Hello and welcome! This is Reading the Past with Dr Kat. I'm a researcher and lecturer specialising in early modern literature and culture.
I think history is pretty brilliant, but I also know that sometimes the best bits get left out. So on this channel, we're going to look at the blood, guts and gore; the plays, passions and power struggles; but we're also going to find answers for questions you never even knew you wanted answers to. Questions like "Why is Shakespeare like the Kardashians?"
So buckle up and enjoy the ride because history is weird!
Unless there is some unforeseen setback, I will upload videos to this channel every Friday at 4pm GMT - please subscribe and click the bell icon so that KZread will notify you when a new video goes live.
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Thank you for the topic. I began my period in 5th grade. I was 11 years old. It was a very distressing time as I bled heavily & for 12 to 14 days. At age 15 a female physician said the only thing to do was a hysterectomy. I refused. I remember junior highschool being a nightmare. I would bleed thru multiple pads & my clothing. Every month the kind principle would call my mother to pick me up from school, while I sat on a newspaper on a wooden chair in his office waiting for my mother to pick me up from school to take me home . He was so kind, but I still felt such shame. This wasn't happening to the girls I attended school with. My father was also very kind. It didn't faze him to pick up period products at the store for me. My Mom seemed to think I was faking the whole thing. I was eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune disease which created the horrifying symtoms. Many years later my Mom developed endometriosis which caused similar symtoms. She apologized for thinking I was faking the the whole time. I'm well past menopause now & its glorious ! There is life after periods❤
Thanks!
❤Congratulations ! So happy for you!
Congratulations ❤
Congradulations on the new baby, you're little ones are soo lucky to have you two as parents. I was also distracted at the beginning of the video, because you look soo pretty in that purple top.
i am canadian and had not heard of the harrying of the north before. Simeon's account is fascinating and harrowing. great video!!
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1st….. Congratulations!!!!!! 🎉. I find I often wonder how people dealt normal everyday things long ago. This is one of them. And as you say it’s not something that is going to written about. This was an interesting insight. Thank you for your interesting & well presented topics.
My Dad was born in 1937 in the East End, a Docker, boxer and all round geezer 🙄. He would not acknowledge anything women gyne related and associated words were never spoken. Fast forward 3 daughters married with own kids took revenge. If a word was spoke and he went ‘no’, we would then go ‘fallopian tubes…ovaries…..’ he would grumble and leave the room with a face that ‘looked like a slapped arse’ 🤪😜 Both my parents died aged 61 & 63 and I was very angry when I entered menopause because my mum told me nothing except it was called The Change and hot flushes. That’s it…errr no it isn’t 🤦♀️
Two decidedly tangential comments: (a) Humans are one of only two species of mammal (the other is orcas/ killer whales) where females go through menopause. In all other mammalian species, females can get pregnant their whole life after menarche. [I leaned that from Sandi Toksvig on QI, so it MUST be true] (b) I teach in a university chemistry lab, for thirty-five years. Two or three times a term, someone would cut themselves, usually on broken lab glassware. I had first-aid stuff and bandages for just such an emergency. Every so often - every two or three years - a student would get woozy at the sight of blood, and have to sit down while I got the sticky bandages going. The fainting students were NEVER female, it was only ever males who keeled over at the sight of (tiny amounts of)blood. Viewers of this video can probably guess where that correlation came from.
Intestinal worms could also have limited periods.
I had my first baby in 1985. After the birth I was sent into the washroom with a packet of supplies. I was in there for a very long time. Finally a nurse knocked on the door to inquire if I was ok. I was teary and frustrated but I managed to tell her that I had no idea how to make the pad work. The hospital still used belts with clips and the maternity pads looked like giant bricks to me (complete with long tassels on each end) I was too young to have ever used this method. The kindly nurse entered and showed me how to attach the pad to the belt and wear it. I think that lasted about a day until I had someone bring me stick on maternity pads. I do know it gave me great respect for my forebearers.
Congratulations and all the very best wishes for a safe, healthy pregnancy and delivery! 🎉
As far as the Hebrew text refered to in Levitcus, I don't believe it was intended in context as "shameful" as it also in the prior verse talks about men and specifically refering to religious practices of the time. But that is a debate for a theological disscussion. However the King James version does fall into the modern era but was post Elizabethan era and the Pax Columbia would be Elizabeths Bible and before that the Geneva Bible of Mary's short reign and Henry was the Great Bible inwhich I'm sure you know since this era is your expertise. In these cultures women in general were not treated well , in which I gather irritated Eliizabeth and I'm sure she did her best to change what she could.
Congratulations on new life! Joining with other brst wishes for postive pregnancy and easy delivery to a healthy girl! I remember my first in eighth grade, while my classmates had all started in fifth grade. It was not a fun day. I hated pad straps and was like hrilled with tampons. ❤👶🚼
So happy to hear you and your mate are expecting another wee one! [That's one way to keep The Curse at bay, if only for a while.😄] 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🅰🅱🆎🅾🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
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When I was trying to be a midwife I read a book called ‘The Red Tent’ which described how the heroine and all women in her tribe had to seclude themselves in a red tent for the duration of their periods and the rituals to ‘Cleanse’ themselves afterwards to be able to be in the company of their husbands again. Fantastic book worth a read.
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Thanks for such an interesting topic. 🩸
Congratulations on your pregnancy 😊
In the early 1960s magazine ads for Midol would go into great explanations about what the product could do for you without mentioning periods directly. I was a prepubescent child and was a little confused as to why they kept on mentioning various monthly problems, but got excited when the ad said that it would help chase away the blues. Having severe chronic depression as a child, I got excited that there was actually something that might help me so I rushed to tell my mother! She ignored what I said, though at the time I didn't know why. An interesting side note is that puberty cured my depression, as well as a number of chronic health conditions.
Congratulations on your pregnancy! I’ve never really bought into the idea of free bleeding. Not only does it sound uncomfortable, I don’t think women would have been able to afford to wash and replace fabric that easily. Not even rich women.
I think my mom tried, back in the 60’s, but she clearly was very uncomfortable with any such discussions, and when I started my period in 1960 at age 12, I didn't tell her for several days. I had awful cramps and my first migraine, and just pretended to be sick. Very different with my own daughter. I was very open about everything from a very early age, and being an RN was also the go to for all her friends. When she finally got her period at 14, she just hollered from the bathroom, ” Is this what a period looks like?”, as she came running out with a bare butt and soiled panties!! lol
At 70 years old, and way past menopause, I am still highly irate and resentful about the entire experience. Hence I am very angered at any nonsense men make up to interfere with women's management of their own bodily functions. 11-year old me, in school, bent double by cramps, with a nasty pad strung from my waist, getting it all twisted and staining my clothing, struggling in the bathroom stall to clean it all up before my long walk home, getting chafed raw in my nether regions-- and met with little to no sympathy by my mother. I protest in the name of every girl who lives or ever lived on this planet. And then we were supposed to not talk about it, hide the "evidence" from everyone especially my Dad, and not complain. GGRRRRRRRRRR!
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Firstly, congratulations, to you and your little family on the news of baby number 2. I hope that you have an easy time of it during the entire pregnancy ❤❤ THank you once again, for a wonderful video. It certainly is an interesting topic of conversation, and blows my mind, that still, in todays society, it's a largely taboo subject. We need to discuss menstruation more, so that finally, the stigma can be removed. We also need to make sure that there is no period poverty, in that, every woman, has accessabilty to period products, regardless of social status. 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
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this just proves that history is really crazy - enjoyed as always. ♦♦
Henry, for once in his life, got a real, genuine reaction to how he appeared at that time. And, like any narcissistic man then and now, his ego couldn’t handle it. He was no longer attractive, and he just couldn’t handle it. So he smeared the woman. Per the usual
I would like to add that in California, where I live and work for a school system, schools are required to provide free pads and free tampons in the female restrooms at all schools. It helps eliminate some of the stigma and some of the financial issues surrounding products.
This was fascinating! I think much of the shame and “dirtiness “of menstruation stems from those biblical passages full of gobbledygook and superstition.
This was fascinating! I think much of the shame and “dirtiness “of menstruation stems from those biblical passages full of gobbledygook and superstition.
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Excellent, interesting and very articulate! Thanks Dr Kat!
I believe Lizzie Borden was having her period at the time of the murders.
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Something so ordinary and yet so dark.
My husband received a TBI (traumatic brain injury) and that kind of injury 100% can and does cause migraines. My husband is now plagued by them. It is a common result, we have learned. Not a doctor but when he was diagnosed I researched EVERYTHING.
Yay for more babies! Enjoy the non lockdown pregnancy/birth/postnatal periods ❤🎉
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This might be out of your wheelhouse being a historian rather than social anthropologist, but looking at how people today in non-Western countries (particularly what we view as developing countries or the global South) deal with and believe about periods and menstruation could be a way to look into the past as well. But I understand that might be a bit out of the purview of this channel.
Jeesh, the turtle & dove merchants must have been booming in biblical times…
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Ohh my goodness, congratulations, momma! Very happy for you❤
Dr. Kat, I love making playlists of your videos. “Tudor Women”, “Tudor Criminals”, “Tudor Artists” “The Tudors” etc. I would love to do one on health and medicine. We have your “Four Humors” video and now this one. Would you consider doing one on the incredible miraculous treatment of Henry V’s injury when he got an arrow in the face? Maybe the horrible treatments offered to George III? Or perhaps a comparison between early modern health treatments/ implements and treatments in the modern age for the same supposed illnesses?🩺🩸
You always present wonderful insights into history. Thank you. And the announcement of your expecting another child brought a smile to my face. 👶
Congratulations on baby #2 🐣🐣 Women make up more than half the world’s population. An important topic. In fairness I had a good rapport with my Mum , who explained most of it , any problems.. Just the body changes and the reason why . Pads initially.. But most comfortable with tampons. 🩸
Congratulations and best wishes. Hopefully this time around is easier.
Congratulations on your second pregnancy. This is a good topic.