New this week: Sea Pearls menstrual sponges (U.S.A.) - Ana pad disposal bag (Japan) long download! - porcelain designed by the female English/American illustrator FISH (early 1920s) - humor

Would you stop menstruating if you could? (Many new entries)
Words and expressions for menstruation (Two new categories, Brazil and Mexico, and entries for England and America)
What did European and American women use for menstruation in the past?

PREVIOUS NEWS
first page | contact the museum | privacy on this site | 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 | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads

 

Bust magazine loves me!

Bust, "The voice of the new girl order," published in New York City, made its cover story "Men We Love," and I'm one of 'em, because of this museum. (It later folded, I hope not because of me.)

Many thanks, Bust! I'm flattered to be in such fast company. I've loved magazines all my life and now, one loves me!


23 September I'm in Hollywood; next update is 1 October

A woman is challenging my running this Web site and future physical museum (because I'm a man) on an episode of a new television program, Moral Court, starting in the fall in the U.S.A. We're also debating some other menstruation issues. Warner Brothers tapes it Saturday, 23 September.

I'll tell all if this indeed takes place (it did). Some site visitors may remember that a "Roseanne" TV show that was to include a guided tour of the physical Museum of Menstruation was canceled the day before; the same thing happened to an appearance of board member Miki Walsh and myself in January on the quiz-show revival "I've Got a Secret" on the new Oxygen network.

Darn it! Why didn't someone tell me it's hard to break into show biz when your shtick is menstruation?


Letters to your MUM

When did people discover the ovulation cycle?

Hi.

I'm trying to find out when society knew about the ovulation cycle. Specifically, whether ancient Near-East societies between about 2,000 BCE and 200 BCE understood anything about the ovulation cycle.

I know your museum is about menstruation, but I thought perhaps you could help me find this out.

This is connected with the biblical instructions about telling the difference between a normal menstrual flow and an unnatural flow that might be due to illness. [Read some biblical mentions of vaginal bleeding.]

Any guidance you can give would be most appreciated! [Mail me and I will forward it.]

Thanks,


What are the odds of getting two letters about menstruation spoiling tomatoes in one week?

You can't can tomatoes during your period in southern Italy!

Hello again, Harry,

[Her name] here, your Italian Web site admirer and friend from Seattle. :-)

I have another interesting M[useum] of M[enstruation] tidbit for you.

My sister was in Italy visiting our parents for three weeks this August. She was there at a time when the tomatoes had ripened and all the women in our town make and can tomato sauce. Well, my poor sister got suckered into helping not just my mom, but two other women making the sauce. And why, you ask? Because these women's daughters were having their periods and you can't help can tomatoes while you're having your period! It will affect their acidity [the tomatoes', not the women's] or something like that. Ain't that a hoot?? The women of Italy seriously believe this. Mind you, this is southern Italy, they're a lot more superstitious there. [There are many similar beliefs in the world today, including the United States.]

Well, that was it.

Best regards,


An American grandmother warned his wife not to can tomatoes while menstruating!

Dear sirs,

Let me put this as delicately as I can.

My wife, a well-educated woman of 38 years., still remembers her grandmother's advice in the kitchen. She also remembers her advice to never can tomatoes while she is menstruating, believe it or not! I realize that this is a ridiculous notion, but what I was wondering is if you in all your research have come across this "taboo"? I suppose that there could have been a "genuine" reason for this tactic hundreds of years ago, but how this myth survived to the recent day is beyond me! Have you ever heard of this or something similar? Do you have any historical documentation of this practice? Please let me know at your earliest convenience, if possible.

Thanks in advance!

[This and similar beliefs about about spoiling food and ruining crops probably go back thousands of years in Western society and were supported and spread by respected writers. I don't know the origins, which may be multiple, but they seem a bit anti-woman.

[As Dr. Elsimar Coutinho writes in his recent book Is Menstruation Obsolete? (read about it), as recently as 1952 Harvard researchers Olive and George Smith maintained that there was a toxic substance in menstrual blood - menotoxin (read also today's humor page) - that killed animals when menstrual blood was injected into them. Another researcher showed that by using antibiotics the animals survived, demonstrating to most peoples' satisfaction that what killed the animals was an infection caused by bacteria from the vagina. Many bacteria grow very well in blood, and the vagina normally contains good and harmful bacteria, but the latter in small quantities; blood can help increases their number.

[By the way, there has been at least one doctoral dissertation about menotoxin: "Sulfur metabolism and menstruation. A contribution to the question of menstrual poison [menotoxin]," my translation of "Schwefelstoffwechsel und Menstruation. Ein Beitrag zur Frage des Menstruationsgiftes," University of Munich, by Walter Senninger, in 1926.]

The pad for thong underpants from Scandinavia
 

Hello, it's me again, "14-year-old Norwegian girl." [Read her last letter, about Muslim girls.] Just wanted to tell you about the latest sanitary napkin in Scandinavia, for STRING UNDERPANTS!!! It's true.

Here it is [she kindly e-mailed the picture at left]. As you can see, it is designed to fit string underpants, and is meant to be used when having normal/little menstrual flow. I think this is really stylish! The company behind this invention is Libresse, a part of the SCA Mölnlycke company [read some history of the company].

What do you say? My grandmother knitted her sanitary napkins (!) [see Norwegian knitted pads from the 19th century] and had to wear a skirt because it was too easy to see if she wore jeans - and now . . . well, things change, that's for sure!

Love,

Norwegian girl

[Here's the site's first report of the pad.]


Menstrual expressions and e-mail privacy

Dear Harry,

Yes, I think it's a phrase men use more than women [the male writer sent She's got the painters in as an addition to the English menstrual words list] - but I'm sure you can find out for sure by asking on your site. [Anyone know?]

I will send along others as and when they occur to me, though most phrases used in Britain seem to be under the U.S.A. heading on your list.

I don't think my name adds anything to my contribution, so don't post it, though I shall have to do some deeper thinking about just why I say that. [I don't put names or addresses with mail, contributions, etc., unless otherwise instructed, or unless it's obviously desired, as in the case of a company. Menstruation is a troubling subject for many people.]


What does o.b. mean?

Dear Reader,

I have a very urgent question. Does anybody know what the meaning of the initials o.b. is? And who the **** was so clever to not write it down in the discription? Please help me and write me back soon.

Yours sincerely

[Six years ago I didn't know either and phoned Johnson & Johnson, which owns the brand. After one person after another hadn't the foggiest idea, I reached a woman in the technical library. She promised she would ask oldtimers who were there when J & J bought the company from the German company, Dr. Hahn GmbH.

[Two weeks later the librarian called back and reported that someone said it stood for "ohne Binde," which the she said meant "without a belt" in German. Well, "Binde" looks like the English word "bind," making us think of a belt, but it really means "pad." So it means "without a pad," a tampon.

[So even J & J folks didn't know what it meant in English, and almost not in German! Look at a clever French ad for o.b.]


Pap art exhibit starts 21 September in Delray Beach, Florida

I am writing to request your participation and assistance in an exciting and important project regarding women's health issues.

The world-renowned scientist and lover of the arts Dr. George Papanicolaou, better known as Dr. Pap, inventor of the Pap smear test, will be the subject of a special exhibition at the Cornell Museum of Art in Delray Beach, Florida, beginning September 21, 2000. The gala opening and artist's reception will be held on Thursday evening September 28, 2000. The foremost patient advocate and director of the Center For Cervical Health in the United States, Carol Ann Armenti, will be the keynote speaker.

The exhibition will run through November 12, 2000, and will feature recent works by international artist Olga Stamatiou, Dr. Papanicolaou's niece. Stamatiou's works will be available for acquisition and the profits will go toward:

1. The creation of "PAP MOBILES," vehicles that would be used to provide testing for under-served women in areas, with the highest incidence of cervical cancer.

2. The creation of a traveling multimedia art exhibition.

3. The production of a documentary film based on the life, work and scientific legacy of Dr. Papanicolaou and his wife Mary.

4. The Center for Cervical Health.

5. The Papanicolaou Woman's Corp.

Our organization "PAP" - Prevention and Protection - will have as its goal to raise awareness about women's health issues, including the importance of having regular Pap smears and the provision of information on new and existing methods for detecting cervical cancer.

The traveling exhibition, to be viewed in public spaces and museums, will be a multimedia environment drawing on and inspired by Dr. Pap's love of the arts and sciences. This environment will include permanent built-in units that will provide creative spaces for national and local women's health organizations to inform women on what is available involving health care.

The September 28th opening reception will also include international guest artists and feature a wide range of styles and media. A percentage of their work will benefit the above-mentioned projects.

Olympus Corporation of America will provide working microscopes and monitors along with technicians on opening night to demonstrate how Pap smears are read.



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.).

[See and read about washable pads.]


 


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.


You have privacy here

What happens when you visit this site?

Nothing.

I get no information about you from any source when you visit, and I have no idea who you are, before, during or after your visit.

This is private - period.


Is this the new millennium or even century?

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


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


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: Sea Pearls menstrual sponges (U.S.A.) - Ana pad disposal bag (Japan) Long download! - porcelain designed by the female English/American illustrator FISH (early 1920s) - humor

Would you stop menstruating if you could? (Many new entries)
Words and expressions for menstruation (Two new categories, Brazil and Mexico, and entries for England and America)
What did European and American women use for menstruation in the past?

PREVIOUS 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 | privacy on this site

© 2000 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