Washable-pad company for sale
Gayle Adams, owner of Feminine Options, wants to sell the company to someone willing to put time and energy into it. The Food and Drug Administration has already approved its products.
Call Gayle at (715) 455-1652 (Wisconsin, U.S.A.).
What does menstruation mean to black women?
I am doing a project on the symbol of menstruation for black women. I am frantically looking for research material - please help. I could not find anything on your Web site.
Yours,
Claire Mathonsi (from Zaire)
e-mail: mthcla04@its.uct.ac.za
Muslim girls start covering themselves when they get their first period, writes a Norwegian girl
Hi!
Just wanted to say - the MUM page is really great! [Thanks!] And I wanted to add this:
When a Muslim girl gets her first menstruation, she must start covering her hair and body. But my Muslim girlfriends I know here in Norway don't cover their hair before after a long holiday or something like that - it would seem quite obvious if they went to school with their hair in a ponytail one day, and came with their hair completely covered the day after. Especially if her classmates knew a little about Islam.
No matter what people say, and no matter how common menstruation is, young girls are quite embarrassed about having it.
Love,
Norwegian girl (14)!
[Read more about religion and menstruation.]
Menstrual art from the 60s and 70s
You know there are tons of women artists from the late sixties and seventies who made art about and involving menstruation. If you did a search for like Judy Chicago, Ana Mendietta, and Linda Montano, you would probably find something. I came looking for Susan Dey memorabilia but found tons more.
Thanks for this amazing page. [You're welcome!]
Love,
Aaron Brewer,
Menstrual cup miseries
Many women like and successfully use menstrual cups, the two today in America being The Keeper (Web site, the page on this site) and Instead (Web site; I have not yet made a page for it on this site). They have some advantages over pads and tampons, and disadvantages - how's that for being fair? Here's a preliminary history of them, and here are some older comments from users; click back through these news pages for more recent comments.
The Instead menstrual cup rained on her!
I don't like your Insteads - they are yucky. I got it in fine. It's comfortable, but when I was walking around it decided to rain bloody mary!!! Be thankful I'm being polite because I want to be really ******* crude!!!
A bad experience with the Tassaway menstrual cup, from the 1970s
Hi,
I'd like to tell you how much I enjoy your MUM site. [Thanks!] My sister told me about it. The reason being, for years I've told people about Tassaway cups [at left] and they look at me like I'm nuts. Now I have proof that they did exist. [They sure did. Read and see more about it.] Here's the story that I tell.
In June of 1971 I was graduating from high school. The day before I was to walk down the isle in my white cap and gown, my period started. I panicked!! A white gown and my period - that was a disaster just waiting to happen (not only that, but we graduated 1500 students that year, the largest class ever, and my last name began with a "Y"). I had never used tampons, but I ran to the store to get some. While I was there, I saw a pink box with the word "NEW" on it. I scooped up the box of Tassaway cups and home I ran.
I headed straight for the bathroom, sat on the toilet, and read the directions. I pulled a bell-shaped "thing" from the box. The rubbery bell had ridges with small holes all around the edge. The directions said to "fold in fourths and insert." OK, I can do that. I folded, and then - Ouch, the first wave of pain hit. Nope, that didn't work. I read the directions again, and tried again. Bigger ouch. I pulled out some Vaseline, and coated the entire thing. It was so slippery that I couldn't fold it. I threw that one away and got a new one. This time I greased just the lip of the bell. Folded, inserted, OUCHHHHHHH, it unfolded sideways. The little handle to pull it out was against my vaginal wall, and the Vaseline made it so slippery that I couldn't grab it to pull it out.I was beginning to panic. I thought for a minute, and then very quietly slipped into my dad's workroom, where I found a pair of needlenosed pliers. I inserted the pliers into my sore vagina, and with a mighty heave, pulled the Tassaway cup out.
The next day I walked down the isle in my white cap and gown, and two pads between my legs. I could barely sit through the issuance of the diplomas, and when it came to walk up to get mine, I looked like I had been riding a horse for a week.
My only regret is that I didn't keep one to show to my daughter.
Hope you enjoyed the story. Again, thanks for the site. I love it. [Many thanks, and thanks for your story!]
[Some users have told me they cut themselves on the ridges on the Tassaway.]
Pap smears and Rely tampons
Above is the Rely tampon; here's the Rely tampon page
This is a terrific Web site; I have spent hours here. [Thank you!]
I have also recommended it to my fellow cytotechnologists. Cytotechnologists are laboratory technologists specializing in the analysis of Pap smears and cytologic specimens from many other body sites. Menstruation is an important aspect of Pap smear analysis: it is necessary for us to know when was the date of last menstruation in order to know what kind of cells should and should not be present.
Also, the smear should not be taken during times of heavy flow, so the blood doesn't interfere with seeing the cervical cells.
It was a real trip to see those old ads and boxes, as I remember them all going back to the late 50s.
I also have a letter from Proctor and Gamble sent to me in 1980, in response to my inquiry to them about the safety of Rely tampons, which they said were perfectly safe!! With the letter, they sent a nice plastic purse container which I still have. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the letter if you would be interested. [Yes! On this site is a letter P & G sent to its customers withdrawing the Rely tampon at the time of the toxic shock crisis.]
Sincerely,
[The writer is the cytology supervisor of the department of health of a state in the U.S.A.]
Money and this site
I, Harry Finley, creator of the museum and site and the "I" of the narrative here, receive no money for any products or services on this site. Sometimes people donate items to the museum.
All expenses for the site come out of my pocket, where my salary from my job as a graphic designer is deposited.
Read about your privacy, below.
Call for Submissions: "The 100 Best Things About Menstruation"
Looking for one-liners up to three paragraphs describing a "best thing" about menstruation: Health-related, cultural, artistic; an experience shared with an older or younger relative, or with a partner; a dream, political statement, joke, proverb, and/or something overheard at a party; scientific, sexual and/or religious . . . .
Be creative, be precise, and make it a one-liner up to three paragraphs.
The book will start out with best thing #1:
"Menopause."
Which is a "joke" given to me by a woman in Australia - however, I think it accurately expresses the menstruphobia most people feel, and is a good starting point for the general audience the book is aimed at.
From there, the book is a journey through all stages and aspects of the lifetime menstrual cycle - and the last several "best things" will be about menopause. So hopefully the reader will be brought full circle - they will recognize their own menstruphobia in the first best thing, but by the end of the book, they may be surprised to find themselves feeling a bit . . . menstrufriendly!
Please include contact information for you and/or your group EXACTLY as you would wish it to appear in the book - I think it will save a bit of hassle down the road!
Any best things that don't make it into the book will be included in a section on the Menstrual Monday Web site entitled "More Best Things About Menstruation." I'd like the book to be a snapshot of the worldwide menstrual movement in year 2000 - so just like a group photo, there's going to be some adjusting and moving people around and asking people to tilt their head a bit to the left, etc. . . i.e., as editor of the book, I may e-mail back and ask you to expand your best thing(s), or give some specific examples . . . so I hope that's not going to put anybody off!!!
Here's another sample best thing:
#43. Cramping at the Savoy
I know it's traditional to lie in bed with a hot water bottle or heating pad when one has cramps, but I can remember working in a fast-food restaurant, and one day when I had my period, I'd worked an eight-hour shift from 6 am to 2 pm, and later that night, went dancing at 9 pm . . . I can remember being on the crowded dance floor, and shouting up to my partner, "the dancing's made my cramps go away!" and him shouting back (although I could barely hear him above the music): "GOOD!!!"
So maybe the whole purpose of having cramps is to propel us onto the dance floor!
Working deadline is October 1, 2000, for submissions.
Please feel free to e-mail me with your "best things," and any questions or comments you may have!
Geneva Kachman [who has written poetry and essays on this site and had toxic shock syndrome. She founded Menstrual Monday.]
www.menstrualmonday.org
You can get the correct information if you go to these pages published by the U S Naval Observatory:
http://psyche.usno.navy.mil/millennium/whenIs.html (that`s a capital "i" in
"whenIs")
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/faq/docs/millennium.html
A comprehensive site from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich will put right any doubts:
http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/leaflets/new_mill.html
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.
