New this week: The Tampon Safety and Research Act of 1999 (H.R. 890) - Ad for "As One Girl To Another," Kotex menarche booklet (The Parents' Magazine, December 1942) - Two Modess . . . .because ads (1955 and no date) - Phantom Kotex ad, with ad for Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, a Kotex menarche booklet (1932)

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


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

I appreciate this valuable e-mail:

It is NOT too late to call your congressional representative (remember some of them are women!) about the Tampon Safety and Research Act of 1999

[Read the speech Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York City, gave introducing this bill last time. I have for months said on this page that the bums, er, um, people in the U. S. Congress have dawdled and - well, don't get me started. Find out who they are and CALL THEM! I did it just this way. YOU can make a difference! Congress is awash in money because of the budget surplus; surely they can spend a pocketful on half our population before they run off with the rest.]

The bill was reintroduced on March 1, 1999, to the 106th Congress as H. R. 890.

It was referred to the Committee on Commerce and that is where it's staying for the time being. Please update your site to let people know about these new developments.

By the way, I think your site is wonderful and very well researched. [Thank you!]


Letters to Your MUM

I'm sorry to again delay putting up your letters and valuable articles. I will start doing so next week!


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.


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


New this week: The Tampon Safety and Research Act of 1999 (H.R. 890) - Ad for "As One Girl To Another," Kotex menarche booklet (The Parents' Magazine, December 1942) - Two Modess . . . .because ads (1955 and no date) - Phantom Kotex ad, with ad for Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, a Kotex menarche booklet (1932)

PREVIOUS NEWS | First Page | Newest News | Contact the Museum | Menstrual Products Safety | FAQ | links | 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

© 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 [email protected]