New this week: Banned in America (this was the edition "legalized" in the U.S.A., by Judge John M. Woolsey, famous for his ruling on the banned novel Ulysses, in 1933): Married Love, by Marie Carmichael Stokes, D.Sc., Ph.D. (G.P. Putnams's Sons, New York, 1931)

What did European and American women use for menstruation in the past?

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first page | LIST OF ALL TOPICS | 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 | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads

I am right now switching Web site hosts, so there may be e-mail problems for the period [!] 20 - 27 February.


"I've Got a Secret," But Not Any More

A few weeks ago I canceled this site's update, saying I would have more to say about it later. That time has come.

At the beginning of December a producer for the television quiz show "I've Got a Secret" called me and asked if I would like to be on its first show, in early February; the series had originally run on American television in the 1950s. The new woman-celebrating Oxygen Network, in Hollywood, headed by Oprah Winfrey, among others, was reviving it.

"Yes!" I told the personable man. He said my appearance wasn't a certainty, but if I would send them items from the museum to show on TV after the quiz part - the four panelists had to guess what my secret was, which was that I founded the Museum of Menstruation - plus a picture of myself and any footage showing me speaking, he would "pitch" it to his boss and then, if successful, to the people above them. He gave me the Oxygen account number and I FedExed him the Canadian television film "Under Wraps ," which devotes a few minutes to this museum and me, and a box of things from the museum.

I asked him if he would consider livening up the show-and-tell part by inviting MUM board member Miki Walsh, who lives in Hollywood, to model the 1914 sanitary apron I had commissioned for the museum. Miki and I had discussed doing this after a producer for David Letterman called me a few years back. Miki also tap dances, and the prospect of Miki's tap dancing in the apron (over jeans, of course) with my singing a menstrual song (I can't sing - trust me) lightened many a dark winter's day for me. But I didn't mention the tap dancing or singing to the producer, figuring menstruation was enough to handle for anybody.

Well, he agreed! Miki passed the interview with flying colors, even meeting the executive producer, a woman. The latter interviewed me by phone, and after many more phone calls - once, three to me in one day - we were on! What size bed in the hotel did I want? Nonsmoking or smoking? and Which airport did I want to leave from in the Washington, D.C. area? were some of the questions I answered.

Then we were out.

The personable producer called me and said our appearance was nixed by "someone way above them." They had done their best to convince them - and I believe they had - but had failed. He mentioned no reason. (In 1995 an article about this museum in the Washington Post almost ended the same way after a male higher-up hit the ceiling about approving it; an employee even filed a complaint with The Post about the decision to print the article.)

But a producer did say that the show had to appeal to "old ladies in the Midwest," echoing Harold Ross, the founding editor of The New Yorker magazine, so I'm sure the reason is menstruation itself. Earlier someone said that the powers-that-be wanted "edginess." The two criteria exclude one another.

I'm puzzled that a network created for women should flinch from mentioning the subject to these popular ladies; maybe it's about time they found out. Puritanism has a way of concealing the facts, in this case, the identity of that odd discharge they'd had for forty years.

Hey, it's menstruation and it has a fantastic cultural history!

But this experience ended just the way the Roseanne television show about menstruation ended a few years back, just days before her TV crew was to set up in the museum for a live feed to Roseanne, so I could give her and her audience a tour on the show. The Hollywood folks almost had enough courage to do it, while having had more than enough courage to show someone swallowing lye (I saw it, not on Roseanne though) and geysering blood from the top of the body, not the "bottom," which is where the problem truly lies.


Fibroids!

Kathleen O'Grady, a frequent contributor to this site, sends this information:

Now available, the first comprehensive, user-friendly guide to an overlooked, understudied epidemic:

FIBROIDS:
The Complete Guide to Taking Charge of Your Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Well-Being
, by Johanna Skilling

Foreword by Eileen Hoffman, M. D.

Book Description

Fibroids are the least studied but most common growth that human beings can have -- but they ONLY occur in women. The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that they affect up to 80 percent of the female population: one in every three women!

Yet there is little information readily available on this perplexing malady, and very little mention of this epidemic in the press. Treatment options vary from radical hysterectomies to vitamins. Fibroids are the #1 reason for hysterectomies... but up to 90% of these surgeries -- some call them amputations -- are unnecessary.

When author Johanna Skilling was diagnosed with fibroids, she was frustrated by the lack of data -- so she set out to close the information gap, in the hope of finding some answers for herself and for other women. The result is FIBROIDS: The Complete Guide to Taking Charge of Your Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Well-Being.

Johanna addresses many of the common misconceptions about fibroids, including the notions that they always require a hysterectomy (they don't); that they destroy a woman's fertility (not necessarily) and that they are malignant (generally not). Johanna explains simply and easily what fibroids are, what influences their growth, what to expect after a diagnosis, and how to live with fibroids if surgery isn't chosen. She discusses both traditional and alternative treatments, the effects of dietary changes, ways to improve emotional well-being, and frankly discusses the effect of fibroids on a woman's sex life.

The book also provides a wealth of information on female sexuality and the woman's reproductive system, from the complex role of estrogen and other hormones to the impact of fibroids on pregnancy. The notes to each chapter provide a comprehensive bibliography of articles and research available on fibroids and related subjects.

While many women with fibroids have no problem at all, other women suffer enormously, losing everything from their self-esteem and their sex drive to their ability to have children. Johanna interviewed dozens of women to get the total picture of life with fibroids: quotes from many of these women are included, with stories that are inspiring, practical, sometimes tragic,sometimes funny -- showing readers that they are not alone and, most importantly, that they can recover from fibroids and take charge of their lives again.

Ordering Information, USA

FIBROIDS can be ordered from your favorite bookstore. If you prefer, you can order it on-line at Amazon Bookstore Inc., the oldest feminist bookstore in the U.S. Their website is http://www.amazonfembks.com search for"fibroids". You can also e-mail an order to them at [email protected]

The complete ordering information is below (cut and paste into the body of the e-mail; be sure to include your shipping address, phone number and credit card number for purchase).

Ordering Information, Canada

Contact the fabulous independent Women in Print Bookstore, Vancouver: Phone: (604) 732-4128 Fax: (604) 732-4129

Book Information:

FIBROIDS: The Complete Guide to Taking Charge of Your Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Well-Being, by Johanna Skilling

Foreword by Eileen Hoffman, M.D.

Published by Marlowe & Company, a division of the Avalon Publishing Group, distributed by Publishers Group West .Trade paperback original; 277 pages; notes

ISBN: 1-56924-620-3

$15.95 U.S., $24.95 Canada

You can also check out the author's Web site at www.fibroidguide.com


Hello Kitty Vibrators!

Last week a visitor sent information about Japanese Hello Kitty menstrual pads and vibrator for sale on eBay.com. Another visitor sent this site address with a picture of the vibrator.

I'm sure many of you readers are not unaware of the coincidence of the word "kitty" with another English word for "cat." And that word means vagina and/or vulva in American slang. I wonder if the manufacturer knew that.


Celebrate the First Annual Menstrual Monday!

When: The Monday before Mother's Day, because menstruation comes before motherhood (and usually long after it, too). This year's Menstrual Monday falls on May 8, 2000. If you live in a country that doesn't celebrate Mother's Day as in the United States, pick a day that seems appropriate and convenient for a "Menstrual Monday"!

Where: In your backyard at sunrise; in the cafeteria at lunch; after work; at your friend's house; in the classroom; in your dorm room - wherever is convenient and appropriate!

Why: To create a sense of happiness and fun around menstruation; to encourage women to be proactive in addressing menstrual and reproduction-related health issues; to encourage greater visibility of menstruation culturally, in film, print, music, and other media; and to enhance honesty about menstruation in our relationships.

How: Wear a red article of clothing, put a red tablecloth on the table at dinner; talk to an older or younger relative about her menstrual experiences; create some art or do some writing about menstruation, and share with friends; share information about PMS, endometriosis, or self-breast examinations; create a ritual involving red candles and red tulips. In short: Whatever seems convenient and appropriate to you!

Free Starter Kit!

Please feel free to download the above text to make flyers or post on your own website, to email a friend, and so on. For more information, or to receive a FREE Menstrual Monday "starter kit" - please e-mail [email protected] or write, with your address:

Geneva Kachman [read her "Menstrual Traveling Show" and review of the movie "Terms of Endearment"]

4881 Packard #A2

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108


Is this the new millennium or even century?The link I had not longer worked.

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.

The Britannica searcher, below, does not yet work - I'm working on it.

 


New this week: Banned in America (this was the first edition "legalized" in the U.S.A., by Judge John M. Woolsey, of Ulysses fame): Married Love, by Dr. Marie Carmichael Stokes, (G.P. Putnams's Sons, New York, 1931)

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 | LIST OF ALL TOPICS

© 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 [email protected]