Hey Girls, We've Never Had It So Good

My work-in-progress is set in 1778. I've been delving into the details of history at that time. I love discovering all sorts of odd little facts. However, I sometimes go off on tangents--inadvertantly. I start off looking for one thing and wind up someplace else.

This happened to me today. I wanted to check into more of the particulars about my heroine's chemise, which was the only undergarment women wore at the time--and they wore the same chemise for days on end. Underpants had not been invented.

Then I saw some websites with information about chemises that I had not really considered. I found out that menstruating women usually bled on their clothing, including that all-important chemise which they wore day in and day out.

For those of you who are already grossed out, you may skip the following websites, though I really think you should take a look. Sometimes, I am just amazed that the human race made it this far.

Click on the following links and be grateful you weren't born more than a century ago:

http://myperiodblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/history-of-menstruation-part-1/

http://www.mum.org/whatwore.htm

As the websites point out, women did not menstruate as much because they started later in life than girls do today and then they were either pregnant, nursing, undernourished, or sick much of the time.

We've come a long way.