Episode 19: Feminine Hygiene & Birth Control on the Frontier

<p><img src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/337586/content_milady_decolletee_-_evolution_of_hair_removal.jpg" alt="" width="307" height="184" /></p> <p>Sherry and Marshall talk about subjects that were considered taboo on the frontier. Learn about how women cared for their bodies as well as "medical" advice women were given back in the day.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This show's lagniappe:</strong></p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center"> <strong>Applejack</strong></p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center">(use a large bar glass)</p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center"> </p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center">¾ glass of shaved ice</p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center">2 or 3 dashes of gum syrup (do not use too much)</p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center">1 ½ to 2 dashes of bitters</p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center">1 or 2 dashes of curacoa</p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center">1 jigger of apple jack</p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center"> </p> <p style="text-align: left;">Stir up well with a spoon and strain into a cocktail glass.  Put in a cherry or medium-sized olive; squeeze a piece of lemon peel on top and serve.  This is a popular and palatable drink.</p> <p style="text-align: left;" align="center">Recipe from <em>Harry Johnson’s Bartenders’ Manual,</em> 1882</p> <p> </p> <p>Women often drank the cocktail bitters that mixologists used to flavor drinks or medicinal elixirs—bitters’ main ingredient was whiskey. With their Victorian gowns swishing, women could easily walk into the local mercantile store or call on their local chemist and respectfully pick up a bottle of bitters for their “health.” Bitters companies knew this and used clever advertising to attract their non-saloon customers. The tonics were sold under the promise that they would ease common female illnesses, and they were also purported to ease or cure mental anguish, feverish lips, cracking pains, weak stomach, and scores of other nameless bodily suffering.</