Prudish 60s

When I was about 13 we had a BCG vaccination at school. We had to undress to our vests and pants. Goodness knows why, as the injection went into our arms. I had started a period unexpectedly that day, and my pants were covered in blood. I asked the teacher if I could keep my skirt on, but she wouldn't let me. I had to stand there in front of everybody, trying to cover the stains with my hands. I was mortified. Can you imagine a teacher treating a girl like that now?

I wondered would I get any comments when I started the thread. There have been so many and some hilarious stories. It's been really interesting hearing everyone's experiences. They've brought back so many memories. I'd forgotten all about those dreadful incinerators. And being "unwell" - my mum's word too.
We can laugh at it all now but as Minerva says it wasn't funny really and thankfully it's not like that now - for most people.

Thank you KatyK.

Had a very tiring stressed day. Your excellent uplifting story has blown all the tiredness and stress away.

Longdistance

I was in Girl Guides and also volunteered as a leader. On the health forms for the girls they always asked if the girl had started her periods, and if not, if she'd been told about it.

SunnySusie

Wow! I rather suspect your gran had minimal knowledge of female anatomy. Sadly, I'm not terribly surprised. For the record: While I'm sure you all know this, just in case you have someone who asks you, tampons can't get lost inside you. There's nowhere for them to go. You can't put it into the wrong hole - the anus is too far back, and the urethra is way too small. (Trust me. I have catheterized women. It's hard enough to find the urethra when you are LOOKING for it, and the urinary catheters are a fraction of the size of a tampon.) The opening in the cervix is far too small to let a tampon in, and the vaginal muscles keep it in place. Women who have had babies, even, use tampons without issue. (Often the cervix stays permanently slightly open when you've had children - obviously, if you become pregnant again, the mucous plug will close it off.) Sorry if this is kind of gross, but I once cared for a young lady who had had the string come off a tampon so she couldn't reach it. It had been in there for four days. A pair of forceps sorted the problem in less than five minutes. It had not gone anywhere. She was given a prescription for antibiotics and sent home. If in FOUR DAYS it didn't manage to go anywhere, it's not going anywhere in a few hours. There is also no way for a tampon to cause appendicitis even if it did get into the abdomen, because it would have to go through the peritoneum (membrane that surrounds the abdominal cavity), somehow get into the GI tract (and if your bowel is punctured you've got bigger issues than appendicitis!), and make its way to the appendix. I know technically we aren't supposed to give medical advice, but trust me as a nurse with a master's degree. That doesn't happen.

Annepl...my mother made me go for my own the day it started (and only got more if she felt like it..lost many a week through this)so I know exactly what you felt like..vowed I wouldn’t treat my daughter this way

I started off on Dr Whites too, then a more absorbent brand beginning with S (can’t remember). At 15 I asked my mother if I could use Tampax and she agreed. First time I remember spending an hour fruitlessly trying to insert following the diagrammatic instructions. Can only assume I had a particularly tough hymen. Had no problems thereafter.

I lived in an area where most of the kids were male. We climbed trees, played football and shot homemade bows and arrows. When I started my periods age 9, I was told that I must not play with boys. I didn't realise what my mum really meant, and spent quite a long time crying as I thought that I was going to lose all my friends.

When I was about 14 I went to Guide Camp, and once we had dug the latrines in the corner of the field, the Guide Mistress told us she was putting an old cake tin in their where we could dispose of our used sanitary towels, but it was clear that one of the younger guides, must have been 11 or 12, had no idea what she was talking about so she was taken aside to have everything explained to her, fancy sending the poor girl away without her knowing, it must have been about 1967/68. A couple of days later when we were tidying up our tent, my friend pulled a package out of her rucksack and asked me what she should do with it, I just said “Put it in the cake tin in the lats”....how we laughed when she told me it was her leftover sandwiches from the journey to camp!

When my daughter was around 11 or 12, she picked up the post from the mat one morning and it included a postcard addressed to her from the local dental surgery.
"Dear Miss Scribbles. Just a reminder that your periodic examination is now due. Please call our reception....etc".
Daughter ambled to the breakfast table looking extremely puzzled. "Why does the dentist want to examine me about my periods? Don't you think that's a bit weird....?"

Fortunately, it was easy enough - when we stopped laughing - to reassure her that she wasn't in danger of being treated by a dental pervert.

I have never laughed so much for ages, thanks ladies.
Talking of trusses, they used to have shops with displays in the window and a sign saying lady and gentlemen assistant. I don't know what else they sold as I never saw anyone going in, it was by the bus station!
I was also given the book on fruit flies, it was a called The Facts of Life, it was rubbish.
When I was 12 my mum and dad went to GP together which was strange as dad never went to doctors. They told me on return they were having a baby. I could not understand what the doctor did but I had seen dogs in the street so thought my dad had climbed into my mum's back whilst the doctor did something!! Mum told me a seed had been planted

Incidently, grown women may be less embarrassed these days, but school-girls between the ages of 11- and whenever they get their first period aren't. I used to send the boys off somewhere with a colleague and tell my girls that I kept a packet of STs locked in the classroom cupboard and they could just come and ask for the key, if they needed a towel and the school secretaries had packets too.

Quite a lot of them were too embarrassed to ask their mothers about menstruation, which I found rather shocking. I have more than once asked parents at parents' meeting to please discuss the whole subject of sex with their 11 year olds and to tell the girls that any woman teacher would help if they were suprised by a period.

My mother was quite open about the fact that women had periods, but she warned us not to mention it to other girls at school as they probably didn't know.

I can remember a time when STs were wrapped up in brown paper and kept under the counter both in Cochrane's in Paisley and in our local dress shop. My mother just asked for a packet of Dr. White's, please and handed over her money.

My mum was another that said 'you are a woman now when I started my periods aged 12. When I went to Germany with my youth club at 15 I asked her to buy me tampax instead of ST's and it took a lot of persuading her. She said that I would have to be really careful not to damage myself. I started work in a chemist when I left school so handling all of the sanitary products took away the embarrassment from that. The condoms were kept in a drawer under the counter. One man asked me for preserves and I thought he meant diabetic jam. Then one of my old school dinner ladies asked for a multi pack of 9! How embarrassing. I think the worst thing was when a pregnant lady needed nipple shields and I had to ask the male pharmacist for them.

Scribbles I also had the talk at school about not using Tampax unless we rode a bike or a horse. Puzzled me to bits at the time. I started my periods at 11 and asked my older sister if I could have a baby now I had started. Her answer as she walked out of the room was that I needed something else! I could never have asked my mother, her only talk to me about such matters was very confusing since she was another who never used the right words. When my own DD was 3 she appeared in front of us with a Tampax and proceeded to do a very good imitation of me using one. I always thought I had been so discreet but obviously not discreet enough!

Oh my I am laughing out loud!!
You do wonder how our mothers managed to have babies when they knew so little. It must have been terrifying. When I was about to go into labour with my first, DM said the pain is awful and you feel your body being torn apart, but afterwards you forget. Great. Thanks mum.
I refrained from telling DD a similar story.

On a prudish note; Does anyone else know the story of the 19th century art historian John Ruskin? He was so shocked to find on their wedding night that his bride, the beautiful Effie Gray, had pubic hair unlike the statues of Greek Goddesses and venuses he was used to. He was disgusted and never consummated the marriage.
Luckily she was able to marry the artist John Millais who had no such hangups

I worked in a pharmacy the summer that I left school. It was a real education, learning all the ways and words folks used for STs, laxatives and condoms. I suppose I'd had a fairly sheltered childhood and was the eldest of my siblings. The lessons I learnt though have seen me through life, more so than any school history or geography!

My sister and I were on the way to work when I had to call in the chemists, there were road works outside so it was a bit noisy. I asked for a packet of Lillets and he came back with a packet of Gillette razor blades!!

My sister and I always referred to them as razor blades after that.

My friend and I were only talking about this subject this morning, how strange I should be reading comments on here on the same discussion we had. I remember my mother tearing up ‘rags’ for me when I started the dreaded curse. I too remember being so embarrassed queuing up to buy ST’s especially when served by a male. I was so nervous to the point of shaking.

Back in the 70s, my tampon-using friend went with her husband and the dog to the Cash and Carry to stock up on STs for their pharmacy.

They left the dog in the car for a short while to finish their shopping. When they returned they discovered that the dog had savaged several packets and the car was strewn with sanitary towels.
"You'll have to use them" her husband told her.

I can’t remember my mother ever telling me the facts of life. She just presented me with a belt and packet of STs and told me to use them when ‘it’ happened. I had really painful periods, even vomiting sometimes. I was a very quiet and shy child, and could never tell them at school when it happened. A couple of times I just sneaked out and went home, causing a panic when I was missed, and a good telling-off.
I think that I had already left school before someone told me how babies were made, and 18 before I actually went out with a boy.
When I was pregnant my mother was fascinated by the books about how babies developed, and the process of delivery. She had three children, but was surprisingly ignorant. When expecting her first child the only preparation she was given, by her mother, was, “Do what the midwife tells you!”
Times have changed a lot since her generation, and mine!

There was absolutely no way my mother would have discussed anything 'personal' with me. It just never happened, no mention of periods or where babies came from. Weirdly her own mother - Grannie down on the farm - looked after me every summer and was quite happy to take me along when the boar was put with the sow, or the dog with one of the bitches. She gave me torn up rags for my 'time of the month' and showed me how to wash the stains out. Tampons however were a different matter. Grannie believed they were dangerous things and could 'get lost' inside and cause appendicitis, so I was warned never to use them. I puzzled for a long while as to why the chemist sold products which caused such terrible side effects.

When DH was about 25 in the mid 1960's he had a stone in his kidneys or bladder (can't remember which). Anyway this caused his testicles to swell pretty comprehensively and painfully, so once he was on the mend and walking the doctor advised a truss. I went to a Chemist in town which I knew was run by a man. We had the whole of his draw full of trusses out on the counter while I kept rejecting them as they were too small, I still think the other customers must have wondered what on earth size of man I had at home.

My Mum bought Dr. White's from the local drapers - I think of Alan Bennet's description of such shops as selling 'Accoutrements for a gentler age' . The whole business was a great secret at home, and I was unlucky enough to start my periods on the day I started senior school. I can remember feeling really unwell, and the horrible discomfort of two big safety pins and an elastic belt with loops. . I started using Tampax at about seventeen - Mother's disapproval was obvious!

Also, by the time l started in the 1970s we had the stick on variety. Kotex Simplicity. My mother assured me they were an improvement on what had gone before but l still remember them as big and bulky and being terrified, even at 14 when I started, that someone would see them. I used tampons as soon as I was physically able.

Teat not test