From antiquity to the present day the menstrual cycle is accompanied by prejudices. We hope that we will not wait for the next five thousand years to start treating ordinary body physiology in the same way as the work of the heart, lungs or muscles.
From ancient times until today, the menstrual cycle is accompanied by prejudices and even mysticism. In the 21st century, we know everything about menstruation and we hope that we will not wait for the next five thousand years to break the remaining prejudices and to start treating the ordinary physiology of the body, the menstrual cycle, as the work of the heart, lungs or muscles.
The onset of menstruation marks the end of puberty and entering adulthood. From that moment, pregnancy is possible. Menstruation is regulated by pituitary and ovarian hormones, which have the task of preparing the uterus for pregnancy.
This is achieved by synchronized action of hormones and thickening of the uterine wall. If pregnancy does not occur, hormones fall, the thickened wall of the uterus peels and the woman bleeds. That is the essence of the menstrual cycle.
Remembering Eve's sin
The first explanations and beliefs regarding the cycle date back to ancient times and are about five thousand years old. The ancient Romans associated the cycle with witchcraft. Pliny the Elder wrote that women in a cycle could kill bees or stop storms.
In the Middle Ages, various myths about the cycle came to the fore. Of course, religion has its own explanation. Every pain and cramp that a woman feels in the cycle is a reminder of Eve's sin. Menstruation is something dirty. Severe bleeding is treated by carrying the ashes of the burned frog in a bag close to the body.
In nineteenth-century England, there was a belief that a woman in a cycle could spoil food. Around 1920, which is already the twentieth century, Viennese scientists write that a woman in a cycle can spoil beer or stop the growth of dough.
Even today, there are places in the world where women move away from home during menstruation because they are unclean.
Development of hygiene
In parallel with these understandings, we can follow the development of menstrual hygiene.
Until the fifteenth century, cloths were used during the cycle or women bled directly into clothing, although there is evidence that in ancient Egypt they made tampons from soft papyrus, and in ancient Greece they used tampons from sea sponge.
From 1822, menstruation began to be called a period, because it sounds more decent, although the word menstruation itself comes from the Latin word menstruus, which means menstruation, ie. it is repeated every month.
From the middle of the nineteenth century, cotton and flannel pillows began to be used, and a special menstrual belt was made. It was quite uncomfortable and hygienically bad, but the very fact that something was being done about it was a great progress.
Lister's towels appeared in commercial sales at the end of the nineteenth century. However, it is so taboo and embarrassing that they are experiencing great commercial failure.
Cap and disc
Around 1920, a hundred years ago, Johnson & Johnson rebranded Lister towels, and the first insoles and tampons appeared in France.
In 1930, Leona Chalmers presented a menstrual cap, made of rubber, which is placed in the vagina and collects blood. This product was not commercially successful and did not come to life in practice. The rapid development of the pad and pad market began in the 1970s, but there is not much talk about it, let alone advertising.
It is believed that Courtney Cox first spoke publicly for Tampax in 1985. That happened only 35 years ago. Since then, advertising campaigns have developed rapidly and these products have been publicly advertised, but menstruation is usually called those days, and on television, the inserts are painted with a blue liquid.
Since 2000, menstrual caps made of silicone have been returned to use and their use is advertised for environmentally conscious women. Since 2016, the menstrual disc has been in use, an improved version of the menstrual cap.
This is a short excerpt from 50 centuries of history - how civilization treated menstruation, and therefore women. Maybe only now some things are slowly changing, but not for all women on the planet.
Unfortunately, some prejudices have not been resolved.
In parallel with prejudices, we can follow the development of menstrual hygiene
A hint of change
Since every part of the planet has some special customs and prejudices regarding the cycle, it is interesting to look at how it is with us.
In our country, the cycle is often associated with cleansing the body and it is considered that it is very good to have menstruation, because that is how the body is cleansed. Of course, if you asked what, you wouldn't get a very precise answer. It is not easy to explain here that it is just a simple rejection of the thickened wall of the uterus, because there was no pregnancy, and that it is not a sign of cleansing the body.
In some parts of eastern Serbia, bathing during the cycle is not recommended, because it can be dangerous to health. In many parts of Serbia, it is forbidden for a woman to visit a newborn during the cycle, because the baby will have a problem. Believe it or not, these are still common prejudices about the cycle, even though we are already treading the 21st century.
A short excerpt from 50 centuries of history - how civilization treated menstruation, and therefore women
Fifty centuries ago, a woman with a cycle was considered a witch, today - an unclean woman who is unfit to visit a newborn baby.
We haven't moved far, the only thing is that these days, in one commercial for pads, the blue color is replaced by red, and those days are called menstruation. Maybe that is the first significant step to change things.
images are downloaded from google.
That a woman visits a newborn, and has a cycle, she does not say. Until I saw with my own eyes. A sister was born, come on, midwives, the women came to bring the soldier, went to another room for lunch, the baby changed color in his face at that moment, some red color as if blood was flowing, grandma came, says yuuu from this woman, let there be cycle, then they asked each one tells her so I have, then she came skipped the child, so that redness receded. There is something, there is something, what it is I do not even know.