America's bloody history: menstruation management in the mid-nineteenth century
Date
2018
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The history of menstruation in the mid-nineteenth century has been shrouded in mystery. This thesis shines a light on the daily realities of managing menstruation before menstrual devices were available over-the-counter. It explores what women wore to absorb menstrual blood, how women shared solutions and stayed informed on best medical practices, and how they affectively responded to cultural conceptions of menstruation. Despite the scarcity of documentary sources describing menstrual practices, an analysis of surviving material evidence reveals the ways in which networks of women participated in an intimate menstrual culture in antebellum America. Patents, recipe books, stained undergarments, and surviving menstrual pads help bring to life existing documentary sources such as medical literature, diary entries, and women-authored fiction. Together, these sources illuminate the conflicting cultural expectations of menstrual regularity and menstrual invisibility. The tension between private realities and public expectations necessitated that women skillfully manage their menstrual blood in private so that they could appropriately perform womanhood in the public sphere.
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Keywords
Social sciences, Antebellum, Embodiment, Material culture, Menstruation, Private sphere, Women authors