Letters to Your MUM

Tampons in the Talmud

This E-mailer mentions contraceptive tampons, the documentation for which forming a small exhibit in the museum showing the Hebrew pictured here, plus Egyptian hieroglyphics and an old Greek excerpt. Both the Greek and Egyptian inscriptions mention tampons used for the prevention of conception after having been soaked in something, for example, honey.

Tampons are discussed in the Talmud, which was put into writing in the early 1st millennium AD. They were intended for absorption of semen to prevent pregnancy rather than to absorb menstrual flow. Sort of an early contraceptive sponge, really.

from MUM

Libresse pads invites you to its site

Hello, Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health!

My name is John Larsson and I work for Use-IT. Right now I'm commissioned by Libresse. I'm writing you because I've visited your Web site and have a link-tip for you:

Libresse Xpresse - http://www.libresse.com - is a new community where girls can talk about love, health and lifestyle or get advice from experts about menstruation and PMS.

Please let me know if you will place a link. Thank you!

Best Regards,

John Larsson

Use-IT Information AB

Eastmanvägen 18

113 24 Stockholm

Sweden

http://www.use-it.se

Her church discussed menstruation!

I have to admit that I, too, did a double take when I first saw your Web site.

I stayed to read more only because Ocean Grove [in New Jersey, U.S.A., the home of MUM board member Miki Walsh] was my childhood home.

But as I read along I realized that this very undiscussed topic needed to be addressed.

Our church just had a doctor from our congregation give a presentation to the women about it. So, we are making some headway.

As for "its" blessings, a least once a month my house gets cleaned. I go on an uncontrolled cleaning frenzy the week before. Nesting urge, I guess. Also, I get a chance to hibernate and take a break from some responsibilities. I couldn't do that very much when the kids were little, and really lost my sanity.

Here's a switch. I'm 52 years old, and for the first time in my life (since I entered my fifties) I'm as regular as clockwork. My body seems to have always done everything in reverse. Has anyone else had similar experiences? At this point it seems like I'm going to be the only grandmother who'll have to run to the ladies room in the middle of here grandchild's graduation. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks

P.S. I miss Ocean Grove so much! Take good care of that wonderful square mile. [Miki is taking this into consideration.]

Your MUM lends a hand

My friend and I have been working on our history fair project that is on tampons. We have really enjoyed looking over your site. There was so much information on menstruation that we had no idea even existed.

I think that you should be commended for creating a museum on menstruation even though some have said you shouldn't and also for keeping up-to-date information on the Web.

I hope that you are successful in finding a better place for your museum.

No MUM Site Update Next Week

My right index finger will experience the surgeon's knife this week - it's a small operation - and I will not be able to use a keyboard for a week.

Your MUM types with two fingers, the right index forming one half of the duo. I have heard tell that many journalists do the same. I wonder why.

See you on 28 February!

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 predjudice 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.

[email protected] or [email protected]

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.

It's Too Late to Call Your Congressman About the Proposed Tampon Safety and Research Act! Congress Had More Important ;-) Things To Do! Here's How and Why for Next Time.

New this week: Three "Modess . . . . because" ads - Modess ad (1931) - two Kotex skating ads (1920s and 1960) - Old Dutch Cleanser ad (1920s, on the back of the Kotex skating ad) - Lucky Strike cigarettes ad (1933, on the back of the Phantom Kotex ad) - Phantom Kotex ad (1933) - menstrual humor

PREVIOUS NEWS | First Page | Newest News | Current News page | Contact the Museum | Menstrual Products Safety | FAQ | DIRECTORY OF ALL TOPICS

Take a short tour of MUM! (and on Web video!) - FAQ - Future of this museum - Tampon Safety Act - Contact the actual museum - Board of Directors - Norwegian menstruation exhibit - The media and the MUM - Menstrual odor - Prof. Mack C. Padd: Fat Cat - The science and medicine of menstruation - Early tampons - Books about menstruation - Menstrual cups: history, comments - Religion and menstruation: A discussion - Safety of menstrual products (asbestos, dioxin, toxic shock syndrome, viscose rayon) - A Note from Germany/Neues aus Deutschland und Europa - Letters - Links

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