Don’t inform Frank Herbert (or the individuals at Thinx), however he truly got here up with a reasonably genius pair of menstrual underwear. Again in 1965. Solely, nicely, his was outerwear—and it did much more than acquire blood and endometrial lining.
Herbert’s invention is, after all, the stillsuit. One of many iconic items of tech in his novel Dune—and an iconic piece of sci-fi tech, interval—it’s an invention born of necessity. Arrakis, the place many of the novel takes place, is a desert; to outlive, the planet’s native Fremen assemble form-fitting fits that acquire all of their moist excretions—sweat, urine, feces, droplets from exhaled breath—and recycle them into potable water. The thought is definitely type of sensible and would, if you concentrate on it, be massively useful for just a few days a month to anybody menstruating. The stillsuits would simply wick away any discharge and recycle it with every part else!
To be clear, Herbert by no means mentions this particular goal within the guide. (“No, that’s a really, superb level,” says Jacqueline West, Dune’s costume designer, after I ask her about my maxi pad notion. “Perhaps Frank Herbert again in these days didn’t assume that far, however he considered every part else.”) The creator describes the stillsuits in nice element within the guide—the tubes that acquire air from the nostril, the way in which physique movement powers the pumps, the “micro-sandwich” that works as a “filter and heat-exchange system”—however he didn’t appear to contemplate that some our bodies have totally different features than others. (Although, let the file present that there’s an entry on Fremen menstruation [Fremenstruation?] within the Dune Encyclopedia.) Herbert additionally bought the science incorrect. There’s no manner any swimsuit may correctly recycle the physique’s fluids the way in which he describes with out violating fundamental thermodynamics. Nonetheless, what he got here up with again within the Sixties would’ve supplied an effective way to cope with interval blood with out spending tons of of {dollars} a yr on tampons, underwear liners, or menstrual cups.
In fact, Herbert’s not alone right here. Spacefaring sci-fi tales hardly ever take into account durations. Ripley, as I recall, by no means went across the Nostromo searching for a tampon. Rey didn’t search the Millennium Falcon, both, although you possibly can think about her wrap garment might be put to some artistic makes use of. It’s arduous to think about what would’ve occurred if The Martian’s Mark Watney had a uterus. Even the present adaptation of Y: The Final Man, which incorporates a solid nearly completely composed of period-havers, does not speak about menses a lot. It simply isn’t a subject usually coated in science fiction, except it’s speculative fiction like Handmaid’s Story that primarily offers with replica.
And, let’s be actual, it’s not like sci-fi by no means offers with issues of the physique. For many years the style has been affected by cyborgs, transhumanism, and even digital worlds—all of which problem trendy concepts of what our bodies, and their features, are. There may be ample room for dialogue of durations, however hardly ever do these discussions occur. (Maybe know-how has rendered them out of date.) Regardless that stillsuits act like a second pores and skin, they on no account make desert-dwellers cyborgs, and in Herbert’s world such a factor possible would’ve been nixed anyway contemplating the forbiddance of considering machines. As an alternative, his genius analog piece of apparatus doesn’t carry out what might be one among its key features.
It’s arduous to not think about what may’ve occurred if extra writers broached the subject. Sci-fi tends to dream up the issues humanity finally seeks to place into the world—synthetic intelligence, robots, smartphones—and maybe if Herbert had planted the concept in his groundbreaking bestselling novel, somebody at Procter & Gamble would’ve thought it was cool to spend money on growing one thing past dry-weave and pads with wings. (Although, TBH, these wings are clutch.) As an alternative, interval know-how has been the identical for many years—and NASA as soon as urged Sally Trip take 100 tampons on a one-week journey to house.
Look, possibly no person needs to examine any toilet exercise in a sci-fi guide—such mundanities are for all times, not the web page (or display). However contemplating Herbert did clarify moisture recapture from urine and feces and never menstruation, it does seem to be an oversight—one indicative of his novel’s blind spots relating to the roles of its women-identified characters. (There are not any trans characters within the Dune novel.) The Bene Gesserit are a few of the most politically and spiritually highly effective ladies within the Dune universe, but they’re additionally spoken of as threatening house witches. Paul Atreides’ mom, Jessica, a robust member of the Bene Gesserit herself, is a robust central determine, however her narrative is usually there to serve Paul’s. Similar with Chani, the Fremen who turns into his concubine. (Plenty of these characterizations led to Denis Villeneuve amplifying the roles of girls in his movie adaptation of Herbert’s guide.) Maybe their bodily wants weren’t thought of as a result of their precise lives weren’t thought of.
Fortunately, although, there are actually individuals lastly doing what Dune didn’t. DivaCup and others are out to disrupt the menstrual cup market; GladRags is bringing again reusable pads; Knix, Modibodi, and others have all types of absorbent interval underwear—just about hyperlocal stillsuits with out all of the water reclamation performance. Interval merchandise are actually a $20-billion-plus business. Simply think about if Frank Herbert had foreseen that.
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