As I recall, I was singularly unimpressed with all the “now you’re a young lady” pamphlets that went with the Kotex story of menstruation that was marketed to Scout troops and hesitant moms at the time. Mom gave me a simple explanation, but apparently I thought my first period had ended by the third day, when in reality it had just slowed during the night. How interesting that these items were passed down. Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners. How did women in the Victorian Period...deal with their periods? Some women in … Right now there are a variety of ways that women can handle their periods, but author Therese Oneill found herself wondering how Victorian women dealt with theirs. Plus, you know all these women were never told exactly what to expect on their wedding night. The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness, pg 29 (1872) Trained walking dresses are common, but frowned upon, as they tend to gather up debris from the street. They live in the Missouri Ozarks but aren’t total bumpkins nor are they completely isolated from the rest of the world, however the people around them are mainly hillbillies. But that is onlyh a guess. These well to do couples would most likely keep reproducing until they had a male child. Girls were still being treated like their periods kind of weakened them, contributed to anemia, or made them susceptible to “catching a chill”. Very appreciated. 70 Y0 Grandfather here with a story. What did women do about their periods before the introduction of the convenient products we have today? age 16, she became hysterical, thought she was dying. What’s the difference? Here are some of the unfair ways women have to deal with their periods worldwide -- and what’s being done about it. The History of Menstruation The evidence suggests that even in the ancient world, women were using what may seem similar to modern hygiene products. I can’t remember the adjective used with the word rags though I think it something like hygienic. It is a late Victorian source, but you should look up the book A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Victoria Lincoln. For summer wear, Lisle thread stockings ranked next in order to silk, but the latter were expensive. They are perhaps a little larger in square inches than the old baby diapers that were used when i was a baby (1944). They were also forbidden from socializing during this 28-month period. Thank you, Nancy! there should be no cap or head dress worn.”—The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness, pg 28 (1872) The procedure was to wear the napkin in the underpants held in place with safety pins. Centuries before every drugstore carried ibuprofen and hot water bottles, women in ancient Egypt, Greece, and even America were doing everything they could to survive painful periods. I realize that this blog isn’t the last say on this subject, but I was after concrete examples of non-slang terms. Image of early under drawers As you can see in this image, early ladies underdrawers consisted of two tubes of cloth that were tied to the waist, allowing a woman to, uhm, attend to her business without having to remove too many clothes. Wikimedia Though females have experienced menstruation since before humans even fully evolved as a species, there’s very little documentation about periods among ancient peoples. I think it was called the curse in those days. When soiled it would be soaked in cold water to remove matter then washed in wringer washer. It’s so ridiculous! I knew about the use of hygiene belts and such, but I didn’t realize that tampons went back so far. The Victorian treatment of death and dying has even been dubbed a "cult of death", evidenced by a profusion of icons and rituals that were contrived to express grief and to honour the recently departed. Completely open in the crotch, like a triangle of cloth had been cut out. How did Victorian women manage to use the facilities in their restrictive dresses? In Many Countries, Girls Cut Up Pieces Of Mattress Or Use Twigs and Leaves As Pads, Causing Infection “Santy-Panty” sounds dreadful. She did not like to talk about it either! This is a I have wondered this myself. Since at least the time of Hippocrates, doctors and laypeople alike had subscribed to a humoral understanding of the body . You’re so right about the shaming of something natural. I’m writing a book based on my family’s stories from the Civil War era and wondered how to deal with this when two young girls have their first periods. Hello Susanna One needs to look more for the medical terms. Interesting blog, and I so agree about rags being used for menses, like others I could not imagine just allowing blood to flow into your petticoats and down your legs. Because I’ve tried to research this up many times, plus asked authors about it and still couldn’t find any answers, so yes, even if I’m smart as heckler I would have believed that women didn’t have menstrual cycles of told it the way you did, as an author on research. Shaving is a recent fashion for European women, Victorians did not do it. depending on the period (haha no pun really) that you are speaking of, they used fabric, either rolled up and stuffed in or in a diaper or nappy fashion. Yes, if you take modern, warmth-producing, un-breathe-able fabrics and make a full-on Victorian ensemble – YES, you will be hot and miserable! It was estimated that a lady could wear up to 37 pounds of clothing in the winter. So after hours of research on Google Books, I’m sharing with you my copious findings. Surely not ‘menses’ – ‘on the rags’ maybe? Historian Vern L. Bullough provides a glimpse via an unexpected source: Lillian Moller Gilbreth, the real-life efficiency expert best known as the mother from the book, and then movie, Cheaper by the Dozen.. Decades before two of her children wrote that book, Gilbreth, a … … Author Therese Oneill explains the odd ways the 19th century dealt with periods. What we do know is that women likely experienced a much lighte… That really doesn’t sound right to me. What we know about the history of menstrual hygiene begins with ancient civilizations. Even if the garments were worn, they did not resemble the pretty underdrawers that we associate with the Victorian era. I wonder if Mrs.Parkes mentions the subject in her domestic advice to new brides? I was generally insulted by the whole process because I certainly hadn’t done anything wrong, and it was a new experience to be ashamed of being female. I grew up with elastic belts, pads fastened with safety pins. All I could find were medical books. I looked this up as well, for my time travel novel. I work in a 1893 Victorian Mansion, modern at the time with 5 bathrooms. It is a priority for CBC to create a website that is accessible to all Canadians including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. There are a few women who write about it but they are few and far between. She was always either pregnant or breastfeeding! There was also a tendency to treat that week a lot like an illness, even by the time I “started” in the 1950s. my great grandmother (born in 1879) told my mother that they used cloths that were like diapers & rinsed them out at night. I was wondering just how soon they might suspect they were pregnant. I exhausted every term I could think of. Many wealthy families wanted children for heirs. Even in the summer, they did not show their legs. During the Victorian era women often didn't wear underwear, so during menstruation women wore belts with pads attached or period bloomers. Using what they had, they crafted tampons out of soft papyrus around wood or made pads out of wool, paper, moss, animal skins or grass. The author has a lot to say on this subject that is very interesting. I will admit I was embarrassed when a girl in a high school class I was teaching announced her condition in a loud voice to force me into giving her a bathroom pass, but it surely was an occasion that has stuck in my mind. Some even recommended one sit naked in a room with the windows uncovered to get the benefit of sunlight. Constant checks up have been my hobby not until this fateful day, I saw a testimony on how DR AKHIGBE helped someone in curing his HIV disease in internet quickly I copied his email which is drrealakhigbe@gmail.com just to give him a test I spoke to him, he asked me to do some certain things which I did, he told me that he is going to provide the herbal cure to me, which he did, … > Blood Moss - How did women deal with periods during medieval times? At some point I acquired sanitary underpants with the cutesy name of “Santy-Panty”. There are all sorts of tales about it. Some lower class poor people in the Victorian period sold their hair to make money and also for hygienic reasons, and as they would cover their head with something most times they didn’t really need it. For outside events did they have ‘portapottys’ I can imagine hastily made out-houses. By Nikki Sullings Men have since biblical times set standards of what is normal and what is not. Learn 11 strange ways women used to deal with periods. 1870s Hodgepodge: His and Hers Dressing Rooms, Bathing, a Bride's Trousseau, Rules of Mourning, and Many Fashion Illustrations. The Victorian Period revolves around the political career of Queen Victoria.She was crowned in 1837 and died in 1901 (which put a definite end to her political career). However, the period between mid-1700 up to late 1800 is said to be the golden years of prostitution in London. For Victorian women, childbirth was their service to their husbands. Ugh! My great grandmother (born about 1820 i think) was married at 18 and had 16 children, all of whom lived. Every month, many homeless people are placed in desperate situations. Let's start out with a little history about what women did in the "olden days" to take care of this time of the month. Jane Austen mentions buying flannel– cheap flannel. . He told mom that she was to buy Kotex, no matter how poor they were, he couldn’t stand for her to do the alternative. Shown here is an early inflatable (air tube) version of the crinoline by George Cruikshank, from The Comic Almanack, 1850., 1850. My grandmother, born in 1877, had several sisters (and one younger brother). For men, it was formal and rigid. Can I read book 2! My mother, born in 1909, said she used rags. In the Victorian era, a good woman was supposed to turn the other beef-fat-slicked cheek to her spouse’s casual infidelities. My grandmother, born in 1892, mentioned that her aunts referred to sanitary napkins as ‘dilly rags’! The reason they think we have breast and uterine cancers is because women have many periods these days, when we are designed I got what she needed and brought it back. Went to school without protection, and soon discovered that 3 days do not a period make! When we look back on our brave female ancestors, it quickly becomes clear that many of these women did not get enough credit for what they endured. Didn’t know about tampons. A very good way to make the plug is, to cut out round pieces of soft linen cloth, then pass a stout thread through the middle of each and press them close together, till the mass is au inch thick. “By the way, I heard it was the nurses during World War I who swiped the dressings intended for wounds that started the change from rags to a commercial product.” That’s fascinating! Menses . “In those severe cases, when the gush of blood is almost instantaneous, and so great as to endanger life in a very short time, we may employ, temporarily, mechanical means to prevent it. Thank you for this interesting bit of information. And with no toothbrush, no shower, and no toilet paper, this season of Australian Survivor certainly is doing just that. Thanks for your patience. I suspect this type was used in all of the USA. “Catamenial sack” and “catamenial bandage” will serve you quite nicely. Often the visitors ask, during large receptions where did the 250 invited guests GO. It was only in nineteenth-century that prostitution was termed as social evil. Periods are a fact of life. It is fun to show special friends what our grandmothers wore for monthly events. WEB EXTRA | Take our quiz and find out more about past period methods.Â, Audience Relations, CBC P.O. Following Victoria’s example, it became customary for families to go through elaborate rituals to commemorate their dead. This included wearing mourning clothes, having a lavish (and expensive) funeral, curtailing social behavior for a set period of time, and erecting an ornate monument on the grave. Unlike the “hip-hugger” jeans of today; Victorian ladies showed very little skin. How women in the Victorian age did number one and number two in those ridiculous outfits. - YouTube Going home with your sweater tied around your waist wasn’t unheard of. Which, in retrospect, is damned silly given how physically (and constantly) most earlier women were always working. I never used tampons as it was unseemly for virgins to use them. There are so many volumes dispensing advice to young women about everything except how to cope with their monthly cycle. The concept of “condoms”, however, did not come around with vulcanized rubber in 1844. All The Inconceivable Ways Women Deal With Their Periods Worldwide.. And How To Help. The same way they have dealt with them since they became aware that the smell of blood drew predators. Sex secrets of the Victorian age - EXPOSED A NEW book reveals the bizarre tips on marriage and beauty 19th-century ladies were given, including how too much passion could cause insanity or … originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights . Just as we chuckle today at the absurd dimensions reached by Victorian crinolines, so too did Victorians themselves. I started my research with a book about Victorian life, but all the references for menstruation were for the late Victorian. I discovered that Kotex was invented in time for my heroine to make use of them in the 20s. I’ve been pretty backed up with holiday stuff. Last night I needed some information on Mid-Victorian era terms for menstrual hygiene for my book Frail, so I did a few quick searches in Google Books, filtering between the years 1800 through 1880. I doubt they had tampons or pads, and I also doubt they would have just bled all over themselves (well, maybe in the medieval days, but probably not later). I pretty much did a high-five with her when I succeeded! Please. Generally that time of the month was considered a “cleansing time” for women, and some believed that menstrual blood had healing powers. Thank you so much for sharing this. She married in 1930, aged 17; my dad grew up with his mom, sisters used lengths of sheeting, which were dropped into a bucket of cold water every month. In the 1800s, it was normal for German women to free-bleed onto their pouffy Victorian dresses. How did women in the old days (medieval, Victorian) deal with their period? Historian Vern L. Bullough provides a glimpse via an unexpected source: Lillian Moller Gilbreth, the real-life efficiency expert best known as the mother from the … It's the reality show that takes contestants out of their comfort zone. Sorry I was so slow moderating your comment. Thanks for sharing. Virginia. But from the time there was material, most women have made pads which they washed and reused. Thanks. I agree I think there wasn’t much written about it earlier because it was considered indelicate to mention menses in public except in medical books. A female relative would come every day and change the fluff. Poor souls. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. > Blood Moss - How did women deal with periods during medieval times? Learn how your comment data is processed. The patents alone will be enough to give you the shivers. Jewish law (halakha) requires menstruating women to count five days after the start of their period, then insert clean white cotton cloths vaginally twice daily to assure that the flow of blood has stopped, as well as wear white underwear and sleep on white bedding [a practice which was, indeed, probably instituted because bloomers were not pressed tightly against the skin, or not … The History of Menstruation The evidence suggests that even in the ancient world, women were using what may … Dropped a note on the teacher’s desk to ask if I could go home, because there was no way I was going to explain it to her out loud. The same way they have dealt with them since they became aware that the smell of blood drew predators. I too am attempting to write a book based on the lives of my poor ancestors. It was believed that the spirits paid extra attention to women at this time and they were put in charge of making important tribal decisions. And it’s true, the only real instructions and information you get prior to 1900 is from male physicians, always a good time. I need to know, for a novel set in Victorian times about illegitimate babies, what woman would have called their periods when speaking about them. Thank you so much for this! Rags were used up until about WWII when Kotex came out with a pad. I really appreciate it. During the ancient times when tampons and pads didn’t exist, women got creative in dealing with their periods. Men traditionally used some sort of sheath, dating back to 1000 BCE. While Victorian-era women more or less carried on as usual during their periods, they did heed some of the most enduring traditions concerning menstrual health. I needed to get the terminology right, so I kept searching. I probably should find a true research book on the subject instead of searching primary source material. I mean like there weren't any pads or anything back then so, what were they doing holding a gravy bowl underneath all that cloth. I have several glass items that were wrapped in a lovely soft fabric ( perhaps linen) that my mom said were “sanitary napkins” that she used as a very young girl as did my grandmother. DECADES later, one of my female classmates told me how much the girls in the class envied me that day because I had “started” so early! You just handled it. originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. She decided I had “the right stuff” and we are still married. When I was away from the home I carried two tiny clip lock plastic bags in my purse. These tampons are for medical use. This Web Series Will Tell You. She came back on a Sunday and her period started and she did not have her “stuff”. How did polite Victorian ladies refer (even among themselves) to a late or missed period? While Victorian-era women more or less carried on as usual during their periods, they did heed some of the most enduring traditions concerning menstrual health. As someone said, they must have spent all their time sitting or lying, and even so, the staining of clothes would be a much bigger hassle than washing the “rags.”. She asked me why I wasn’t embarrassed and I said “its almost like boasting that a girl lets you get VERY CLOSE. Maybe the wealthy ones just took to their beds for a couple of days? What did women do about their periods before the introduction of the convenient products we have today? . Got my first period one morning in 6th grade. Thank you so much for this information! Just as we adjust our own modern wardrobes for summer wear, they did it too with fabrics and other design styles for the clothes they wore. The expression “on the rag” was in common use in northern California about 1970. In Therese's upcoming book Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners, she explores menstruation in the 19th century along with other forgotten corners of history. This was often easier said than done. Centuries before every drugstore carried ibuprofen and hot water bottles, women in ancient Egypt, Greece, and even America were doing everything they could to survive painful periods. I had to provide my time-traveling heroine with a hormonal shot inducing amenorrhoea because I could not figure out women managed it. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I just added images of the tampons to the blog, as well as a link to the medical usage. [11] I spoke with Oneill over the phone about her new book, the historical value of learning about ordinary people's lives and how Victorian women dealt with their periods. 1. How Did Victorian Women Deal With Their Periods? The other thing to recall, of course, is that married women, at least, spent much more time pregnant than today. How Did Women Deal With Their Periods? Many female patients have assured me they never use less than a dozen napkins upon each catamenial occasion— and fifteen, and even twenty such changes are not very rare in the history of healthy menstruations.