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The Worst Humiliation?

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Tree has explored some of the less pleasant sides of the end of life (and just tonight got a eeeewwwwgghhh from someone) but not the menstruation aspect. Perhaps more research is needed...

That would be me.:rolleyes:

Actually I think little is known about what women did in Roman times because men wrote the histories and typically didn't want to mention it;)

Some say women used wooden sticks wrapped in soft papyrus or lint, an early tampon, but I understand that there is no evidence for this. Kind of like the claim that a former President wiretapped a certain candidate. ;)

I am sure that women did something, but I don't know what it was.:rolleyes:

 
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That would be me.:rolleyes:

Actually I think little is known about what women did in Roman times because men wrote the histories and typically didn't want to mention it;)

Some say women used wooden sticks wrapped in soft papyrus or lint, an early tampon, but I understand that there is no evidence for this. Kind of like the claim that a former President wiretapped a candidate. ;)

I am sure that women did something, but I don't know what it was.:rolleyes:
They could have also used sheep, goat or some other animals wool. I imagine that it could have been reused after washing.
 
Some say women used wooden sticks wrapped in soft papyrus or lint, an early tampon, but I understand that there is no evidence for this. Kind of like the claim that a former President wiretapped a certain candidate. ;)

Not really analogous. One is a good faith guess that could be right or wrong and one is a bold-faced lie. I leave it for the reader to decide which is which.:D:p
 
There seems to be little exploration of bodily functions of the crucified in stories. Pissing is only occasionally mentioned and number 2 -- well, extremely rarely. If you get enough women lined up for crucifixion surely some of them will be having their periods or soon to have.

Maybe not so much lately. There have been stories which included more earthy bodily functions, crux is after all an experience of blood, sweat and tears, and a lot more! A lot of people don't like the more earthy stuff.
It's an important part of the experience in it's most brutal and fundamental expression. The subject is not only stripped of their clothes, body laid bare, they are stripped of their dignity. Their most private and personal attributes are exposed to public gaze and ridicule. So their physical struggle with the cross, their genitals, every ragged breath they take. Every drop of sweat and blood. Total lack of privacy. Every sip of water is a privilege, every piss and shit held onto for as long as possible, then shamefully released from them in front of a crowd. Every groan, cry, strangled moan of despair or pain. Menstrual blood, the smells of the body, all exposed. The size of their breasts, or genitals (male and female) an opportunity for jokes and remarks. Even those signs of arousal, however voluntary or involuntary. A woman's wetness, openness. A man's stiffening. Nothing can be hidden on the cross.
There is a place for all this, and more.
 
Actually I think little is known about what women did in Roman times because men wrote the histories and typically didn't want to mention it;)
Can one show where Tacitus should have mentioned tampons but did not because he was a male chauvinist pig?

I think not.

There was no history of medicine, and I can't see tampons in any kind of general history unless it's some kind of a multi-volume Braudelian œuvre yet to be written.

Soranus covered the subject in his Gynaecology; it is thought that he meant wool.

Bleeding into clothes was another option.
 
Maybe not so much lately. There have been stories which included more earthy bodily functions, crux is after all an experience of blood, sweat and tears, and a lot more! A lot of people don't like the more earthy stuff.
It's an important part of the experience in it's most brutal and fundamental expression. The subject is not only stripped of their clothes, body laid bare, they are stripped of their dignity. Their most private and personal attributes are exposed to public gaze and ridicule. So their physical struggle with the cross, their genitals, every ragged breath they take. Every drop of sweat and blood. Total lack of privacy. Every sip of water is a privilege, every piss and shit held onto for as long as possible, then shamefully released from them in front of a crowd. Every groan, cry, strangled moan of despair or pain. Menstrual blood, the smells of the body, all exposed. The size of their breasts, or genitals (male and female) an opportunity for jokes and remarks. Even those signs of arousal, however voluntary or involuntary. A woman's wetness, openness. A man's stiffening. Nothing can be hidden on the cross.
There is a place for all this, and more.

Well said :very_hot:
 
Can one show where Tacitus should have mentioned tampons but did not because he was a male chauvinist pig?

I think not.

There was no history of medicine, and I can't see tampons in any kind of general history unless it's some kind of a multi-volume Braudelian œuvre yet to be written.

Soranus covered the subject in his Gynaecology; it is thought that he meant wool.

Bleeding into clothes was another option.

A fair amount has been written about how the ancients generally regarded menstruation ... little though about its "management".
 
A fair amount has been written about how the ancients generally regarded menstruation ... little though about its "management".

The Bible certainly mentions it. And not favorably...

I don't know how accurate this source is, but other seem to agree that the Egyptians made tampons out of papyrus, while the Greeks and Romans used wool http://www.3384her.com/2012/12/menstrual-cycles-through-the-ages-a-brief-history-of-your-period/

One more source,
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/history-of-the-tampon/394334/

"Women in ancient Rome, it’s been said, fashioned their own tampons out of wool; Indonesian women are believed to have used vegetable fibers to staunch menstrual flow, while rolls of grass are said to have been used in parts of Africa. According to Nancy Friedman’s 1981 book Everything You Must Know About Tampons, Hawaiian women undertook the (presumably itchy) endeavor of using “the furry part of a native fern,” and ancient Japanese women, according to Qualifying Times: Points of Change in U.S. Women's Sport author Jaime Schultz, made tampons from paper, secured them with bandages, and changed these dressings between 10 and 12 times every day."
 
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A fair amount has been written about how the ancients generally regarded menstruation ... little though about its "management".
Hm, is there something in the Mishna regarding the management? It's religion concerned with purity and and not history concerned with practicality, yeah, but Jews sometimes went into minute details regarding what was permissible to do when spitting or shitting and what wasn't.
 
Sigh. I knew I shouldn't have started on the Mishna and should've limited myself to secondary sources.

The hand that ofttimes examines [for symptoms of menstruation] is, among women, praiseworthy; but [the hand that promotes self-abuse] among men, let it be cut off!​

Added: Dammit, what follows is sort of banned here.
 
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but [the hand that promotes self-abuse] among men, let it be cut off!

I can do it with either hand if necessary:D


The Mayans really had the best stories.

Now that said that women in ancient times may have menstruated less frequently, started later and reached menopause sooner because of poorer nutritional status. So you guys who write stories set in Rome can perhaps ignore it. On the other hand those of us who like to set stories in the modern era aren't so lucky.:(
 
From the Oxford Classical Dictionary (which has quite a substantial article on menstruation
covering pretty well anything written about the subject - by men of course - in Classical times):

We know little of menstrual protection in antiquity, but folded rags were used (refs. to Hippocrates and Plutarch)
The Suda's account of the life of the philosopher Hypatia includes the story that she once threw one at an unwanted suitor :devil:
 
From the Oxford Classical Dictionary (which has quite a substantial article on menstruation
covering pretty well anything written about the subject - by men of course - in Classical times):

We know little of menstrual protection in antiquity, but folded rags were used (refs. to Hippocrates and Plutarch)
The Suda's account of the life of the philosopher Hypatia includes the story that she once threw one at an unwanted suitor :devil:

Good for her!!!!! :D
 
Okay, the Mishna has a lot about when to use 'test-cloths' but pretty much nothing in the way of tampons.

Some reading, though.

What are the distinguishing features in her [that she has attained to womanhood]? R. Jose the Galilean says, When the wrinkles are formed under the breasts. R. Akiba says, When the breasts hang down. Ben Azzai says, When the breasts around the nipples grow dark. R. Jose says, [When the breasts are so developed that] if the hand be placed upon the tips [of the nipples], they sink in and [when the pressure is released] return slowly.
I cannot help but wonder whether the Sages studied the subject hands-on...
 
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