a sanitary towel in place. They could also be used with home-made
absorbents such as cotton wool or tissues (Kleenex etc).
The bikini-style brief was made of lightweight woven nylon,
and was worn low on the hips, in the "hipster" style fashionable
at the time. The gusset was made of nylon or similar plastic, not rubber,
as was stated.
They disappeared, I think, in the late 60s when tampons
became more widely used, and adhesive sanitary pads came onto the market.
You are welcome to use any of this on your site, if it is
helpful!
Congratulations on a superb site, ****.
"[M]ost men know next to nothing about menstruation"
This certain applied to me for most of my life and partly
accounts for this museum.
A very good site. It resolved a number of mysteries for
me.
One comment: as a man I can testify with great certainty
that most men know next to nothing about menstruation and the various related
issues discussed on your site. It's all pretty much a mystery to guys who
mostly think of it as a collection of symptoms that never work out well
for them. But few men, including me, understand the feelings women have
about it, or how a very significant part of their lives operates. (I suppose
the same might be said about women's understanding of men's masturbatory
habits.)
Perhaps this is because young men and women are usually
separated in sex education classes, especially in middle school when young
girls are just getting their first periods. We boys intuitively understood
the separation was for the benefit of the girls, that something involving
"periods" was discussed, and that we Y-chromosomes were too immature
to be sensitive to whatever it was that the girls were sensitive about.
It all passed us by and we never once thought about periods until the first
time a woman stopped sexual contact because she was menstruating. For some
guys this is later than others, so you can see how ignorance is reinforced.
I'm not sure what the consequences are, but it seems that more understanding
is always better than ignorance no matter the topic.
Anyway, just a thought I had.
Best,
****
Add section for Eastern religions - what a treasure trove!
Dear Sir,
I ran into your site while looking for experiential appraisal
of menstruation by women themselves. I enjoyed finding in short texts an
overview of thethree "major" religions' views on the subject.
May I suggest that you add a page for Eastern religious
views, taoist, Buddhist, yogic? Views there span the same positive-negative
range. As in other religions, too, knowledge about women's experience and
practices (physical in this case) has so been suppressed over the centuries
that little is now known of what archaics and ancients might have remembered
from the matriarchal cultures' knowledge. Modern women have to rediscover
it. Below is a line to follow.
There is, in all religions, a "deeper" or "inner"
aspect of religious teaching, knowledge of human nature, and mystic practices.
The quest for "enlightenment" and its problem of behavioural
and mind agitation and pains has roots in the body and the quest for longevity
and youthfulness, freedom from disease and from being dependent on external
things or people. For women, some practices involve menstruation. It seems,
though, that these are mostly lost, due to negative biases and to the progressive
psychologizing of spiritual practices.
Mysticism, spiritual practices, and archaic "myths"
of reversing menstruation for health:
I know of one Buddhist practice called "slaying
the Red Dragon," aiming to stop menses
(for women monks, the body is "just a vehicle" and menstrual
uproars of emotions a hindrance to meditation). I
cannot trace anyone who actually knows what this practice involves.
In Chinese and yogic traditions, there's a lot of sexual
practices to "raise spirit" or life
energy, but China has retained a notion that women could stop
their menses and gain at the same time a healthier body, also more prone
to "spiritual development."
I also think I remember (can't quote) something in the beginning
of the Bible (descendants of Noah) about a woman who was menopausal, received
the Grace of God, became fertile again, and pregnant. [Note that scholars
increasingly stop considering ancient texts as mere stories and find historical
validation for their contents, so may be there is something real to that
story].
These remnants of traditions, apparently often rooted in
pre-archaic female shamanism. go in the same general direction as some
of the books you quote. Namely, that
(1) Menstruation is an illness-cleansing process, which,
however should not lead to negatively valuing of women, persons with 'uncleanliness'.
'Illness' is a problem that must have a solution.
(2) Menstruation blood and menopause may not be necessary
or inevitable at all. There is controversy about whether it's a uniquely
human phenomenon, and indications that rich agriculture-based food might
cause it in caged animals - so why not in women- , and its occurrence seems
variable in animal species and individuals - so why not in women, since
most males do not experience sexual organ failure at midlife.
(3) Therefore, there might be a way of not having menstruation,
without resorting to medical drug interference, which I know from personal
experience (contraceptive pill) can wreck havoc in the hormonal system
both short term and long term - see literature on the effect of Hormone
Replacement Therapy on cancers, for example, or see literature about the
painlessness of menopause or childbirth in certain cultures. I could find
no theoretical reason to make such things necessarily impossible.
(4) This would mean there could be both a way of stopping
them without loosing fertility once they have started, and a way of maintaining
health so they do not start at all. Most ancient traditions state that
there is knowledge about human nature that has been lost.
Your list of euphemisms and words for menstruation (here) supports the idea that menstruation is not
pleasant (and at its worst feels like illness; shall we trust instincts?)
but also the idea that they constitute an "activation of power,"
including creative, but also the "red power" of hormonal uprising
as in an adrenaline or testosterone rush. Such "activations"
have a lot to do with how cells behave in a cancer. This line of thought
has not been explored in medical or anthropological contexts as far as
I know.
Displaying info on mystic practices and these unusual health
goals might help validate women's experience as both unpleasant but not
blamable, and a possible opportunity to approach health in a different
way, from a woman's viewpoint. Hence scholarly and medical studies of possibilities
in women's conditions rather than a mere remedial "disease'"
approach, post- (e.g. PMS) or pre- (as in one of the books you quote, about
ridding the world of menstruation).
My way of dealing with all this is to not accept as full
truth anything I read, including scientific knowledge and household knowledge,
and to seek answers for myself, observing my own experience as it is, rather
than through the filters of what I've learned or of my bodily conditioning,
and draw inspiration and support from archaic texts, less limiting. Since
a couple of scholars have responded to your site, I'd like to make an appeal
to women researchers to not stay with only objective science or scholarship,
but to include their own experience in a "first person" research
method.
Results of a trial of the new pill to suppress menstruation,
Seasonale: "effective, safe and well tolerated"
Christine L. Hitchcock, Ph.D., Research Associate, Centre
for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR), Endocrinology, Dept.
of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (URL:
http://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/), sent
this to members of the The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research (which
includes me).
Here is the first article from the Phase III trial of the
higher dose extended schedule pill (Seasonale).
In Contraception. 2003 Aug;68(2):89-96.
A multicenter, randomized study of an extended cycle oral
contraceptive.
Anderson FD, Hait H.
The Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Eastern Virginia
Medical
School, Norfolk, VA 23501, USA. fanderson4@cox.net
OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of Seasonale,
91-day extended cycle oral contraceptive (OC). METHODS: A parallel, randomized,
multicenter open-label, 1-year study of the OC Seasonale [30 microg ethinyl
estradiol (EE)/150 microg levonorgestrel (LNG), and Nordette-28 (30 microg
EE/150 microg LNG)] in sexually active, adult women (18-40 years) of childbearing
potential. Patients received either four 91-day cycles of extended cycle
regimen OC, or 13 cycles of the conventional 28-day OC with daily monitoring
of compliance and bleeding via electronic diaries. RESULTS: When taken
daily for 84 days followed by 7 days of placebo, the extended cycle regimen
was effective in preventing pregnancy and had a safety profile that was
comparable to that observed with the 28-day OC regimen that served as the
control. While unscheduled (breakthrough) bleeding was reported among patients
treated with the extended cycle regimen, it decreased with each successive
cycle of therapy and was comparable to that reported by patients who received
the conventional OF regimen by the fourth extended cycle. CONCLUSION: This
study demonstrated that Seasonale, 91-day extended cycle OC containing
84 days of 30 microg EE/150 microg LNG followed by 7 days of placebo, was
effective, safe and well tolerated.
PMID: 12954519
Continued to next earlier News
& Notes
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