Read soem earlier booklets from Kotex and others to educate girls about menstruation: Read most of a 1928 Australian edition of the Kotex booklet Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, and read three mid-1930s booklets by Kotex, including a much-changed version of Marjorie May's twelfth Birthday.
Read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets! And see covers of the booklets How shall I tell my daughter?, Growing up and liking it, and Personal Digest
Read the whole menarche booklet As One Girl to Another (Kotex, 1940).
Go to Saba Ad, Pursettes ad, Are you in the know? (1949)(1964)(booklet, 1956), Ads for Teens
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
DIRECTORY of all topics (See also the SEARCH ENGINE, bottom of page.)
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links: homepage | LIST OF ALL TOPICS | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Ad for teenagers: "Are you in the know?" Kotex menstrual pads, 1953

For years copywriters for Kotex sanitary pads produced Are you in the know? advertisements for teenage American girls. They are hilarious, at least to us. But teens understood the language. And they needed menstrual advice, and who better to give it than Kotex? This illustrates Joan Brumberg's point (in her book The Body Project) about the menstrual hygiene companies' taking over menstrual education from parents and friends (see some links in the left column). The ads threw in other advice as well, such as how to get along with boys, touching a weak spot in most every girl. Why not improve your luck and use Kotex?

This is an ad from March 1953. See an earlier version (1949).

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Read most of a 1928 Australian edition of the Kotex booklet Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, and read three mid-1930s booklets by Kotex, including a much-changed version of Marjorie May's twelfth Birthday.

© 1998 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org