Title:Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
Description:New York Times recommends MUM, which has exhibits about the world cultural history of menstruation and women's health
Keywords:history, MUM, mom, menstruation, myth, traditions, taboo, ritual, rite, culture, ceremonies, preteen, panties, panty, bleed, bleeding, protect, protection, monthly, teenage, teen, girl, pregnancy, pregnant, Planned, Parenthood, abortion, irregular, books, articles, adolescent, adolescence, pubescent, pubescence, menstruaci—n, seguridad, religi—n, menstration, olor, Monatsblutung, Regel, Kotex, kotex, cat, religion, dispenser, disposable, washable, cloth, discomfort, Tampax, tampax, sponge, rag, patent, medicine, advertising, advertisement, Werbung, Reklame, contraception, gynecology, feminine, hygiene, period, Periode, menses, Harry, Finley, belt, cancer, STD, sanitary, napkin, panties, flow, underpants, vagina, vulva, cycle, pubic, hair, tampon, menstrual, endometriosis, uterus, ovary, menstral, cup, Kotex, sex, asbestos, booklet, towel, education, bidet, health, breast, toxic, shock, syndrome, stain, menarche, pad, Tampax, PMS, women, TSS
Body:

Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
Updated 12 Mar.; next update late 19 March
This museum is quot;odd,
funny and well researched quot; - The New
York Times
This museum collection is quot;[U]nrivaled. .
. . [T]he best material culture collection on menstruation in the world. quot;
- Menstruation: A Cultural History
(Howie, Shail, eds.)
This museum Web site is quot;a treasure trove
of information. quot; -
Kotex, Kleenex, Huggies: Kimberly-Clark and the Consumer Revolution in
American Business, by Thomas Heinrich and Bob Batchelor.
Listen
to MUM director Harry Finley carry on about men and menstruation,
the MUM museum in his basement, toxic shock, etc., on the Keeper menstrual
cup site. No, they didn't pay me.
ABOUT MUM (MUseum
of Menstruation):
quot;May God close your horable museum. quot;
From a letter, with original spelling, to
the Museum of Menstruation, from quot;Shocked, by women, quot; mailed from
Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.A.
quot;Consider how Surg. Gen. Koop changed the
country! . . . Carry on! quot; Judge Giles S. Rich (retired), United
States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington, D. C. (from
a letter to me)
quot;Odd, funny and well researched quot; -
The New York Times
Comments from TV, online and other media about this museum.
Three listeners' comments (more) from my half-hour interview with Howard
Stern (here):
deg; quot;Get a life, creep. quot;
deg; quot;[I] am quite familiar with the obstacles
to a frank and intelligent discussion of menstruation. quot; (Nancy
Freedman, author of Everything You Must Know About
Tampons, 1981)
deg; quot;I was just listening to your interview
with Howard Stern. You handled yourself very well with him. He lambastes
just about anyone with a peculiar interest, but you had him very much in
check. I was amazed! quot;
quot;Stick to jock itch products, buddy. quot;
In a commentary about the museum and its creator in the defunct Sassy, an American magazine for teenage girls.
quot;Terrifically diverse quot; - The Independent on
Sunday (London, England)
quot;It's fabulous that somebody out there is
willing to . . . pull back the curtain. quot; Mona Miller, national
media relations director of the Planned Parenthood
Federation of America, discussing the museum in The
Prince George's Journal, Maryland, U.S.A.
quot;One of the best on the Internet quot;
- Britannica.com
quot;Ecco perch eacute;
Harry Finley ne sa pi ugrave; della tua Mamma quot; - Marie Claire magazine (Italian edition)
quot;This gem
of a website is a virtual repository for everything
you ever
wanted to know about women's periods. quot; - New
Scientist magazine (United Kingdom)
quot;More interesting than you might think. .
. . lively. quot; The V Book: A Doctor's Guide
to Complete Vulvovaginal Health, by Elizabeth G. Stewart, M.D., of
Harvard medical school and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.
More media on MUM
Latest menstruation articles amp; news below
History of menstrual products amp; culture
Babies know just as much about menstrual pads
as YOU do?
Modess ad, 1969,
says so!
Ad for PMS pain pill
Ex-teen, 1940s
A contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
4 poems by April Bulmer:
Pelvis, Vagina, Birth, Perimenopause
Comments on menstruation
past, homemade tampons, etc.
Instruction leaflet for the early Fibs
tampon,
1930s-1940s
German menstrual underpants from a mail-order
catalog, 1970s
American menstrual underpants:
Ad for She Shells, 1970s
From a German catalog, a device
to tone the face muscles?
Read how a researcher discovered a centuries-long
history of doctors amp; midwives, um,
relaxing women.
A Canadian college student asked me last week,
quot;Why had I never heard of menstrual cups? quot;
She's going to try one.
See an ad for one from the 1970s amp;
learn its fate.
Baltimore discovers possibly the oldest
Jewish
ritual bath in the U.S., a mikveh.
See amp; read more about what some
Jewish women do after menstruation.
The Canadian version of the Kotex stick tampon,
1969.
New menstrual humor!
2 additions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Addition to Words and expressions
for menstruation:
U.S.A.: My transmission leak
The Life Blood Exhibit appears in St.
Louis!
More information at
http://www.lifebloodexhibit.com/
You can't hide from menstruation
(most of you, anyhow)!
Modess pads shows its products in a leaflet from probably 1966, Personal Digest.
Unlikely happenings in a 1935 Kotex ad -
and a kind of face.
2 contributions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Carolyn A. DeForest, Ph.D., writes,
quot;This letter to you marks my 'official' launch of Ruby's
Red Wash. I am sending this announcement to you first because you
and your courage to honor and talk about the culturally unspeakable was
truly inspirational to me years ago when I started my research [for her
Ph.D. dissertation] and first discovered The Museum of Menstruation. My
perception that the cultural rejection of female bleeding ultimately points
to the cultural rejection of female being remains unchanged. As long as
menstruation is seen as shameful and talked about disdainfully, women and
girls, the very ones who bleed, arenecessarily (at least subconsciously)
viewed and treated just as poorly. quot;
quot;The bleedin' obvious solution to menstrual stains! quot;
http://www.rubysredwash.com
60 years ago a German woman about to marry
steels herself in her Tampax diary, 1951
Modess shows its pads, belts, panties,
tampons
and gave women household tips
in a Personal Digest leaflet from 1967.
Kotex shows women what it offers:
Six-page folder, 1996
quot;The Case of the Missing o.b. Tampons quot;
By Natasha Singer
Company won't say why they disappeared from some stores; except for the
ultras, they're returning soon.
The New
York Times story mentions Rely tampons,
a dangerous product from the 1970s.
Stupor Man returns as Lethal
Lad.
But a Kotex girl can handle him!
quot;Are you in the know? quot; ad, 1940s
Douche away pregnancy worries!
Zonite ad, 1926
Carol Levin's
Art of Menstruation
For beginners:
Miss Deb[butante] menstrual pads for girls,
ad from Kotex, 1960s
For everyone else:
ad for a huge menstrual pad belt from
Hickory, 1926
An English contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
FINALLY, I can skate without a pad belt!
Ad for French Juvenia adhesive deodorant menstrual
pads,
an early pad not needing a belt,
early 1970s?
Dutch TV program shows
menstruation around the world at
http://www.metropolistv.nl/nl/themas/die-tijd-van-de-maand/
bekijk-hele-uitzending-die-tijd-van-de-maand
See menstrual huts in rural Nepal!
In Dutch (of course) amp; called Die tijd van de
maand,
quot;Time of the month quot;
New-fashioned pain? An old-fashioned remedy!
Ad for Mrs. Pinkham's tablets, 1967
Can white be brown?
An Irving Nurick quot;Are you in the know? quot;
ad,
Kotex, 1950s?
Art of Menstruation:
Alexandra Steiner from Austria
See my art site
quot;Investigating Possible Link Between Menstrual Periods and Ovarian
Cancer quot;
quot;ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2010) - Scientists in the UK
are investigating a possible link between women's menstrual periods and
ovarian cancer. . . .
quot;Further evidence that supports this hypothesis is the
fact that reducing the number of ovulations a woman
has during her lifetime -- for example, through the use of oral contraceptives
-- decreases their risk of ovarian cancer. quot; More.
A contribution from the Czech Republic to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Did she synchronize with a, um, GOAT?
New menstrual humor!
Phooey to fear!
advises Kotex in an ad right before
World War II, echoing President Roosevelt.
But the president wasn't talking about menstruation.
Beautiful ad for Kotex stick tampons, 1972
New phrase for
Words and expressions for menstruation:
(U.S.A.): Tying
on the Rag
Dr. Nelson Soucasaux:
The Psychology of Gynecology - Part 2
Kotex makes yet another menstrual pad holder
Kotex bikini napkin holder (1963-1970s?)
Holding that d----d pad up!
Kotex Wonderform menstrual pad belt (1940s?)
quot;Why was I born a Woman? quot;
Ad for Kotex, 1941
Kotex walked a fine line
in selling the Australian Fems tampon (1967)
Mexicans hardly used tampons but
they had their own!
Amira tampon, 1967, Buenavista, Mexico
A visitor says
quot;fantastic
Kotex ad quot;
Betty Boop amp; other French ads for menstruation
from the 2000s
New humor
New
Words and expressions for menstruation:
U.S.A.: Wing-wang,
red menace
The former East Germany: Visit from Moscow
Does prim betray the tampon's Swiss origin?
Look and decide!
1930s: pads, belts, booklets,
the whole Kotex buffet on
a sewing pattern for women's sports trousers.
Another contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
New tampon claims to make vagina more acidic
during menstruation, supposedly reducing vaginal infections.
Press release: quot;the boldest new innovation in feminine protection
since tampons were first invented in 1929. quot; All innovations by definition
are new and tampons were invented long before 1929.
Many menstrual products claim to be the boldest, and medicinal
tampons, which these are, have been around a long time.
Read the story
about RepHresh Brilliant Tampons.
quot;Ovulating
Women Unconsciously Buy Sexier Clothing to Outdo Attractive Women quot;
Oh, boy, those ovulating women!! What next??
Read the story!
Uh oh. You menstruate in the next life??!!:
quot;A NEW Indonesian horror movie about a menstruating
ghost has [Indonesia's] clerics up in arms. quot;
Oh, no, PLEASE! Another ovulating creature
causing trouble!! Kotex will have to
create invisible pads! Hm, I think there's
money there.
Read the story!
This story's serious but these are less so.
A powerful menstrual pad belt from Kotex, 1970s
An ad for pad holder as panty from a small company,
1950s
Nerdy
Words and expressions
for menstruation:
Scarlet Onslaught, Fighting the Scarlet Crusade,
Punctual, My cup runneth over, I'm battling Scarlets
Hormonal birth control changes women's scent
amp;
others' responses to it - same with lemurs!
Read the story!
An age-old problem:
Kotex tries to solve menstrual leakage with
Kotex Personal Protective Panties (1995)
Another age-old problem:
Nikini tries to prevent menstrual pad twisting,
bunching up and staining with
special-fastening pads with unique pants (U.K.
ad, 1974)
Contribution to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
Red Badge of Courage (U.S.A. section)
quot;I was adopted into an all-female household where the
other women were ashamed and terrified of their bodies quot;
Writer gives YouTube links and praises your MUM
Illiterate untouchable Indian woman creates
successful business,
gains respect of husband, who she says became
her secretary.
No, nothing to do with menstruation but read the
inspiring
New York Times story.
And read more items about India (scroll down the
page)
BOYS!?
The maker of Modess pads made a half-hearted
attempt to explain the facts of girls' life to boys in
Boys: Have you wondered what happens when
girls grow up? (1973)
She questions some assumptions on this Web
site.
Do you know about tampon usage in any of the cultures
in Africa? A site visitor wants to know - e-mail
me and I'll pass it along.
More delay in posting museum artifacts:
I'm replacing the windows in my house and
will post pads and 'pons (etc.) next Friday.
American Artists Wanted!
for Dutch TV documentary
(followed by)
Pads for Prisons amp; Helping Women in Sudan
Mrs. Pinkham's recipes for food and women's health:
Booklet (1925): quot;Practical Cooking Recipes Together with
Health Suggestions Concerning the Use of
Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
and Other Pinkham Medicines quot;
A contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Contributions to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
dropping an egg, tool time, soldiers,
I need to change the guards at the gate
quot;Premenstrual dysphoric disorder makes some
women a bit crazy every month.
quot;Medical experts estimate that between 3 and 6 percent of women in
their child-bearing years suffer from it. quot; Read
the Washington Post article.
Read comments from women with the disorder
as well as other problems that make them
want to stop menstruating. And some want
to continue menstruating.
Outrageous advertising for the New Victoria
menstrual belt and pad holder, late 19th, early 20th centuries
Wondersoft! You'll like it!
Or so hoped Kotex in this 1933
advertising leaflet.
I'm late but you won't be!
The Life Blood Exhibit reception at Florissant-Valley
Community College will run Thursday, June 10 from 6 - 8 PM. Please come,
support the show, and join in the conversation and help
break the taboo surrounding menstruation. The show focuses on a
wide range of related women's reproductive health topics, from menarche
to menopause, childbearing to miscarriage, and more.
Catalogs are available for $5 each.
Life Blood Exhibit - http://www.lifebloodexhibit.com/
invitational group show organized by Jennifer Weigel
STLCC-Florissant-Valley Art Gallery
3400 Pershall Rd., Florissant, MO
June 7 - July 1, 2010
Kotex promotes a new sanitary napkin belt
and apron, 1930s
New entry to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
World War III
India's quot;tampon king quot;:
quot;Critics called A. Muruganantham a 'psycho' and 'pervert.' Who's laughing
now? quot;
quot;He was passing out free pads to college girls and collecting their
used napkins for study. And he had a storeroom full of them. When his mother
saw it, she burst into tears and and packed her things to move in with his
sister.
quot;'Everybody claimed I am a psycho, [that] I am using this as a trump
card to get close to girls,' said Murugantham, who taught himself English
in the course of his research - partly to get past the telephone answering
systems he encountered when he called U.S. suppliers. . . . quot;
quot;Because of poverty and social stigmas surrounding menstruation, today,
most Indian women use rags or even scraps of gunny sack instead of modern
sanitary napkins quot; [See two examples, here
amp; here, on this site]
Read
the story.
Summer Camp Special!
Nancy (almost) smacks Sandy,
(almost) starts World War II
Nancy's Biggest Day at Camp (1941),
booklet from Modess menstrual pads
Kotex shows how to fold, pin and flush its pads
(1920s)
After two weeks of agony I have my Internet
connection back. Two wires across the street were loose.
Puberty booklet for girls, 1978
Growing up and liking it
quot;Um, ya know, Cathy, you'll always feel fresh with Kotex! quot;
quot;ME, FRESH?! How 'bout YOU, Buster! Wearing Kotex? quot;
World War II ad for Kotex
Two contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
quot;'Code Red': iPhone/iPad app for men who need to track women's menstrual cycles quot;
Article
in the Washington Post
High school student in Monaco creates period
calculator with an advantage
Catalog selections of paintings
illustrating expressions
for menstruation around the world from
a Dutch exhibition in The Hague
created by a former member of the Dutch parliament
Newly added Susan Dey ad for Pursettes tampons
New
Words and expressions for menstruation:
U.S.A.: Aunt Fanny - Canada:
Monthly statement
No, not Japanese, but from Chile:
ad for Ladysan menstrual pads, 1994
Victorian sex survey from a pathbreaking
woman American educator
Lara Freidenfelds reviews the new book
Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation
by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
Armpits and, um, MUCH MORE!
Leona Chalmers' book
The Intimate Side of a Woman's Life, 1937
A British biologist contributes
quot;taking her first steps down the path to becoming a woman quot;
to
to the England section of Words and expressions about menstruation.
He also reveals what he's sometimes
able to do when he gets a
certain feeling or tickle quot;like a sneeze on the way in my nose/nasal
area. quot;
When the doctors didn't doctor women turned
to
Home Treatment of Female Diseases (1894)
for the Wine of Cardui treatment!
The Onion, America's Finest News Source,
reports a girl's
encounter with a
first-menstruation booklet.
More humor.
OMG, Anne Frank had her own tampon company?!?
No, no, but a Japanese company named a tampon in her
honor
and apparently a pad too!
Like Avis rental cars, Playtex tampons
tried and tried!
Playtex folder for dealers, 1972.
A tampon with a finger protector:
The Japanese Anne [Frank!] tampon, 1968
Two more answers to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Trial size box of an early lubricated tampon
Dale tampon, 1930s-40s?
Five new responses to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
quot;Gene With Likely Role in Premenstrual Disorder Identified quot;
More.
Lubricated applicator! Lubricated tip!
Highly absorbent!
What more could you want?
Pursettes applicator tampon, 1960s-70s?
Contribution from New Zealand to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Small Wonder:
How Tambrands began, prospered, and grew
(1986)
Tampax wrote its company history.
Next update: at least one contribution
to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
and news.
quot;You and Your Daughter:
Asked amp; Unasked Questions Every Mother Should Answer quot;
Kotex, 1968
quot;Scent of a Woman: Men's Testosterone Responses to Olfactory
Ovulation Cues
quot;[A]fter smelling the shirts, the men rated the odors on pleasantness
and rated the shirts worn by ovulating women as the most pleasant smelling. quot;
Read
the article.
The new pads come to Germany:
Mimosept, early 1970s
The new pads come to Denmark:
Mimosept, 1972
The dawn of a new pad era in Germany:
Ad for Camelia, 1973
A lubricated tip made this tampon easier to
insert
for quot;unmarried quot; women:
Pursettes box of 40 (1960s?)
More
Words and expressions about menstruation:
Canada: Puppy pads, The
magic I, The Soviets are coming
and more.
Just arrived!
1926 newspaper ad for Kotex
Tampax tries to convince German women to use
them: the booklet
quot;It's a Matter of the Best Years of Your Life! quot;
translated from
quot;Es geht um die besten Jahre Ihres Lebens! quot;
(1956?)
Two new contributions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
New Zealand ALSO sold Meds tampons:
see a box from 1970
1/3 humor and 2/3 serious
I'm updating the list of booklets on this
site, starting with patent medicine for
women.
The 1940s produced another Meds tampon,
the Modess tampon
Two more contributions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Competing for blood:
Playtex Super Self-Adjusting Tampon, 1974
An interesting but failed early Kotex tampon:
Kotams, probably from the 1940s
Sanshe's Sanitary Shields
for sanitary napkins, 1940s-50s?
Teaching girls about Tampax: accent on you, 1983
Previous editions 1970s-1980s?, 1980
A MUM visitor writes, in part:
quot;[T]here's a difference between a guy knowing about menstruation and
a guy knowing that his classmate is menstruating. Menstruation is at the
heart of what it means to be feminine, and so it is at the heart of the
mystery of being a woman. . . . [N]ot all shame is a bad thing. quot;
The London Review
of Books gets this museum's name wrong
but MUM answers
a question for the writer
(Thanks to Lara Freidenfelds for the tip; as the
author of The Modern Period: Menstruation in 20th-Century America [Johns
Hopkins, 2009], she's the real subject of the article.)
BTW, the LRB writer, Jenny Diski, found her answer
here
and liked this and her mother worried
about this. But she's wrong
that Kotex
quot;designed and packaged the first disposable sanitary pad quot; -
see some predecessors here
and here.
Kotex's Becoming Aware Educational Kit is COMPLETE!
Final section: pads amp; tampon
and booklets for parents and girls, sample pads amp; tampons
Complete kit.
New
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
New
Words and expressions about
menstruation:
(U.S.A.) Ugly
Sister
(U.S.A.) Shoots
New humor
quot;Judy
Blume: 'I Was Margaret' quot;
quot;Over her 40-year career, Judy Blume may have done more for sex education
than the last 10 surgeons general. quot;
Read the interview.
quot;The Beauty of Artificial Virginity quot;
quot;If you're a woman in a conservative Muslim country, you
had better bleed on your wedding night. If you don't, your husband
or his family will know you aren't a virgin. For that, you
could be beaten or killed. quot;
More.
Solving The Period Problem: Researchers Develop
Sanitary Pads From Local, Organic Materials
ScienceDaily (Oct. 6, 2009) - For most American women, their
quot;time of the month quot; is seen as a hindrance to daily life. In impoverished
and developing countries, however, monthly periods are a major cause for
concern among women. The lack of affordable, quality sanitary pads results
in females missing up to 50 days of school annually shy; thereby compromising
their educational and professional potential. quot; Whole
article.
Early birth-control pill booklet, 1960
2 more contributions to
Would you stop
menstruating if you could?
Children at play: humor
Call for Papers, Artworks, Photography, Fiction, Interviews
TRUNK Volume Two: BLOOD
Full details at http://trunkbook.com/trunk/
Did women who pined for freedom in Japan
use Pine tampons in 1977?
quot;New Device Could More Effectively Alleviate
Menstrual Cramp Pain quot;
a tampon coated with ketorolac (Toradol reg;), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
medication
Read
more.
Has anyone seen this funny TV ad for OB?
re: Cycling is
the new blog of the Society
for Menstrual Cycle Research. re: Cycling is written by members of
SMCR about all matters menstrual, especially sociocultural aspects of menstruation
and new research about menstruation and women's health.
The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research strives to be the source of guidance,
expertise, and ethical considerations for researchers, practitioners, policy
makers and funding resources interested in the menstrual cycle. Visit us
online at MenstruationResearch.org.
Next update I'll show more items from the MUM archives.
This week reality intervened in the form of a feral kitten with an ulcer
dissolving his left cornea (he's now hospitalized) and
an unruly neighborhood.
Not menstruation but important:
Manufacturers can add
substances to cat and
dog food
to increase your pet's (or pets') hunger, making them eat
more, increasing profit for the companies and adding to
veterinarian bills by increasing sickness. The German
news magazine Der Spiegel writes (in German)
that, for example,
the enzymes of the Danish firm Novozymes
(Protamex and Novo Pro D) DOUBLE
the hunger of test dogs and cats.
Former FDA chief Dr. David Kessler reports in his
new book The End of Overeating how food manufacturers
engineer flavor to make you eat more and not necessarily healthy food.
Looks like they do the same to pets.
A new Art of Menstruation:
Jacquelyn Rixon
New expressions about menstruation:
U.S.A.: gender-specific,
Potential Murder Suspect
A generous contributor to MUM comments on stick tampons
More information about the mysterious menstruating
bowl from ancient Peru.
New books:
http://www.flowthebook.com/
Cultural history
(appears in November)
Tales of the Curse by Peggy Lumpkin
People's stories about menstruation
Kotex tried to stick it to Tampax:
Kotams stick tampon, 1960-65.
New
Words and expressions about menstruation:
quot;nosebleed pillow, the comma quot;
Letter to your MUM:
Hi Harry, I'm giving you links to two websites I've found useful.
http://clothpads.wikidot.com/ - Cloth Menstrual Pad Wiki
It's a database of different cloth menstrual pads-
patterns, photos, tips on washing and care, and a great way to search for
different sellers using the tags. Anybody can contribute.
http://clothbank.net/ A Cloth Menstrual Pad Co-Op.
It uses a moneyless system to trade in
pads and sewing supplies that don't suit the user, so more favourable pads
can be taken out.
Tampax made a tampon to detect cancer cells:
Draghi Detection Tampon, undated.
New
Words and expressions about menstruation (U.S.A.):
quot;Over the rainbow quot;
Letters to your MUM:
Hello,
A friend of mine suggested that I send this link to you.
It is an unusual ladies' purse or cosmetics bag
that has a special pocket just to hold feminine hygiene products in.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29433254
I don't know if it would be something worthy of including on the site
or in the museum. Either way, my friend thought you would be interested
in seeing it.
Best Regards,
****
Hi there,
I thought you would appreciate this funny craft
idea:
http://www.favecrafts.com/Christmas-Crafts/Unique-Tampon-Angel#
I like your website-it is very comprehensive. I have visited 4 or 5
times and haven't event scratched the surface!
****
The recommendation of wearing a thong-type panty over regular panties when
wearing a pad is [see A reader recommends for a tighter
fit, below], indeed, a very good one! The desirability of keeping
the pad intimately close is well documented and which regular panties don't
really do that well.
Check out patent number 7,537,587 relative to keeping the pad protectively
close and the merits of a thong in this regard. However, this is just one
of many, many statements in numerous patents about the desirability of keeping
the pad close so that absorbency is directly into the pad rather than running
across the surface. Compare, too, the length of the old traditional napkins
held closely via a sanitary belt versus panty-held overnight pads.
Also check out the Japanese Unicharm web site and their various sanitary
panties. Note how they are much like regular panties with a thong built-in
to hold the pad close.
Under Western Eyes the Japanese
Emil tampon (1974) was absorbed in its task. I
would
apologize to Joseph Conrad for his book title were he alive.
quot;My goodness, what an awesome site of history
and humor. I think I have roughly been on your site for a good 2 hours now. quot;
Then she and another contributor added the following:
New
Words and expressions about menstruation (U.S.A.):
It's sticky time! - The kat is runnin' amok - My uterus is falling
apart! - Sorry, no kitty for you. - I'm gushin' -
Grandma fell off the roof.
quot;Quick And Accurate Way Of Diagnosing Endometriosis
ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2009) - A quick and accurate test for endometriosis
that does not require surgery has been developed by researchers from Australia,
Jordan and Belgium, according to new research published online in Europe's
leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction. quot; Details.
St Michael tampons amp; Tampax: too close for
comfort?
A reader recommends for a tighter fit:
quot;To get a closer self-adhesive pad fit, I recommend that a women
first attach a pad into a full size panty, pull them up, and then pull on
over these a thong type panty. It will then give a firmer, accident free
feeling, that was reportedly given by belted pads. quot;
Protective briefs (menstrual
panties) from Boots, U.K.
New: Words
and expressions about
menstruation:
Dot, dot, dot (U.S.A.)
Old Boots pharmacy bottle.
The U.K. company also makes menstrual products.
An early beltless maxi pad from Kotex (1974)
quot;Chinese Herbs May Relieve Endometriosis
Symptoms, Review
Finds quot;
Belt to hold tabbed menstrual pad from the English
company Boots, 1990s(?)
MacArthur Fellow and menstrual theorist Margie
Profet
quot;vanished into
thin air, disappeared without a trace. quot;
Article about menstruation in early modern era
The Modern Period:
Menstruation in Twentieth-Century America
The excellent
new book by Lara Freidenfelds.
Don't waste your time reading my review
- buy it!
quot;String
of tampon machine thefts hit MSU
[Michigan State University] quot;
Wait! Shouldn't that be quot;hits quot;
since the subject is string?
Anyway, it's funny and so are the many comments.
Always menstrual pad folder
for girls, 1993
quot;For countless women across India who don't even have enough cloth
to cover their bodies, menses is a monthly disaster
in the absence of adequate clean cloth. quot;
See the good work in India enabling women to
use menstrual pads
quot;Virtual Reconstruction Of A Neanderthal
Woman's Birth Canal Reveals Insights Into Evolution
Of Human Child Birth quot;
Read the short article.
Ethereal white folks in a puberty booklet
for mothers of girls:
How shall I tell my daughter? (1968)
New Scientist magazine on a roll:
quot;Everything you always wanted to know about female
ejaculation (but were afraid to ask) quot;
amp;
quot;Six things science has revealed about the female
orgasm quot;
quot;Contraceptive Sponge Makes a Return
to Pharmacy Shelves quot;
More
at the New York Times.
Girls' amp; boys' puberty booklet from Tampax:
quot;Q girls amp; boys A, quot; (1987)
New words and expressions
about menstruation from
French Canada (Quebec):
Etre sur ma semaine
/ avoir ma semaine
Etre menstru eacute;e
In India, with the help of UNICEF:
Menstrual pad dispenser, and electric incinerator
quot;A Revolution in Personal Hygiene quot;
quot;Higher Prevalence Of Early Onset Of Menstrual Periods Among Survivors
Of Childhood Sexual Abuse quot; More.
quot;Traditionally, . . women have been constantly under
the influence of a hormone [oxytocin] that promotes selective
social memory, and women seem often to be the
keepers of positive social interactions and the initiators of diplomacy
and peace-making. quot; Much
more, also about the baleful influence of birth-control
pills, which suppress oxytocin.
quot;Genes That Influence Start Of Menstruation
Identified For First Time quot;
More.
Do fish bite used tampons?
quot;MUM.ORG is very interesting.
quot;Have you ever heard of anyone using used
tampons or pads as fishing bait?
quot;I have heard that fish are extremely attracted to
male ejaculate and could imagine the same for menstrual flow.
With fish attracted to blood and scents it would make sense
to me.
quot;I could imagine a cooperative wife dropping used tampons
into a ziplock bag and letting hubby freeze them until the next fishing
trip. I assume as they defrost he could cut them
up into nonrecognizable chunks.
quot;Thank you, quot;
Rubella tampon (1973) with an ad:
The French were not afraid of the measl-, er,
red
in menstrual advertising:
Fanni Fazekas changes a painting, Red Rain,
in her Art of Menstruation
The first Social Entrepreneurship Fellow from
Harvard Business School uses her $25,000 prize
to start Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), which
enables girls and women in Rwanda to use cheap,
locally made
pads for menstruation so they won't have to miss work and school. Read about
winner Elizabeth Scharpf here.
(Thanks to Prof. Elizabeth Kissling for the
info.)
Read about amp; see two similar projects in
Rajasthan, India, (partly supported by the MacArthur
Foundation) amp; in Uttar Pradesh,
India.
The Times of India says,
basically, that these organization and I should mind
our own business.
E-mail update from Duncan McLeod:
quot;The duncan guy band has moved the Menstral Album
over to the band site. Your community can get the lyrics
on that site and we will have song clips up
soon. We are still getting a lot of requests for these songs live and the
on-line community continues to support them - I guess
women are still menstruating.
quot;Thanks for your support and if you want to change to a link that
works it is now under: www.duncanguyband.com
quot;
Join a MIGRANE HEADACHE study!
quot;In the past I've gotten several participants for each study from your
referrals [from MUM, this site] amp; now I'm doing a small study with a
pilot educational intervention -- a major focus of this study is menstrual
migraine. . . . The web site for our new study
is https://cfusion.sph.emory.edu/migraine2/
quot;
Margaret Moloney, RN, PhD, ANP
Associate Professor
Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing
Georgia State University
Stems, x-rays, the finder of the G-spot amp;
HEATING TESTICLES:
More from
Dr. Robert Dickinson's
Control of Conception (1931/32)
The most important sex researcher before Kinsey,
artist amp; doctor Robert Dickinson, describes contraception
and MUCH else in his
Control of Conception (1931/32)
New Words and expressions about menstruation:
(all U.S.A.) I'm rejoicing in my womanhood. - I have my girl thing.
- Well, your little plan failed this month. - Your vagina is emo!
The Times of India invented
a quotation from me.
What else did it invent?
The writer who made suggestions about the
What did women do about menstruation in the past?
page: PLEASE RE-SEND YOUR MAIL!
Dr. Pierce to you:
SHOVE IT!
Read about this in his
Ladies Note Book and Calendar (1914)
Boys needed to know about Women's Mysteries:
quot;For boys: a book about girls quot; (1981/87),
a booklet from the company that made Modess menstrual pads
The guys at a pharmaceutical firm wane poetic:
quot;You are a woman. Your body curves . . .your
skin is soft . . . quot;
Read the Norforms booklet from Norwich Pharmacal
Co., 1968
New
Words and expressions about menstruation
from India: The crow has touched them, Baith Jana, Mahwari, amp;
Maasik Dharm
A MUM visitor writes,
Hello, Mr Finley,
The people at this website
are apparently planning to sell a USB flash drive
housed in a tampon (it's at the bottom of the page in the quot;Coming
Soon quot; section). It comes in quot;Regular, quot; quot;Super, quot;
and quot;Ultra. quot;
In spite of the name, DYKON is a contraceptive
jelly from the 1930s.
What contraceptives could you buy in 1957?
Read the sometimes funny list.
Finally, read what you can do to
prevent and cure FEMALE TROUBLES!
Read Gilbert Thayer's Special Book for Women,
probably from the 1920s. Some are very up to date.
Articles continue below the ad(s)
Current articles amp; news below
Early sex researcher Clelia Mosher, M.D., corrects
myths about women in
Woman's Physical Freedom (1923)
She adds diaper, plug,
and not a good day to
Words and expressions about menstruation.
Birth of a word?
tokophobia
quot;I am quite sure you have received numerous answers to the name
of the 'weed' that provided fluffy material to use for menstrual pads in
the days of long ago ( maybe even today for rugged ' ladies of the woods'?
). The wild weed is assuredly what is known as Cat Tail or Cattail. They
grow wild near water sources ( most often ) such as streams, lakes, etc.
Just wanted to help.
****, North Carolina quot;
Kotex for the traveler:
Kotex individually wrapped feminine napkins, 1966
quot;My periods are not heavy or painful but they make me feel so dirty and vile I just cry and cry for hours. quot;
And more of her mail at
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
New words and expressions about menstruation:
Tetherball, from 8th graders: quot;It
works perfectly and the guys have no idea what we're talking about! quot;
More.
The matron saint of the pharmaceutical industry
takes you on a tour of New England in
Mrs. Lydia Pinkham's
Landmarks of New England
You think WE have problems? Kimberly-Clark's
(Kotex) employee publication Cooperation
during the early Great Depression (1931-34)
She drew Dick and Jane and
made illustrations for this Lydia Pinkham patent medicine booklet
The Happy Baby
Smyle! It was Nice to have a Pro-Fo
Lactic!
Interesting names for contraceptive amp; anti-STD
products from the 1940s-1960s. (Start here.)
A woman comments about boric
acid, childbirth and Intelligent Design:
quot;I think a woman's physical makeup proves that there IS
an Intelligent Designer, because there is no physiological reason
for labor to be painful, or for childbirth to hurt (with the exception of
IF the perineum is torn.) quot; More.
Modess menstrual pads produced this leaflet for women (1967)
with advice for new mothers after childbirth, amp;
information about menstruation amp; hospital-size
pads (really big ones!), amp; household tricks.
The company that brought you Kotex amp; Kleenex
also brought your forebears this antiaircraft gun!
Kimberly-Clark company history (through 1947)
Four men and a Machine (1947)
More comments added to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Modess menstrual pads produced this leaflet for women (1967)
tied to a famous ad campaign.
An early American gynecologist discusses
his discovery and includes many patient
stories in his
(Dr. Alexander Skene's) Diseases of Women (1892)
Easy-to-make Christmas slippers!
Redheads
and menstruation - a connection?
The little pad for between lips of the vulva: inSync
Miniform
Promotional package, 1997
Two new views on
Would you stop
menstruating if you could?
Humor and a
question for YOU.
She's trying to get her boyfriend
to look at MUM.
The maker of the Keeper menstrual cup shows
photos of what you use in menstrual products
compared with one little Keeper.
Preparing for Your Daughter's First Period
at Harvard's
health site
quot;Fertile women more open to corny chat-up
lines quot;
Read
the story!
quot;Ecstasy over G spot therapy quot;
quot;It has evaded lovers for centuries, but in February we learned
that the elusive and semi-mythical G spot had been captured on ultrasound
for the first time. quot; Read the story.
And read about it here on MUM.
Drug Maker Said to Pay Ghostwriters for
Journal Articles
[favorable to its female hormone replacement therapy
Prempro]
Story
FINALLY COMLPETED
the museum's Tassette material (unless I find more
in the thousands of items not on this site)
Prospectus amp; other material about the first
modern American menstrual cup:
Tassette (1930s-1960s)
The inventor of the
Instead menstrual cup
made amp; wore this cup dress for public relations;
company officials sent it to this museum.
See it! (And read about its twisted
connection to Comedy Central's The Daily Show)
The pad amp; belt don't show!
Kotex Without a Shadow of a Doubt ad, 1949
More advice to teenagers in 2 ads from Kotex
during and right after World War II.
What's a cleaning lady doing in an elegant
Modess
menstrual pad ad?
Well, she isn't, she's . . . (click!)
Kotex explained why dumping water on your date
was INCORRECT
in an Are you in the know? ad from 1954.
New in Words and expressions
about menstruation:
Gruesome week
and Red storm rising
More stories from you about
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
quot;Brain
flip helps to relieve pre-menstrual stress
The female brain has a clever way of mitigating the stress experienced during
menstruation: it flip-flops. quot;
Read
more.
Kotex instructed mothers how to handle
NAUGHTY GIRLS
and girls how to handle
NAUGHTY BOYS
in 3 ads from the 1940s.
Kotex taught teens how to deal with
STUPOR-MAN
and difficult situations in 3 ads from 1945-46.
Proposals for sex education in America
right after the Second World War:
How Can We Teach About Sex?, 1946
Giving pleasure to cure disease
courtesy of your doctor, 1890s, U.S.A.
She fixed her menstruation
problem.
New Hormone Data Can Predict Menopause Within A Year.
Read.
Her brother hoarded tampons!
The George Bush you never knew - you betcha
Secret amp; illegal birth control in the Great Depression:
The manual
New Knowledge for Women (1933)
A tampon
from right after World War II
More stories about
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Uterine Jihad quot;It's a euphemism for
menstruation, particularly one with bad cramps. I don't know the origin,
but I've seen if floating around a few message boards for a couple of years
now. quot;
Read more words and expressions
about menstruation
Tampax teaches you:
quot;From Fiction to Fact:
A teaching guide about puberty, menstruation and the human reproductive
system quot;
1986
Women have a higher-pitched voice two days before
they ovulate and during ovulation. And that's not all that makes
them more attractive: their skin color becomes lighter,
certain body parts become more symmetrical - and men find their body odor
and face more appealing. All this from an article unfortunately in
German (here)
but find the voice study in an article from UCLA researchers in quot;Biology
Letters quot; of the British Royal Society.
Tereatment options for women
who bleed heavily
(New York Times story)
Tampax announces 16 new ads in a
folder for dealers in 1969.
9 new ads in Tampax's
1968
ad campaign folder
Is Tampax telling its customers to Go fly a kite?
I don't think so. Tampax new ad campaign folder,
1967, with 7 new ads.
quot;Study says women on [The Pill] may sniff
out wrong mate quot;
quot;In its effort to prevent pregnancy, the pill alters a woman's sense
of smell, which is one of the ways she decides, consciously and unconsciously,
which men she is attracted to. When on the pill, she is attracted to men
with similar genes, the study revealed. With these men, she is more likely
to have a miscarriage or a baby who has a compromised immune system, or
suffer from infertility. When she is not on the pill, her nose tells her
to choose men who are genetically dissimilar, which increases her chances
of producing a healthy child. It is Survival of the Fittest 101. quot;
More
at the Baltimore Sun.
Oh, no, the tampon deodorant doesn't work!
Just joking.
Tampax new ad campaign folder, 1966, with 6 ads.
A Procter amp; Gamble tampon from the Sixties
before Christian groups charged the company
was tied to the Church of Satan (because of
its logo, also on this box)
Two more replies to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
The New York Times quoted from your e-mail about stopping menstruation for an article on menstrual
suppression in the 14 October 2003 edition, Science Times section (online here).
quot;My Aunt Flo from Red River is visiting. quot;
quot;My Expression for Menstruation is something I've borrowed from others
and tried to add to. I say, 'My Aunt Flo from Red River is visiting.' And
if it's a particularly heavy or uncomfortable flow, I add, 'And I have to
go to the train station to pick up all her baggage.' That basically says
it all. quot; (More Words
and expressions about
menstruation)
quot;First let me tell you that yours is a wonderful site.
Love the cat info too! . . .
quot;Your website is wonderful. It's
so sad that menstruation is once again being demonized. I can't believe
it is safe to suppress your periods and all this crap about breakthrough
bleeding is strange. Isn't it still a period if it has the same flow and
length? Only in America could we see such stupidity
and prudishness brought to such heights. It's a shame everything
that was brought up in the late 60's and 70's is now gone. quot;
Leonardo turns in his grave
quot;Hi Harry! I was visiting Dave Barry's blog recently and I clicked
a link
that led to this item which is up for auction on E-bay. It is a tampon
Mona Lisa. quot; [See more Art of menstruation.]
Klick your heels together for Cellopon tampons!
No, wait, that's a schematic view of the vagina!
Sorry.
More about Japan's Cellopon (1968)
A competitor of Kotex's Life Cycle Library?
Chapter 4, quot;A Girl Becomes A Woman, quot;
from The Life Cycle Library
(the Parent and Child Institute, 1969)
The Miracle of You:
What It Means To Be A Girl
puberty booklet from Kotex, 1968
It's a Woman's World,
menstruation information booklet from Tampax (1980s?)
Menstruation news CONTINUED
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Discover the rich history of menstruation and women's health on this
Web site - MUM for short - devoted to menstruation and selected topics of women's
health!
LINKS within this site BELOW
Leer la versi oacute;n en espa ntilde;ol
por Mar iacute;a Garc iacute;a de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepci oacute;n y religi oacute;n,
Breve rese ntilde;a - El
Punto Gr auml;fenberg (Punto G) -
Los riesgos de las duchas vaginales - Olor - Religi oacute;n
y menstruaci oacute;n - Seguridad de productos
para la menstruaci oacute;n - Sincron iacute;a
menstrual y suspensi oacute;n - Aspectos arquet iacute;picos
de los genitales femeninos
CONTRIBUTE to Humor and
Words and expressions for menstruation and
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site LINKS:
LIST OF ALL TOPICS | MUM
address amp; What does MUM
mean? |
E-mail the museum | privacy
on this site | who runs this museum?? Listen to
him.
Age at menarche (first menstruation),
changes (secular trend)
Amazing women!
Art of menstruation (and
awesome ancient art of menstruation)
Art of Harry Finley, MUM's
creator (you'll leave this MUM site)
Artists (non-menstrual)
Asbestos amp; menstrual products
Belts, menstrual (to hold pads in place)
Bidets
Birth control douche amp; sponges
Birth control drugs, old
Birth control and religion
Founder of MUM bio
Bly, Nellie
MUM board
Books: menstruation amp; menopause ( amp; reviews)
Cats
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory
Contraception and religion
Contraceptive drugs, old
Contraceptive douche amp; sponges
Costumes
Cups, menstrual and their ads | cup
usage
Dispensers, menstrual products
Disposal bags for menstrual pads
Douches, pain, sprays amp; their ads
Essay directory
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history)
Extraction, menstrual
Facts-of-life booklets
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads
FAQ | founder/director biography
Feminine napkins, pads, towels amp; ads directory
Former (physical) museum in my house
Future of the museum
Gynecological examination of a woman's pelvis
(short history)
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux
Humor
Huts
Links
Masturbation
Media coverage of MUM
Menarche age (first menstruation), changes
(secular trend)
Menarche booklets for girls amp; parents
Menotoxin, menstrual poison
Menstrual napkins, pads, towels amp; their ads directory
Mikvah ritual bath after menstruation for
Orthodox Jews
Miscellaneous: myths, menstrual wave, comic strips,
advertising, etc.
Museum's future as a public building open to all
Museum (former physical menstruation) in my house
Norwegian menstruation exhibit
Odor amp; the origin of menstrual odor
Olor
Pads, towels, napkin amp; their ads directory
Panties (women's underpants) amp; underwear
directory
Past American amp; European customs
Patent medicine amp; ads
Poetry directory
Poison, menstrual (menotoxin)
Products, a very few current
Puberty booklets for girls and parents
Religion | Religi oacute;n
y menstruaci oacute;n
Remedies for menstrual discomfort, your
Safety of products | Seguridad
de productos para la menstruaci oacute;n
Sanitary napkins, pads, towels amp; their ads
directory
Science
Shame
Slapping, menstrual
Sponges
Stop menstruating comments, your
Synchrony
Tampons amp; their ads directory | some early
tampons
Teen ads directory
Towels, pads, napkins amp; their ads directory
Tour the former museum in Harry Finley's house
Underwear amp; panties directory
Videos, films directory
Words and expressions about
menstruation
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
What did women do about menstruation in the past?
Washable cloth pads
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copy; 2011 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission
of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
Harry Finley is the founder and director, and he
created, writes and maintains this site.