Site for heavy menstrual bleeding
Hi,
I enjoyed reading your site on the history of menstruation. It's a very well done site. I've often wondered myself about some of the topics on your site -- now I know where to look up the answers.
I have a site called: Menorrhagia: Overlooked Causes of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding. It is at: http://www.ctds.info/menorrhagia.html. It reviews many of the different causes of menorrhagia including dietary, drug and genetic factors.
I was wondering if you would be interested in exchanging links? I think a link exchange would be mutually beneficial for both our sites, as they both would be likely to have similar visitors - people with an interest in menstruation. For the term "menorrhagia," my site is the number one site in Google and number 2 in Yahoo. As such, it gets a fair bit of traffic and may provide good advertising for your site.
Thanks in advance for considering my request. I hope to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
Sandy Simmons
Fertility awareness and control
Hello! Thank you for a very cool site. I just asked my tech guy to add a link to it from my site. Any chance you could return the favor? My url is below. I would be very appreciative. I teach Fertility Awareness, primarily for contraception, but also to women seeking to become pregnant. And it's basically just an understanding of the events in the menstrual cycle. (But it's NOT rhythm.)
Best,
Ilene
--
Ilene Richman
Fertility Awareness Center
PO Box 1190
New York, NY 10009
(212)475-4490
admin@fertaware.com
www.fertaware.com
What are the Canadian laws about menstrual product safety?
Hi!
First off, thanks for providing a site like this. It's very helpful, especially in North American society, where periods seem to be something to be dreaded.
I was wondering if you know where I can find out what Canadian laws are on tampon ingredients and manufacturing. I keep hearing rumours about how tampons contain asbestos and other harmful products, and would like to find out for myself.
Thanks
Can anyone answer the question? E-mail me and I'll pass the information on.
Patent for combination pad and tampon. Want to buy the rights?
Love the site - thought you might be interested in this (if you don't know about it already)-
http://www.invention.com/brown5.htm#link1
Best wishes,
Picture, below, is from the Web site.
Patent medicine, recipes using breast milk and . . .
Dear Harry,
Could the "gravy boats" be neti pots [used for flushing out the sinuses] or female urinals?
I have a book from the 1860's with folk cures and recipes including several for "painful menstruation and nervous Debility." These cures contain quinine, morphine, arsenious acid, and strychnine!
The book is written by Dr. A.W. Chase from Ann Arbor, Michigan and it was quite popular for 50 or so years. It was even used by many physicians.
The book also contains cures for cancer, warts, heart disease, and smallpox, as well as kitchen recipes, bee-keeping secrets, and tips on animal husbandry!
It is rare, but available on-line at several places for US$30.00 to US$175.00 depending upon the edition and condition. (My copy is missing a few pages and is in very poor condition, but worth the $2.00 I paid at a garage sale.)
I would be glad to send you a few choice "receipts" for cramp relief popular in 1860 in Midwest America. It's absolutely fascinating and I certainly can't discount all of its advice. Perhaps there are long lost cures and treatments just waiting to be rediscovered.
The exact title of the 865-page book differs with each edition, but if you put in a search for "Dr. Chase's Receipts" you should find it.
By the way, did you know there are recipes on the Internet that use breast milk as a main ingredient!?
Momma's potato soup and apple cobbler with cream sauce. I don't know, I think I'd rather try the morphine and strychnine cramp tonic!
Bon appetit!
Vickie Kibellus (The entertainer who thinks you need humor at the museum)
She likes Instead and Keeper menstrual cups (see them)
Dear Harry Finley:
Kudos to you for hosting such a fascinating Web site! Thanks to your information, I recently ordered a Keeper, which I am using with great success. I'd already discovered Instead menstrual cups, which are hard to find but available (it's the only thing I buy at CVS). I wish I had known about BOTH of these products many years ago! I am 47 and who knows how much longer I'll be menstruating, but for now I'm happy to save as much time and money and trouble as I can.
Best regards, ***
Washington, D.C.
Mooncup, a menstrual cup made of silicon
Two e-mailers told me about Mooncup:
Hello!
I have recently found out about a menstrual cup made of silicon called the MOONCUP. The Web site is www.mooncup.co.uk. I would like to purchase one but I would like to get your insight on what you know about this product.
Also, I haven't been able to find any pictures of the Mooncup. Any info you can give me would be gladly appreciated.
Thank you,
***, Keeper [menstrual cup] user for over a year now.
I'm planning to buy one for the museum and Web site. Does anyone know anything about it from experience or reading? This is the first I've heard of it. Read an obviously incomplete history of menstrual cups.
Dear Mr Finley,
No, it`s not a soccer contest. It is just to let you know about a U.K. cup called Mooncup I discovered on the web at www.mooncup.co.uk
It seems to be very similar to the Keeper, but is made of medical-grade silicone instead of natural rubber. It would seem to be ideal for those unfortunate enough to have a rubber allergy.
Interesting what you can discover on the Web.
Menstrual cups do seem to be taking off in the UK, although they are a fairly recent innovation, I think. [Does anyone know of an older menstrual cup from the U.K.? E-mail me if so.]
Wonderful site. Thank you very much for all the hard work you put into it.
New products looking for distributor
We are a U.S. based company looking for distributors for our FemRelief and Mystique products. To learn about the products please visit;
www.FemRelief.com
www.MystiqueWipes.com
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you need more information.
Thank you.
Sid Rizvi
Humana USA Inc.
6208 Castle Cary Drive
Bakersfield, CA 93306
USA
Phone: 1-661-325-1666
Fax: 1-661-325-1666
info@humanausa.cc
"I grew up in a liberal household. Menstruation was not something ANYONE ever talked about openly." And a new phrase for menstruation.
Hello,
I found your site on an Internet search for the product "Instead." I absolutely love what you have created. It's about time someone brought what is for half the human race, a natural bodily function, out of the closet. I grew up in a liberal household. Menstruation was not something ANYONE ever talked about openly. I discarded that idea along with a lot of other stuff when I got older. I am an adult, a woman and a feminist; I see no reason why I shouldn't be just as comfortable talking about my period as I would be about breathing.
Having gotten that off my chest I have a new term you might want to add to your list. It was first used (so far as I know) by an ex-boyfriend of mine in high school. One afternoon he referred to it as the "Red Bird of Bitchiness" (as opposed to the Blue Bird of Happiness). It made me laugh and I liked it so much I stuck with it. It can be used to announce PMS - "The Red Bird has started Migrating" (moving south/downwards indicating it's getting ready to leave the body); to announce the start of a period - "The Red Bird has landed/is nesting"; or on rare occasions that a period is late - "The Red Bird's Migration is delayed." Some of my friends have started using this term also, unlike me though they use it because in public no one can tell what we are referring to.
Hope you keep up the work, as your museum and site are indeed one of a kind and should be appreciated and treated as such. I personally feel that the world could use more open discussion and recognition of topics that were previously treated as taboo, shameful, impolite, or disgusting.
Thanks,
A U.K. TV program on menstruation, Kleinerts and a substitute for Miniforms pads
Dear Harry,
Thanks for your message. I do not know if I will be on the programme (I am not sure if it is a single programme or a series). [Channel 4 in the U.K. is inviting women to discuss their periods and wanted to visit me and the museum, in a Washington, D.C. suburb - yes, in America. Unfortunately the MUM is in no shape to be seen right now, being mostly dismantled. I'm still trying to find a good location for it in the public. See it in its heyday and read about my plans for it.]
Yes, washing out a cup can be a problem for some. I read that some women put their silicone Mooncup in the dishwasher. In the cup rack, no doubt! I would not think it much of a problem for those who have had to wash a diaphragm or babies` nappies (diapers).
Mention of Kleinerts underwear in your News page reminded me of my student days in northern England back in the mid-60s. I shared a flat with a woman of about 29 or 30 who used Kleinerts sanitary panties. I knew this because she hung them over the bath to dry after washing.
These panties were a very lightweight nylon, and had a waterproof gusset with a pocket each end to hold a sanitary towel. She went every week to Ladies` League of Health and Beauty sessions. This was a national Keep Fit Group, exercises to music, etc. I asked her how she coped with periods when she went to the class, wearing a leotard and doing exercises, etc.
She told me that she bought a large roll of cotton wool to use with the Kleinerts briefs, which she wore under her leotard. To avoid anything showing, she said she did not use the pocket arrangement, but placed a pad of cotton wool inside the labia (like the Miniform padette of today).
I asked about tampons, but she told me she had tried to use tampons, mainly Lil-lets, many times, but she was unable to insert them.
Shortly afterwards she left to get married, and had a baby within a year, so although I did not have an opportunity to ask her, I assumed that the problem preventing her from inserting a tampon was solved!
The cotton-wool technique was obviously widely used in those days. I certainly remember one very attractive girl of 17 to 18. We could always tell when she had her period because every month she used to arrive with a bulky "vanity case," like a small suitcase, in which there was a large roll of cotton wool. This continued until she was 20 and got married. The vanity case no longer appeared after that!
The idea of using a ball of cotton wool between the labia was quite universal, I thought. Back in the 60s there were no panty-liners. We did not need them. Certainly most chain-store chemists stocked (and still do) a range of sizes. They are not just for cleaning off make-up!
Someone asked you recently for a source of supply of the Miniforms -- she does not need them. Just use cotton wool!
More later,
Anyone have information about Zoa[-]phora?
Do you have any information on a bottle that I found at an antique shop. The bottle reads as follows. Front panel: ZOAPHORA WOMANS FRIEND; right side: ZOA-PHORA COMPANY; left side: KALAMAZOO MICH. U.S.A.
Thank you,
[Reply to me and I will forward your mail to the writer.]
Tampax: Who invented it?
There has always been a family story about my grandfather, Harry Snouffer, that he had invented Tampax for my grandmother but some one he knew stole the idea. He was so upset by this and by his divorce that he killed himself.
I just happened to sit down and decide to look it up and found your Web page. I read all about Dr. Haas [here] and it was kind of surprising. My grandfather was a salesman and he lived in Denver, Colorado, during that time.
Do you have the name of his company because I have a way to see if my grandfather ever worked for him? Little late now but it would be interesting to see if there are any more coincidences.!
Cheryl Ramirez
[There are some coincidences in the two stories that I can't explain. Can anyone help? Reply to me and I will forward your mail to her.]
Learn to like menstruation!
I don't know who SeaDragon is but I identified with her story. Please take the time to read her Web page.
http://vol.com/~witch1/moon.htm
P.S. Don't let the fact that she is pagan put you off. Most pagans are really nice!!
Call for papers: MENSTRUATION: BLOOD, BODY, BRAND
THE INSTITUTE FOR FEMINIST THEORY AND RESEARCH
WWW.IFTR.ORG.UK
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY, United Kingdom, 24-26 January 2003
An under-explored territory for the scholar of the body-in-history, the menstrual has remained one of the last taboos of both cultural and academic discourse. A recurrent motif in specifying the body marked female, menstruation has nevertheless remained on the periphery of the feminist second wave. This interdisciplinary conference will bring together various previously disparate critical approaches to construct an evolution of menstruation. It will examine and revisit visual, literary, medical, legal, autobiographical and historical texts.
Keynote Speakers
Julie-Marie Strange
Marie Mulvey-RobertsProposed Papers/Panels
- Visual Culture and Menstrual (in)Visibility
- Menstrual Technologies
- The "Speaking" Body
- Revising the History of Menstrual "Disorder"
- Theorising the Menstruating Subject
- Female Bodies and "Emission"
- Enlightenment's Menstruator
- Taboo and Totem
- Menopause and Ageing Femininity
- Psychoanalysis and Hysteria
- Race/Blood
- PMS
- Advertising Menstruality
- Maternity vs. Menstruation?
- Vampiric/Gothic Menstruation
- Menarche and the Invention of the Teenager
- Periodicity and Images of the Natural
- Dioxin and TSS
- Gaps in the Civilising Process
- Class and Menstruality
- Feminist Waves and Menstrual Evolution
- Menstruation, Statute and Work
- The Wisdom of the Wound?
- Representations of the Bleeding Body[The MUM director was invited to talk about this museum either in person or by video tape.]
300-Word Abstract Deadline 31st August 2002
Abstracts by Post or by Email Attachment to
Andrew Shail
School of English
Queens Building
The Queen's Drive
University of Exeter
Exeter EX4 4QH
UK
Phone: (01392) 264265
Fax: (01392) 264361
Email: a.e.shail@ex.ac.uk
Participate in three UCLA studies
Dear Mr. Finley,
My students and I are currently conducting three online studies relating to menstruation. We are seeking volunteer participants, women age 18-50, to take a few moments to complete anonymous surveys. I would greatly appreciate it if the Museum could publicize our efforts.
These studies have been approved by the University of California Los Angeles Office for the Protection of Research Subjects; participation is on a strictly anonymous, strictly voluntary, and unpaid basis.
Participants can access each of the surveys by clicking on the Web links below:
Disgust and the Menstrual Cycle
http://hillinfo.orl.ucla.edu/disgust_survey/
Subjective Changes over the Menstrual Cycle
http://hillinfo.orl.ucla.edu/cabin_fever/01_info_sheet.asp
An Investigation of Opinions about Incest and the Menstrual Cycle
(for women over 18)
http://hillinfo.orl.ucla.edu/menst_cycle
Many thanks in advance,
Cheers,
Dan
Daniel M.T. Fessler
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
390 Haines Hall, Box 951553
University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553
tel. 310 794-9252
fax 310 206-7833
Email: dfessler@anthro.ucla.ed
Canadian TV film about menstruation Under Wraps now called Menstruation: Breaking the Silence and for sale
Read more about it - it includes this museum (when it was in my house) and many interesting people associated publically with menstruation. Individual Americans can buy the video by contacting
Films for the Humanities
P.O. Box 2053
Princeton, NJ 08543-2053Tel: 609-275-1400
Fax: 609-275-3767
Toll free order line: 1-800-257-5126Canadians purchase it through the National Film Board of Canada.
Did your mother slap you when you had your first period?
If so, Lana Thompson wants to hear from you.
The approximately 4000 items of this museum will go to Australia's largest museum . . .
if I die before establishing the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health as a permanent public display in the United States (read more of my plans here). I have had coronary angioplasty; I have heart disease related to that which killed all six of my parents and grandparents (some when young), according to the foremost Johns Hopkins lipids specialist. The professor told me I would be a "very sick person" if I were not a vegetarian since I cannot tolerate any of the medications available. Almost two years ago I debated the concept of the museum on American national television ("Moral Court," Fox Network) and MUM board member Miki Walsh (see the board), who was in the audience at Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood, said I looked like a zombie - it was the insomnia-inducing effect of the cholesterol medication.
And almost two years ago Megan Hicks, curator of medicine at Australia's Powerhouse Museum, the country's largest, in Sydney, visited MUM (see her and read about the visit). She described her creation of an exhibit about the history of contraception that traveled Australia; because of the subject many people had objected to it before it started and predicted its failure. But it was a great success!
The museum would have a good home.
I'm trying to establish myself as a painter (see some of my paintings) in order to retire from my present job to give myself the time to get this museum into a public place and on display permanently (at least much of it); it's impossible to do now because of the time my present job requires.
An Australian e-mailed me about this:
Wow, the response to the museum, if it were set up in Australia, would be so varied. You'd have some people rejoicing about it and others totally opposing it (we have some yobbos here who think menstruation is "dirty" and all that other rubbish). I reckon it would be great to have it here. Imagine all the school projects! It might make a lot of younger women happier about menstruating, too. I'd go check it out (and take my boyfriend too) :)
Hey, are you related to Karen Finley, the performance artist?? [Not that I know of, and she hasn't claimed me!]
Don't eliminate the ten Regional Offices of the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor
The Bush Administration is planning to propose, in next year's budget, to eliminate the ten Regional Offices of the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor. This decision signals the Administration's intent to dismantle the only federal agency specifically mandated to represent the needs of women in the paid work force.
Established in 1920, the Women's Bureau plays a critical function in helping women become aware of their legal rights in the workplace and guiding them to appropriate enforcement agencies for help. The Regional Offices take the lead on the issues that working women care about the most - training for higher paying jobs and non-traditional employment, enforcing laws against pay discrimination, and helping businesses create successful child-care and other family-friendly policies, to name only a few initiatives.
The Regional Offices have achieved real results for wage-earning women for eighty-one years, especially for those who have low incomes or language barriers. The one-on-one assistance provided at the Regional Offices cannot be replaced by a Web site or an electronic voice mail system maintained in Washington.
You can take action on this issue today! Go to http://capwiz.com/nwlc/home/ to write to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and tell her you care about keeping the Regional Offices of the Women's Bureau in operation. You can also let E. Mitchell Daniels, Jr., Director of the Office of Management and Budget, know how you feel about this. You can write a letter of your own or use one we've prepared for you.
If you find this information useful, be sure to forward this alert to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign up to receive Email Action Alerts from the National Women's Law Center at www.nwlc.org/email.
Thank you!
Book about menstruation published in Spain
The Spanish journalist who contributed some words for menstruation to this site last year and wrote about this museum (MUM) in the Madrid newspaper "El País" just co-authored with her daughter a book about menstruation (cover at left).
She writes, in part,
Dear Harry Finley,
As I told you, my daughter (Clara de Cominges) and I have written a book (called "El tabú") about menstruation, which is the first one to be published in Spain about that subject. The book - it talks about the MUM - is coming out at the end of March and I just said to the publisher, Editorial Planeta, to contact you and send you some pages from it and the cover as well. I'm sure that it will be interesting to you to have some information about the book that I hope has enough sense of humour to be understood anywhere. Thank you for your interest and help.
If you need anything else, please let me know.
Best wishes,
Margarita Rivière
Belen Lopez, the editor of nonfiction at Planeta, adds that "Margarita, more than 50 years old, and Clara, 20, expose their own experiences about menstruation with a sensational sense of humour." (publisher's site)
My guess is that Spaniards will regard the cover as risqué, as many Americans would. And the book, too. But, let's celebrate!
I earlier mentioned that Procter & Gamble was trying to change attitudes in the Spanish-speaking Americas to get more women to use tampons, specifically Tampax - a hard sell.
Compare this cover with the box cover for the Canadian television video about menstruation, Under Wraps, and the second The Curse.
An American network is now developing a program about menstruation for a popular cable channel; some folks from the network visited me recently to borrow material.
And this museum lent historical tampons and ads for a television program in Spain last year.
Now, if I could only read Spanish! (I'm a former German teacher.)
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.
