History of Menstrual Pads

Today, I read an interesting article about the history of pads published on The Conversation!

According to a published 2019 study, women around the world manage periods using leaves, sheep’s wool, newspaper, grass, and even cow dung. I also came across an interesting, yet discouraging, statistic regarding school attendance in Africa: 10% of young women in Africa did not attend school due to their periods, specifically to avoid leaks in public. 

According to ancient Greek medical texts, periods were thought to be heavy due to the belief that menstruation happened because women’s bodies contained more of a spongy texture. Up until the 19th century, modern European texts suggest that men were comfortable discussing menstruation. However, tools weren’t usually implemented as a means by which to manage the bleeding. For example, historian Sara Read concluded that during this time most women just bled through their clothes and, occasionally, would use rags. 

Beginning in the 19th century, the market for special menstrual clothing was developed, from belts and pads to the sanitary apron. It wasn’t until the 1890s that sanitary cotton pads were developed. In the 1960s, the sticky strap under the pads was developed to secure the underwear rather than fixing it to a special belt. Around this time, from a social perspective, menstruation began to be seen as a normal part of life, meaning women would no longer take specific days off from daily obligations to take rest. 

The first menstrual cups and tampons, known as “sanitary napkins” at the time, came on the market in 1930. In more recent years, an emerging movement has taken place to quell the detrimental environmental impacts of the plastic found in the aforementioned modern period supplies. There is also an increased awareness of the risk of chemicals that are used in both tampons and pads. 

Recently, there had been an intensified, promising effort toward disposable and reusable menstrual discs and period pants, which were invented in 2017. 

Source: https://theconversation.com/from-rags-and-pads-to-the-sanitary-apron-a-brief-history-of-period-products-203451