Girls are not even prepared, in many cases, for the appearance of the pubic hair. This unexpected growth of hair frequently causes young girls much secret worry, and often they carefully cut it off.
G. S. Hall, Adolescence, vol. i, p. 511. Many years ago, in 1875, the late Dr. Clarke, in his Sex in Education, advised menstrual rest for girls, and thereby aroused a violent opposition which would certainly not be found nowadays, when the special risks of womanhood are becoming more clearly understood.
For a summary of the physical and mental phenomena of the menstrual period, see Havelock Ellis: Man and Woman, Ch. XI. The primitive conception of menstruation is briefly discussed in Appendix A to the first volume of these Studies, and more elaborately by J. G. Frazer in The Golden Bough. A large collection of facts with regard to the menstrual seclusion of women throughout the world will be found in Ploss and Bartels, Das Weib. The pubertal seclusion of girls at Torres Straits has been especially studied by Seligmann, Reports Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, vol. v, Ch. VI.