Menstruation (Menses)
You should never make a decision the day before your period ― Miranda J. Barrett
image by: belchonock
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History period – a look at menstruation through the ages in 15 fascinating facts
Periods are a fact of life. But, before the 19th Century, doctors didn’t realise periods were even linked to ovulation. They thought women needed to bleed to cool their emotional, hysterical natures.
Other menstruation myths and misunderstandings also persisted, some of which are still alive today. Some people in India believe menstruating women make cows infertile, while in East Africa some say they dry out crops. And these aren’t the half of it. So it’s time for history period – a look at menstruation through the ages in 15 fascinating facts.
1. Ancient Romans thought menstruating women were basically dark witches
According to Pliny the Elder…
Resources
A Menstrual Expert's Surprising Tips On How To Talk About Your Period
The point where we are at is that we've turned menstruation from a non-issue into something that we actually talk about. What I don't think we have done is actually tackle menstrual stigma. I don't think stigma can be as easily addressed. Breaking the silence is certainly that first step, but we need to go beyond that.
Covid-19 Vaccines Linked to Menstrual Cycle Changes
New study shows slight shifts in cycle length can follow vaccination
Understanding the Reasons Women Need Periods
The hormones in our cycles battle to protect us against a wide range of women’s foes, from HPV infection to cardiovascular disease. Yes, we do need our periods—our bones, our hearts, even our immune systems are counting on it!
Period-tracking apps are not for women
The golden age of menstrual surveillance is great for men, marketers, and medical companies.
A long overdue disruption in menstrual products
The rise of online marketing and e-commerce have spurred new products. Startups are trying to win a slice of the market (worth some $19bn globally) in America, Australia, Canada and Finland. THINX, Knix Wear, Dear Kate and Modibodi make knickers of absorbent, leakproof fabrics that can be tossed in the wash and reused.
How to make your period more eco-friendly
Menstruation shouldn’t be so difficult for the planet, too.
Menstruation Gets a Gen Z Makeover
Young people want alternatives to disposable tampons and pads — and they’re not embarrassed to talk about it.
VICE Staffers Tested All the Newest Period Products for Stuff that Matters
Here’s how period panties, menstrual cups, and other next-gen products work for leaks, cramps, and period sex.
Why I Use The Menstrual Cup And Why You Should Too
Menstrual cups are safe, cost effective, environment friendly, socially less awkward and perfect for the 21st century woman. You never have to ask around for a pad. You never have to worry about stains. You never have to run around looking for open medical shops.
Why We Don’t Know What’s Actually Going On With Periods and COVID Vaccines
A conversation with some period-having friends spawned this story. We’d all received our vaccinations against COVID-19 and though everyone was at a different spot in their cycle, we’d all noticed that something was different. Our flows were either heavier than usual, or our periods were late, or we were having breakthrough bleeding, or the cramps were more painful, or some combination of it all. The only thing that had changed in anyone’s life was receiving a vaccine.
Menstruation at Forty
I was thinking of a son. The womb is not a clock nor a bell tolling, but in the eleventh month of its life. I feel the November of the body as well as of the calendar...
The Flex Company’s Uterati Is A Community For People To Talk About Why Periods Don’t Have To Suck
Have you ever gone to a dinner party to talk about your period? That’s what Lauren Schulte Wang’s friends were doing back in 2013. After years of getting yeast infections after her period thanks to irritating tampons, Schulte Wang was trying to figure out how to develop a better menstrual product. She started asking her friends about their periods — what worked, what didn’t, and what products they turned to every month. For the most part, her friends didn’t really think about the products they used. They just hated their periods.
When Your Period Tries to Kill You
I always dreaded my period, but I never thought that it spent every month putting me in life-threatening danger.
A Brief History of Your Period, and Why You Don't Have to Have It
Even talking about menstruation can violate taboos. Consequently, most of us are astoundingly under-informed about a facet of womanhood that affects anyone who either has a uterus or loves a person who does.
Do women need time off during menstruation?
A controversial proposed law in Italy has revived a discussion about feminism in the workplace.
How And Why Did Women Evolve Periods?
The answer to this question is one of the most illuminating and disturbing stories in human evolutionary biology, and almost nobody knows about it. And so, my friends, gather close, and hear the extraordinary tale of how the woman got her period.
How Period Trackers Have Changed Girl Culture
Most important, the apps transform the input into crunchable data that can tell a young woman when her period is due, when it’s late and even why she might be feeling so blue. There are over 200 different period tracker apps to choose from...
How Periods Might Affect Women’s Athletic Performance
It’s an issue that is only beginning to be rigorously studied by science. Menstruation is never absent from the many sports in which women compete, but for the most part it has remained a taboo topic.
How to stop your period
For many women, periods are just a monthly nuisance. But for some of us, periods are painful and disabling, causing us to miss out on school and work and life.
Menstrual Cycle “on a Chip” Offers a New Window into Female Physiology
Researchers have completed the first laboratory model of the human female reproductive cycle.
Menstruation is just blood and tissue you ended up not using
I wish I could say that the menotoxin was dead. But several contemporary hypotheses about the evolution of menstruation still in some way reflect the thinking that menstruation, if not women, is dirty and serves the purpose of expelling toxicity...It’s time to dump the idea that menstruation is dirty. It’s blood and tissue that you ended up not using to feed a baby, and that’s all.
Overcoming India's Menstruation Taboo
One company is working to both help women understand how to use sanitary pads and to employ locals in the napkins' production.
Period Problems: The 3 Common Issues Women Should Be Aware Of
Women struggle with different things all throughout their lives – house chores, children, pregnancy, men and menstruation. Yes, menstruation because women have to deal with severe menstrual cramps, heavy bleeding and skipped periods.
Period Tracker Apps: What You Should Know
The ups and downs of “that” time of the month are all too familiar to many of us. To plan around this ebb and flow of hormones, mobile period-tracking apps can be our closest friends. But as helpful as the popular apps may seem, it’s a good idea to avoid relying on them too much.
Periods Are More Than A Hassle
Take a moment to think about some simple yet staggering facts. Today, more than 800 million girls and women around the world are menstruating. Cumulatively, over the course of a lifetime, this adds up to an average of six to eight years. No matter where these girls and women are in the world, most of them would agree on one thing: Managing your period is a hassle. But for most girls and women, it’s also a barrier preventing access to basic human rights.
Should Paid 'Menstrual Leave' Be a Thing?
Some countries mandate a legal right to leave for women during their periods. Is that reverse sexism or the right thing to do?
Sugary Drinks Tied to Earlier Menstruation
Here is another mark against sugary drinks: A new study has found that drinking them is associated with lowered age of menarche.
The Tampon Taboo: Your Thoughts
Readers discuss two Atlantic articles on the history and mores of menstrual products. How discreet should they really be?
The Tampon: A History
The cultural, political, and technological roots of a fraught piece of cotton.
This Is How Women And Men Really Feel About Period Sex
Turns out, not that many people are too stressed about period sex.
This Is Why Women Have Periods
This might actually make you appreciate your period a teensy, tiny bit.
Using Your Period To Fight The Patriarchy
Call me a glutton for punishment, but I love my period. I love the charged emotions, fueling and draining me in the days leading up to it. I love tracking the cycle on my Clue© app. I love ovulating. I love the blood getting everywhere, reminding me I am alive. This is not satire, you guys. This is my life.
Weeping of a Disappointed Womb
Themes in mythology about the female reproductive system.
Wisdom of the Menstrual Cycle
The menstrual cycle is the most basic, earthy cycle we have. Our blood is our connection to the archetypal feminine. The macrocosmic cycles of nature, the waxing and waning, the ebb and flow of the tides and the changes of the seasons, are reflected on a smaller scale in the menstrual cycle of the individual female body.
Women Astronauts: To Menstruate or Not to Menstruate
During longer space missions, some may prefer to suppress their periods entirely.
Bloody Relief: The Evolution of Period Pain Cures
From sticking weed in your vagina to steaming open your cervix, the annals of menstrual relief medicine is long and bleeding complicated.
Heavy periods? You might have an undiagnosed bleeding disorder
About 30 per cent of all women report heavy menstrual periods at some point during their reproductive years. Up to 15 per cent of these have an underlying bleeding disorder and yet most have never been diagnosed, leaving thousands of women to suffer from a treatable problem.
Is the Menstrual Cup Going Mainstream?
Menstrual cups have existed in some form since the 1930s, though earlier iterations were nothing like the Keeper, Softcup and the Diva Cup, to name a few modern models.
What Does Your Period Say About Your Health?
Whether it’s midway through a summer holiday or tough time at work it’s more than likely that at some point you’ve resented your period and felt like it’s come at the worst time. However, your menstrual blood, cramps and symptoms before and after your bleed could tell you a lot about what’s going on with you. What does your period say about your health?
You or someone you love menstruates—here’s what you need to know about it
“That time of the month,” “my days,” “Aunt Flo,” “the rag”—the list of euphemisms that refer to menstruation is never ending. We don’t want to talk about it, we won’t even utter the word: When’s the last time you heard a woman say, “I’m menstruating?”
History period – a look at menstruation through the ages in 15 fascinating facts
Periods are a fact of life. But, before the 19th Century, doctors didn’t realise periods were even linked to ovulation. They thought women needed to bleed to cool their emotional, hysterical natures.
myFLO
The First-Ever Period Tracking App That ALSO Tells You Exactly What to Do to Be Symptom-Free!
Yoppie
Life can be stressful, but your period shouldn’t be. Say hello to personalised period care delivered straight to your letterbox, on your terms.
Be Prepared Period
It's our goal to help you have a better period – don't be shy, click around and check things out. Oh, and don't forget we offer some fun GIVEAWAYS to take a look at too!
Lunette
Our mission is to have honest and inspiring conversation about menstruation so that we can motivate period positivity- and change the world one cup at a time. Lunette is so much more than a cup. It's a lifestyle It's a community It's the future.
Menstruation.com.au
Our aim is to provide information, products, and an alternative viewpoint about menstruation so that you can feel great about being a woman every day of the month!
Menstrupedia
Menstrupedia aims at spreading awareness about menstruation and shatter myths around the subject. At menstrupedia we are devising various ways to help young girls and women stay informed about their body and managing their periods effectively.
Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
The latest menstruation articles, news, with the history of menstrual products & culture.
Period
Our mission is to celebrate periods and provide products to those in need.
Society of Menstrual Cycle Research
We strive to be the source of guidance, expertise, and ethical considerations for those interested in the menstrual cycle.
The Period Blog
The Period Blog is a global reference and resource for girls and women of all ages to learn about their bodies, periods, and ovulation.
Your Happy Period
Your Happy period started with the goal to make everyone’s period a bit happier, that today is Yoppie! We thought that the market was missing a simple and healthy option for sanitary products, that discloses all the ingredients. And at the same time draws attention to the major problems that exist in the world with over 100 million girls lacking appropriate sanitary products.
AmericanPregnancy.org
Before ovulation occurs, your uterine lining is thickening to prepare for a fertilized egg to implant in the uterus. If an egg is not fertilized, then the uterine lining sheds. This is called menstruation or your menstrual period.
KidsHealth
The start of menstruation is a major event in a girl's life. Some girls greet those first drops of blood with joy or relief, while others feel bewildered and scared. Whatever the reaction, the arrival of the first period holds the same meaning for every girl: It's proof that she's becoming a woman.
MayoClinic
Your menstrual cycle can say a lot about your health. Understand how to start tracking your menstrual cycle and what to do about irregularities.
MedicineNet.com
Most periods vary somewhat, the flow may be light, moderate or heavy and can vary in length from about 2 to 7 days; with age, the cycle usually shortens and becomes more regular. Problems with periods include the following: amenorrhea (no period), dysmenorrhea (painful period), and abnormal bleeding.
MedlinePlus
Periods usually start between age 11 and 14 and continue until menopause at about age 51. They usually last from three to five days. Besides bleeding from the vagina, you may have •Abdominal or pelvic cramping •Lower back pain •Bloating and sore breasts •Food cravings •Mood swings and irritability •Headache and fatigue
NHS Choices
Period problems include: •absent periods (amenorrhoea) •heavy periods (menorrhagia) •irregular periods (oligomenorrhoea) •painful periods (dysmenorrhoea)
Patient
Abnormalities in menstruation may include: •Quantity: usually perceived as too great a loss - menorrhagia. This is usually defined as a loss above 80 mls per menses and may cause iron-deficiency anaemia. •Timing: may be too frequent (polymenorrhoea - more than one period per calendar month) or infrequent (oligomenorrhoea or amenorrhoea). •Duration of bleeding: normal range is 3-7 days. •Time of onset: precocious puberty (before 8 years) or delayed puberty (after 16 years).
Planned Parenthood
Every healthy woman menstruates, or has a period. But every woman's period is different. And a woman's period can change throughout her lifetime. Menstruation usually begins when a girl is between 9 and 16 years old and continues until she is 45 to 55. Even if you have had your period for a while, you may still have questions about what's normal. Here are some answers to common questions about menstruation, the menstrual cycle, and period-related symptoms, like PMS.
Women's Health Network
From puberty until menopause, a women’s biochemistry waxes and wanes to her own unique monthly rhythm, known as the menstrual cycle. The word menstruation is derived from the Latin word menses, which means month. Regular menstruation is a sign that the body is producing appropriate levels of hormones in a balanced fashion according to a rhythm established over millennia as optimal for human reproduction.
WomensHealth.gov
For the first few years after menstruation begins, longer cycles are common. A woman's cycle tends to shorten and become more regular with age. Most of the time, periods will be in the range of 21 to 35 days apart.
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