Sources for the history

Historical material is cited to primary texts where the claim is a matter of what a text says, and to the specialist historical literature where the claim is a matter of what happened. Entries verified during this build are marked; entries drawn from general historical knowledge and not verified here are marked for checking before this page is treated as final.

1. Pliny the Elder. Natural History, Book VII, §64.Verified Source of the catalogue of effects attributed to menstrual blood — souring wine, blighting crops, killing grafts and bees, dimming mirrors, blunting steel, rusting metal. Paraphrased on this page rather than quoted, since modern translations are under copyright. Checked against the Loeb Classical Library text and the Rackham, Jones and Eichholz translation.
2. Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book I, Chapter 27 — the Libellus responsionum, Gregory I to Augustine of Canterbury, 601 CE.Verified Source of Gregory's ruling that a menstruating woman should not be forbidden to enter church or receive communion, that she suffers it involuntarily, and that the monthly courses of women are no fault because nature causes them. The later reversal under Theodore of Canterbury (690) is reported from the same historiographic literature and is flagged for independent checking.
3. Leviticus 15:19–30; Leviticus 20:18. Hebrew Bible.Verified Source of the seven-day niddah period, the parallel treatment of male seminal emission in the same chapter, and the penalty attaching to intercourse during menstruation. The ritual-impurity versus moral-fault distinction is drawn from the standard scholarly reading of the Levitical purity system.
4. Qur'an 2:222.Verified Source of the description of menstruation as adha and the instruction regarding intercourse. Interpretation and the surrounding hadith material vary across schools; this page describes rather than adjudicates.
5. Simmer HH. Ludwig Fraenkel: 'spiritus rector' of the early progesterone research. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 1998;83(2):169–174.Verified Source for Fraenkel's 1903 experimental proof of corpus luteum function, for Born's hypothesis preceding it, and for the near-simultaneous 1934 isolation by four groups in the United States, Switzerland, Breslau and Danzig. Volume and pagination taken from the journal record; verify before formal citation.
6. Allen WM, Corner GW. Physiology of the corpus luteum. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1929;27:403–405.Verified The 1929 report credited with the discovery of progesterone, originally named progestin.
7. Allen WM, Butenandt A, Corner GW, Slotta KH. Nomenclature of corpus luteum hormone. Science. 1935;82:153.Verified The paper that unified the competing names and established progesterone. Corroborated by the American Chemical Society historical record.
8. Ogino K. Hokuetsu Medical Journal, February 1923; and Knaus H., 1920s–1930s.Re-verify Independent establishment that ovulation is timed relative to the next menstruation rather than the last — Knaus at 14 days, Ogino at 12 to 16. Ogino's histological series of 65 women is reported in the secondary literature; the primary Japanese publication and Knaus's primary papers were not checked directly in this build.
9. Schick B. Das Menstruationsgift. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift. 1920.Re-verify The original menotoxin publication. Reported consistently across the secondary literature; the primary citation, including volume and pagination, requires checking.
10. Ernster VL. Letter. Lancet. 1974 Jun 29:1347.Re-verify The letter that ended the 1974 Lancet menotoxin correspondence, on the grounds that a 1924 photograph of a wilted daisy and one dead tree were insufficient evidence. Quoted secondhand across multiple sources; verify against the journal.
11. Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Feminine Hygiene Products, object group.Verified Source for Lister's Towels 1896 and its commercial failure, the wartime origin of cellucotton, Kotex, and the Haas patent filed 1931 becoming Tampax.
12. New York Academy of Medicine, Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health. Historical notes on menstrual products.Verified Source for the Kotex 1920 introduction against the 1921 advertising campaign, the Haas patent granted 1933 and distributed from 1936, and the 185 US menstrual device patents granted between 1854 and 1921. Where this source and the Smithsonian differ on dates, both are reported on the page.
13. Marker RE; Djerassi C; and the development of the oral contraceptive, 1940s–1960.Re-verify Marker degradation and diosgenin, the 1951 synthesis of an orally active progestin, and the 1957 and 1960 US approvals. Given from the standard account; primary sources not checked in this build.
14. Toxic shock syndrome and high-absorbency tampons, 1980; withdrawal of the Rely brand.Re-verify Reported from general knowledge. The CDC and FDA primary records should be cited before this entry is treated as final.
15. Removal of hysteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, third edition, 1980.Re-verify Reported from general knowledge and requires checking against the DSM-III record, including whether the correct description is removal of the diagnosis or its replacement by successor categories.
16. Criminalisation of chhaupadi in Nepal, 2017.Re-verify The date, the statutory penalty, and reporting on persistence of the practice all require verification against primary legal and news sources before publication.
17. Munro MG, Critchley HOD, Fraser IS; FIGO Menstrual Disorders Committee. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2018;143(3):393–408.Verified The 2011 terminology system and its 2018 revision — the point at which menstrual bleeding acquired standardised international definitions.
18. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 651. Obstet Gynecol. 2015;126(6):e143–e146.Verified The menstrual cycle as a vital sign, 2015.