In medieval Europe, menstruation was connected to humoral theory: the belief that the body is made of four major humors or fluids, one of which was blood.
If you had too much of one of the humors, early Western medicine believed, it lead to disease. Bloodletting was a common cure for a variety of diseases, and an attempt to get the body’s humors back in balance by getting rid of “excess” blood.
So, the reasoning followed, menstruation—the monthly release of “excess” blood—was a sign of illness. And therefore, everyone who had a period was in some way diseased. Thanks, Doc.
Many believed that anyone who was currently menstruating could make people near them sick. And menstrual blood itself was thought to dull mirrors and even kill crops.
What Did People Do before Pads and Tampons?
The short answer is that most people with periods (sic) used cloth rags as a kind of DIY sanitary pad. Linen was a particularly good material for that purpose. But there’s also evidence that some people used a particularly absorbent type of bog moss.
“People” with periods. Bloody hell. Can we get a (sic). Otherwise very interesting.
Done. Sorry, I must confess I didn’t notice or would not have posted.
They’re sneaky and shove the de-sexed language in a few paragraphs in. I find you sic-ing very satisfying
F…!!
As a biological woman, I felt the usual frustration at being written yet again out of the lexicon.
People with periods indeed. The pharmaceutical fellas must love it!
All those lifelong drugs required to maintain the fiction of a male transforming miraculously into a woman!
To be clear, I have no quarrel with those who wish to dress or behave as any gender. Mind you, it is generally a parody , but I pass that off as ignorance or an innate inability to observe accurately.