Before Pads and Tampons

[browngirl]

(Crossposted a bit)

So, I'm working on a project, and I'm trying to figure out what a woman in a culture which did not weave cloth would have done about her period. (Also, a woman in a culture where cloth was rare and relatively expensive because it's very time-consuming to make--those two cultures are where my story will take place.) That's one area that is sadly, sadly neglected in anthropological studies and histories of peoples; in all those "Daily Life in X place" books no one ever writes about how half the adult population handles a major monthly event.

Sheesh.

So. Can anyone help me here? (This is for my NaNoWriMo novel, so ease of access would be appreciated.)

Comments

[anahata56.livejournal.com]

I do believe that in some cultures they used moss.

[queenmabwords.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've heard of this, too.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

We don't know, but we do know that in classical times women used sponges from the Aegean, which were exported far and wide along the trade routes.

The thing with these sponges (which are still available and which I have used) is that they are reusable, like cloth, but much easier to wash, and worn like a tampon. Make that much much easier to wash -- they just rinse clean, no staining, no scrubbing, the blood just comes out of them. It's too icky for me to want to do all the time, but it's positively acceptable compared to what washing cloth would need.

So anyway, they might have been expensive, but once you had one -- well, two, because they need to dry after being washed -- you had one. Also, an individual sponge, about the size of a cabbage, would make maybe fifty tampon-sponges. There was a whole profession of "sponge diver" who brought the things up from the sea-bottom where they grew.

There's no evidence they were in use that early.

(One of the things I couldn't quite get into The King's Peace was Veniva having been accustomed to using these things and seeing her last one wear out and needing to use cloth pads that chafed and needed much washing, because the trade route had gone away.)

Beyond that, which is a possibility for CH -- they were getting obsidian from Milos, they could have packed the damn stuff in sponges and made twice the profit -- we don't know. This sort of stuff doesn't survive. If we look at modern wild humans, well, the !Kung used to use a kind of absorbent moss in a leather swaddle, but modern menstrual supplies are one of the things they now buy, so one gathers it wasn't very nice. Also it requires an absorbent moss, which wouldn't be the case for everywhere... and I don't think it would necessarily be the case there.

Have you considered wool? It can be cut right off the sheep or goat alive in a chunk, and doesn't need complex cloth-making techniques to use as an absorbent material. We know they had sheep and goats. We know they killed them, which means sheepskin is also a possibility. Don't picture those sheep as like our sheep, our sheep are an artifact, and a C.18 one at that. They'd have had hair above the wool, and wool only close to the skin, and been thin and not very hardy. However and notwithstanding, they were there, and wool would work. It would itch like mad, but work. Um. It occurs to me I probably know a lot more about what wool is like on a sheep than you do, because they don't have sheep in Boston. Feel free to ask.

So my choice would be expensive imported sponges for the rich, sheepskin pads for those doing OK, and cut raw wool for the poor, with hunter-gatherers from away off maybe using moss.

[bluepapercup]

I was thinking three things...definitely moss, as stated above. Also, furs? And also as stated above, some sort of matted wool or fleece.

[maedbh7.livejournal.com]

I've heard/read about Native Americans using the puffy stuff off of cattails for this purpose. I also understand that some Native American cultures held the belief that a women was 'unclean' during her monthly, so she went to live in the bleeding house (forgot the real name) for the duration of her cycle. The blood was left to bleed into the earth in those buildings (unknown if they washed off or not during this week...the stuff I read didn't say). After her cycle ended, she would make her way to a stream, wash off, dress in some ritual fashion that screamed "Hey I'm done bleeding" and then return to 'normal' life.

I find the idea appalling, as a modern woman...nothing like being shunned every month. However, it's cultural anthropologicaly fascinating. Imagine that once a month when you are feeling all icky achy crampy you got to go hang out with all your other female friends who are also feeling icky achy crampy. Get away from those stupid men for a bit; let them take care of the kids. Have some of that cramp relieving tree-bark tea. Swap 'One time I bleed for 5 months' stories. Get abdominal and back-rubs from people who understand their purpose. How rocking cool would that be?!?

Sadly, I have -no idea- where I read this at. Could be apocraphal, could be fiction, could be fact, so take it with a grain of salt. Fun to think about, either way. -H...

[anahata56.livejournal.com]

I heard this, too--that the bleeding time was just left to its own devices and women just washed more.

Had to be more comfortable that way, although I'd probably be washing every 15 minutes.

And I don't think the menstrual hut was designed to shun women so much as what you express later in your post--the concept of it being a time when women just want to be with women and not have to deal with the stuff of the day-to-day...

Maybe the reason why so many of us are uncomfortable during menstruation is because we are trying to hide it, make it clean and pretend it isn't there (like those tampon commercials--"No one will will even be able to tell!").

Like that mindset isn't a "shunning"? Worst of all, it's a self shunning--"I have my period now and so I have to spend every waking moment pretending it isn't killing me."

Maybe if we just all went off somewhere and didn't try to work around it, we'd all feel better.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

I know in Europe, the point was mostly moot; between malnutrition, breastfeeding, and pregnancy, women probably only menstruated 15-20 times in their life, tops.

Is your story set in or around Egypt? I do believe that in the Fertile Crescent, women used raw cotton as a sort of a makeshift pad. Cotton wasn't available in Europe until far, far later, so nobody was using it there.

I have plenty more fibergeeking about the history of textiles that I could do. Frex, many people don't realize that knitting was born in the Nile delta. And don't EVEN get me started on flax and linen. Email me if you want to know more.

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

I just knew this would be an interesting thread! :-)
I've heard / read somewhere about the "menstrual hut" type thing too. But alas, have no source info. FWIW I used to use "the keeper" very happily for years. It was a menstrual cup made of rubber. I have no idea if there is anything analogous in a "primative" culture though.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Definately the Menstrual Hut thing. And it is theorized that women actually looked forward to getting their periods because it meant they got to have five (or however many it took) days to rest and just kick back with the other ladies. Women were the gatherers, they did quite a bit of work, having their periods was their time to rest and refresh themselves. And it was big deal (among some Native American tribes when a girl got her first cycle, with all kinds of special rituals and such.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

I've heard the "menstrual hut" thing referred to in several prehistoric cultures, although in the smaller tribal cultures, it sometimes translated basically to "don't touch that woman, she's currently unclean."

One thing I heard of recently was using tortoiseshell - but I think that was intended as an IUD/diaphragm method of birth control. Sounds damned uncomfortable, either way.

Just sayin...

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

I have no damn idea - but this whole thread is fascinating reading!

[bardling.livejournal.com]

Sidenote to the menstrual hut thing - in some cultures it wasn't a case of "unclean/shunning" so much as of a woman's special/holy time, a time of being close to the spirit world, of being (depending on culture) "too strong" for the men, hence protecting the men by separating themselves, or protecting themselves in a potentially altered/vulnerable state.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

A note about the Hut idea:

Women living in close proximity to each other tend to have cycles that match. So the hut thing may not always be in use.

I could see people sitting on an old piece of animal skin, maybe making
it into a breachcloth with a thong at the waist, if they had to move around.
People back then weren't as fastidious, so washing every 15 minutes is just silly. I'd say they probably wiped or rinsed their croch or upper thighs about once a day to keep from getting itchy. I don't know how long other people's periods last, but for me, it's about 2-3 days of significant bleeding, then it sort of peters out for a total of about 6-7 days. I'm sure in cultures that used something like the hut, adn weren't as fastidious as we are today, they probably deemed it over in about 4-5 days, because they didn't notice the extremely minor spotting towards the end.