How beautiful women deal with menstruation in human history

Before the sanitary napkin was released, women had to use a torn cloth, sedge wrapped in lint or let blood flow into their clothing every menstrual period.

Lacking knowledge of biology and reproductive organs, the ancients considered women's menstruation to be a bleeding phenomenon even without being injured, occurring in the solar cycle , with the mystical or unlucky sacred meaning. need to stay away. For thousands of years, "red light" records were extremely limited, causing researchers to constantly wonder. Here are some revelations about how women previously dealt with menstruation, according to Medical Daily.

Ancient times

The female scriptures from before humans completely evolved into a species but there are very few menstrual documents in ancient times, most likely because most historical recorders are men. Scientists identify older women less menstrual than today because of malnutrition. Menopause also came quite early, often at the age of 40.

In many places, menstruation is thought to be associated with magic, witchcraft. Pliny Elder, Roman philosopher, writes that women in the ceiling can prevent hail and thunder, even chasing insects from plants. In Mayan mythology, menstruation is considered a punishment for the Moon Goddess who represents women, reproduction and sex after she sleeps with the Sun God despite the rules. The Goddess's blood is stored in 13 vials, then turned into snakes, insects, poison and disease. In addition, the Mayans believed the menstrual cycle produced medicinal plants.

Picture of the Mayan Goddess of the Maya.(Photo: Wikimedia).

Menstruation has many different meanings depending on the culture, or is used as a "charm" to purify, protect and tame. Egyptian medical documents Ebers Papyrus (1550 BC) menstrual notes are ingredients in some remedies. When the Bible was born, the Jews prescribed that menstrual women should live in seclusion, away from the 7-day community to "clean up".

Scientists still do not know whether ancient women use sanitary pads. They assume that women use torn cloths; sedge, small wood trees wrapped in fibrous cloth or loincloth.

Middle Ages

Similar to ancient times, scientists could not find many documents to document the medieval treatment of menstrual women. Dr. Sara Read, a scientist who specializes in medieval and near-modern European women, said that apart from rags and other absorbent materials, the continent's older sister was there to let blood flow into their pants. shirt.

Not surprisingly, menstruation is thought to be a religious shame, especially for Christianity. Women must hide the "red light " period, wearing rings made from aromatic herbs on the neck and waist to soothe the smell of blood and apply medicines such as toad powder to prevent blood flow. Many people also think that the pain of menstruation is the punishment of God to recall Eva's sins.

Modern times

1879

In the late 19th century, people began to care about health risks, hygiene if blood flowed into clothing. A German doctor wrote: "It is disgusting when the shirt has blood cord. If you wear that shirt continuously for 4-8 days, you will get an infection". The British Journal of Medicine introduced a tampon-like device but did not explain whether it was used for the "red light" period.

From the late 1800s to around 1920, women could buy Hoosier sanitary belts made of a pad attached to the metal belt around the waist.

Belt Hoosier.(Photo: Hoosier belt).

1888

Sanitary napkin products first appeared with the name Lister Towel produced by Johnson & Johnson. At the same time, the nurses in the hospital learned how to take gauze to treat menstruation. This material has good permeability so it is later used for the first Kotex tape.

1929

Tampon products invented by Dr. Earle Haas. Haas got the idea of ​​creating a tampon after seeing a friend put a sponge in his vagina to stop blood flowing out. However, the community at that time was not open about menstruation, so women wanted to buy "women's products" to put money in a secret box and not stand in front of the seller.

1980

At this stage, the types of sanitary belts like Hoosier belt almost disappeared. Improved sanitary napkins, which can be glued in underwear and increasingly absorbent, do not leak.

Member of the Self-Employed Women Association (SEWA) for cheap sanitary napkins in Ahmedabad, India for women and girls in rural areas.(Photo: Sam Panthaky).

Since the beginning of the 20th century, medical knowledge about menstruation has improved markedly. Most women in developed countries are free to use clean, safe products. Scientists have also developed special underwear for "red lights" called Thinx . However, there are many places in the world that the menstrual concept is a lonely thing that causes thousands of women not to take care of hygiene. For example, in some parts of India, women in business are thought to be dirty and unclean; encounter a series of problems caused by using torn fabric Certainly, it will take time to educate menstruation around the world to help women know how to handle "red lights" safely and without shame.