My 77-year-old mother, who is new to the Internet, told me about your Web site. I just visited the site, and I'm not sure what to make of MUM. Your Web site and its general banter certainly are entertaining. But I guess I'm not quite sure if your Web site is for real. [It's as real as over three years, hundreds - thousands? - of hours and a coronary angioplasty can make it!]
Anyway, you might be interested to know that in Bali (where almost all the people are Hindu), there is a menstruation ceremony to mark and announce a girl's first period.
There is an elaborate ritual first involving seclusion for a few days and then being dressed in beautiful garments and a headdress (almost like a bride), being carried through the town on a litter-like chair to a temple for religious offerings and blessings, and concluding with a feast. The entire extended family attends and often much of the town.
And of course there is no advance notice of when this ritual will occur. (If I remember correctly, the ceremony occurs on the fifth day following the onset of menses.)
When my husband and I taught in Bali in the summer of 1996, a woman professor of law explained the ceremony to me and showed me pictures of her niece's recent celebration. Talk about different cultural attitudes! In the U.S.A. girls often want to keep private the fact that they have started to menstruate, while in Bali the fact is not only made public, but the girl is honored and carried through town to a religious celebration. It's a real rite of passage. It is my understanding that after the menstruation ceremony, the girl is no longer treated as a child but that cultural rules regarding appropriate behavior for women apply.
Mr. Finley,
Please review my site. I would like to trade links with you. I believe my sensitive solutions information gift kit for adolescent girls would be a helpful educational tool for visitors to your site.
Thanks,
Julie Seely, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.
@ www.sensitivesolutions.com
Hi there,
I'm a frequent visitor to MUM and always enjoy it! [Many thanks!] One thing I wanted to comment on: in the New Freedom ad, it contains fashion credits "knickers and boots by whomever," which you mentioned were unfathomable to a male reader.
I recall reading "'Teen" magazine all through my adolescent years, and no matter what the photographic image, the fine print always included not only the credits for whomever designed the clothes, but also whomever provided and applied the makeup. Must be a woman thing; everyone wants their "propers." :)
Thanks for a great museum!
Hi, I enjoyed your Web site. I was a teenager in the 70s and remember those "Pursettes" ads!
I also remember the picture of Cheryl Tiegs in a swimsuit, and you note beneath it that you don't know what magazine it appeared in. I don't think it ever appeared in a magazine. It was a poster that was sold in stores.
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your support of Wild Witch Washables. It has been greatly appreciated. We're no longer doing business as of June 1999. Please remove all links you have to wildwitch.com as well as any banners or other ads which may be in circulation.
With warmest regards,
Lauren Sherer
Wild Witch Washables
http://www.wildwitch.com/
P.O. Box 431
Brookdale, CA 95007 USA
wildwitch@wildwitch.com
Dear Harry:
My name is Clayton T. Claymore, and I'm creative director for Kranzler Kingsley AMP, an ad shop located on the wind-swept high plains of North America (North Dakota, that is). Over the last two years, I've been building up a section of our agency Web site called PAW! - The Pit of Advertising Wonders ( http://www.kkcltd.com/paw/ ) and have been comfortably successful at getting more and more visitors to our site (especially considering the stereotypical reaction to the word "advertising").
In our latest PAW! metamorphosis (Version 6.0), I wanted to add more to our site. Thus, I created the PAW! Worthy section, where I describe and link sites that are in a similar vein to ours - i.e., presenting the subject of advertising in such a way as to satiate (or salivate) popular tastes.
Well, my friend, you are definitely PAW! Worthy, and we have you listed and linked at http://www.kkcltd.com/paw/otherpaw.html - Unlike "best o' the day" sites, my link to you is permanent as long as you continue to offer the great content you currently have.
Thank you once again for providing such great stuff for our fellow Internet users. And if you know of any other sites like ours that I've missed, please let me know about it.
Graçias!
Best,
Clay2
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
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.