New this week: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet from Kotex, U.S.A., 1938) - "You're a young lady now" (booklet from Kotex, U.S.A., 1952)

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Letters to Your MUM

She wants to try Instead menstrual cup (Web site), but uses an IUD (intrauterine device, a small coil, or loop inserted into the uterus as a contraceptive):

I just saw you Web site and found it very informative. The history of the different methods lets today's women see how women dealt with those issues in times past.

I also spent a great deal of time with the Instead and Keeper subpages. I first heard of Instead at the beginning of this year at my boyfriend's house. His mother and ex used them. The box doesn't tell you much on the outside and I didn't want to open it as it was an unopened box. It is very interesting idea and I have been looking for something like that. I hate using pads and can't use the other alternative. My only problem is I have an IUD. So I can't use Instead either. If I can't use Instead I probably can't use the Keeper as well. [Does anyone know for sure? Write!] What is a woman to do?

Thanks for maintaining the site. It allows someone to find more information that they may never have heard about. When I get rid of the IUD I will try Instead myself and see if it would work for me.

By the way, according to the Instead Web site, the company is looking for happy users to promote the cup.


Keeper, where have you been all my life!

Hi,

I am an English woman about to move to Canada to remarry a Canadian man. My fiancé has sent me magazines on Toronto and Canada, which is where I saw an advert for the Keeper (Web site) and the Web site.

I am amazed that I have got to 42 years old and have NEVER heard of anything at all like this, or ever in my life heard other people talk of this. Obviously, it must not have reached Britain [see the Guardian article of a few weeks back]; and not all of us are scared of our bodies. Well, at least I'm not!!! My family were always very open about everything so I am sure I would have heard of this had it been around. I can't wait to get to Canada to try to find this wonderful product!!! At least I intend to give it a try - this sounds too good to be true. I have no problem with finger insertion; I have never got the hang of applicators. I have used Lillets (o.b. in other countries) since I was about 16 years old, after experiencing two years of sanitary towels [called pads or napkins in the U.S.A.] - YUK!! I also like to "feel" that things are in their right place so this is definitely on my shopping list. I'll let you know how I get on!!

If someone is offering to mail me one? [The Keeper has a money-back guarantee; call 1-800-INSTEAD to see if you can wangle one out of them.]


She looked for a family name on the Internet, and found an old tampon:

I was doing a Web search for "Wix," my mother's family name and came across the Wix tampon info. Perfect!!

Then, I poked around the site and found it intriguing.

I'll be back to visit. I've told my daughter and friends about it as well.

Thanks!


Should a man use menstrual pads and belt for his incontinence?

Dear Harry,

Thanks for a very educational Web site. I have a couple of historical questions concerning sanitary pads. Earlier in my career as a hospital nurse, I learned about the disadvantages - as well as the advantages - of belted sanitary pads.

During the 1970s when the beltless pad became the woman's choice, was this because women's underclothing (tighter fitting panties and panty hose) was now able to hold the pad in place (better than our grandmother's)? [Good question. The 1922 Sears catalog advertised for night-time menstruation what looks almost like a modern brief; it sold briefs, at least for women, as early as 1935. Why it took until the early 1970s for adhesive pads to appear is a mystery to me, unless the technology for an effective adhesive simply was not available. Of course, belts were not the only way to hold pads in place; "sanitary panties" date from at least the 1920s; Kotex still sells them today.]

As you may know, many women today - even with the wide selection of pads designed for light incontinence - continue to use sanitary pads to contain their urinary leaks. For men experiencing light incontinence, their choice for protection is limited to shields that slip over and around the penis or pads. These, however, both require close fitting underwear or a stretch brief. I have a male patient for whom I believe the less expensive and tighter fitting belted sanitary pad would be a better management method for his leakage. I assume that before the invention of the beltless pad, both men and women had to wear a sanitary belt for light incontinence. Before I suggest this method to him, do you have any information on men wearing a sanitary belt and pad system - information that may make using "feminine protection" more acceptable?

[I don't, unfortunately. That is a subject fraught with shame, especially for men, who are not used to using pads, as most women have. A few years back, Johns Hopkins University Press published a book showing people how to deal with incontinence without clothing solutions; it was a best seller.]


"Hello, I'm menstruating":

Harry,

Hello there! I first heard of your museum back in 1994 [when the physical museum opened]. I was again reminded of it when I bought The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order [buy it] [by Debbie Stoller and Marcelle Karp, Penguin USA, 1999]. Aaah, what a wonderful magazine [Bust] and now they are even more wonderful now that they have made this book!

Anyway, I was reading the interview they had with you in the book and I never knew how close you were! I live in Silver Spring.

I have found myself to learn to love the wonder of menstruation. I mean, it may be a pain but we women have to live with it for a big chunk of our lives! I'm not at all embarrassed with talking about it. I will regularly go up to a friend (guy or girl) and say "Hello, I'm menstruating." It's fun. [Good for you!]

Well, I am writing to tell you that your museum sounds and seems so fascinating. And if I knew anything about business I would give you some tips on where to put your lovely museum! But all I can say is that your collection and everything you have is too precious to do nothing about. (Which I'm sure you know.) I don't think I can express in words how wonderful I think you are! I wish everyone had the same attitude about the lovely act of menstruating.

She wrote a follow-up e-mail, "a nice kind of creepy":

I just wanted to write and tell you an odd happening: After I was done looking at your Web page and writing you the e-mail I went downstairs to watch The Howard Stern Show [on television]. And, lo and behold!, can you guess who was on? You guessed it, it was his interview with you [made when they filmed the radio interview in my house, and afterwards made a film tour of the museum]. It was just a little too creepy for me! But a nice kind of creepy. [Your MUM is everywhere. Watch out.]


Bagging menstrual products:

I am curious about a practice used by box boys and people at check-out counters who have a variety of plastic and paper bags. I always thought it interesting that they tend to put sanitary pads and tampons in plastic bags as opposed to paper ones. I was curious as to whether this was to embarrass the woman buying them or, just the way they always bagged things. Never have I been asked, "Would you prefer plastic or paper?" If I'm buying pads or tampons, they immediately put them in plastic bags. It doesn't bother me, but makes me curious.

[I don't think there is any standard practice. At my Safeway, some clerks bag toilet paper separately. I guess my secret won't get out that I use it. Read how women bought Kotex in the early 1920s. Here's a plastic bag a clerk gave me in a German drug store. Oh, the shame!]


Tell Your Congressperson You Support the Tampon Safety and Research Act of 1999! Here's How and Why


The BBC wants to hear from you if your cycle is a blessing, makes you creative, if you have experience with menstrual seclusion, or know about current research !

Here's your chance to say how you feel about menstruation!

Please, may I post a letter on your letter page?

I'm researching a documentary for the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] about menstruation - myths and facts and blessing or curse.

I have much information about the curse and prejudice but I am finding scant information about the blessing! I was thrilled to find medical information linking surgery for breast cancer and the menstrual cycle and the New Scientist report about differing medication levels required during the 28-day cycle, and the research about eating requirements differing during the cycle etc., but I want to hear from women who have evidence of the cycle as a blessing, for example, artists, writers, etc., who are at their most creative whilst menstruating.

I also want to meet women who practice menstrual seclusion, as with menstrual huts of the past [and of the present; women still use menstrual huts].

And anything and everything to do with research into menstruation.

Next week I am interviewing Mr Peter Redgrove and Penelope Shuttle who wrote the first book on menstruation that offered positive information, The Wise Wound, 1978. I am very excited about asking many questions resulting from the book. If you have any questions for them pertaining to the book or their second book, Alchemy for Women, about the dream cycle corresponding to the menstrual cycle, I would be delighted to forward them to them on your behalf. They are not on the net so any questions would have to have addresses!

Thank you so much for this glorious Web site [many thanks to you for saying that!] and I look forward to hearing from visitors to your site.

Ali Kedge.

ali@shortkedge.freeserve.co.uk or fflic.zip@business.ntl.com


Help Wanted: This Museum Needs a Public Official For Its Board of Directors

Your MUM is doing the paper work necessary to become eligible to receive support from foundations as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. To achieve this status, it helps to have a American public official - an elected or appointed official of the government, federal, state or local - on its board of directors.

What public official out there will support a museum for the worldwide culture of women's health and menstruation?

Read about my ideas for the museum. What are yours?

Eventually I would also like to entice people experienced in the law, finances and fund raising to the board.

Any suggestions?


Do You Have Irregular Menses?

If so, you may have polycystic ovary syndrome [and here's a support association for it].

Jane Newman, Clinical Research Coordinator at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University School of Medicine, asked me to tell you that

Irregular menses identify women at high risk for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which exists in 6-10% of women of reproductive age. PCOS is a major cause of infertility and is linked to diabetes.

Learn more about current research on PCOS at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University - or contact Jane Newman.

If you have fewer than six periods a year, you may be eligible to participate in the study!

See more medical and scientific information about menstruation.


New this week: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet from Kotex, U.S.A., 1938) - "You're a young lady now" (booklet from Kotex, U.S.A., 1952)

PREVIOUS NEWS | news | first page | contact the museum | art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | belts | bidets | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books (and reviews) | cats | company booklets directory | costumes | cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | famous people | FAQ | humor | huts | links | media | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | religion | menstrual products safety | science | shame | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour (video) | underpants directory | videos, films directory | washable pads | LIST OF ALL TOPICS

© 1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org