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o.b. ads,
booklets & actual tampons:
German (1970s) - German
(1972) nude woman on bed - German nude
(1970s)
- French (1989) -
folder,
Germany, early 1950s (tells
what o.b. means!)
- Dutch, two ads
from 1959 giving THEIR take on
what o.b. means, which was wrong - Dutch
ads, 1962,
1967 - Belgian ad with
beach & bathing suits, 1980s? - American
ad showing Judith
Esser, designer of the o.b. tampon,
August, 1984 - o.b. puberty
booklets (excerpts): German, Dutch (2004) -
o.b. actual tampons:
Switzerland (o.b.é.),
1970
More o.b. booklets:
[Die] Menstruation (excerpts,
1977, o.b. tampons, Germany) Photographer
David Hamilton contributed many
photographs to this explicit and beautiful
booklet. By the way, "Die"
in the title means "the," not to lose life.
Volwassen worden
("Growing up," the
Netherlands, excerpts,
2004, o.b. tampons)
Your Personal Guide to
Menstruation and Tampon Usage
(complete
booklet, U.S.A., 1988, o.b. tampons)
Booklets
menstrual hygiene companies made
for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine
- a list of books
and articles about menstruation
See early tampons
and a list of tampons
on this site - at least the ones I've
cataloged.
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Anne
non-applicator
menstrual tampons with finger cots, box of 10
(1968)
Japan, from o.b. tampons
In honor of
ANNE FRANK
teenage, women, health,
menstruation, non-applicator,
period, hygiene
"Anne" is another example of the
Japanese use of Western words
and names. But in this case
the name is of
a very particular person: Anne Frank
of diary
fame who died in a Nazi
concentration camp. Read the amazing
story of the tampon. And
read a Dutch
discussion (in Dutch) of
this Japanese menstruation-name
connection
as related to a menstrual pad
(Anne Frank was Dutch). I thank
very much
the Dutch contributor of many
items to this site for pointing
out the tampon's
name origin!
This Dutch
father of four grown daughters
also
writes,
[Anne Frank] knows the
difference between tampons and
sanitary napkins when
she writes:
"Oh I forgot to mention the
important news that I'm
probably going to get my
period soon. I can tell
because I keep finding a
whitish smear in my panties
and Mom predicted it would
start soon. I can hardly wait.
It's such a momentous event.
Too bad I can't use sanitary
napkins but you can't get them
anymore, and Mama's tampons
can be used only by women
who've had a baby." (from The
Dairy of
a Young Girl - the
Definitive Edition).
NB: Quite interesting when you
read the Dutch text (from the
Dutch definitive Edition, 6th
edition, April 2001):
"PS. Ik heb je nog vergeten
het gewichtige nieuws te
vertellen dat ik
waarschijnlijk gauw ongesteld
wordt. Dat merk ik omdat er
steeds zo'n soort kleverig
zaad in mijn broek ligt en
moeder heeft het mij
voorspeld. Ik kan het haast
niet afwachten het lijkt me zo
gewichtig, alleen jammer dat
ik nu geen damesverband kan
dragen want dat krijgt men ook
niet meer, en die stokjes van
mama kunnen alleen vrouwen
dragen die al eens een kind
gehad hebben. "
I find it interesting that the
translation smooths the Dutch
text when:
a) 'soort kleverig zaad' becomes
"whitish smear" and
b) 'die stokjes' becomes
"tampons".
Zaad means literally in Dutch
'semen'
or 'seed'
and 'stokjes' means literally 'little
branches'. The
translation is very correct but Anne does
not use in 1942 the Dutch
words 'afscheiding'
(discharge) and 'tampon' we
nowadays are used to. [But the word
tampon DID appear in
Dutch advertising for Tampax
by at least 1938. See the third
paragraph of the small text
beginning with "Doctoren."]
But Ms.
Frank's was not the only
Anne-like name
to grace a menstrual product.
An American manufacturer named
his menstrual sponge after his
wife Anna! What is it with
Ann(e, a)?
These are the only two products
that I know that bear the names of
real
people although Ms. Frank lent
hers unwittingly. Curious too is
that both
people were Jews, who
form a very small percentage
of the population. And the sponge
probably comes from the 1940s,
when Ms.
Frank wrote her diary and died. Write
me
if you know of other examples.
Note that these people - and ME,
the MUM director - are all outsiders
in society in some way: as Jews or
as males.
In Japan, apparently the
traditional method to absorb
menstrual flow
was the pony,
or pad held by a belt.
Commercial menstrual tampons
were probably a mid-20th century
introduction.
One of the reasons Western women
used tampons even before their
commercial
introduction in the 1930s was for
performing in
front
of an audience. But in Japan
men
played
the female parts in traditional
theater, thus eliminating any
worry about
menstruation.
Elldy,
also Japanese, also had finger
protectors (cots).
This tampon is an o.b. adapted
for Japan.
Read
about Japanese
script on tampon
boxes.
I thank
the former Tambrands (history) for the
donation!
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Below:
The cardboard
box measures 2
1/2 x 2 1/8 x 1 1/8" (6.4
x 5.4 x 3 cm).
Someone at Tambrands, the
former maker of Tampax,
wrote the "received
(rec'd)" date on the box.
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Below:
The opposite
side of the box. The price
label, for 170 yen, lies
enlarged below. This
is almost the same price
as for a contemporary
Japanese tampon, Cellopon.
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Below:
For those wishing to brush up on
their Japanese. Good luck!
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Below:
The bottom
of the box.
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Below:
The top
of the box.
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Below:
The small
sides of the box are identical.
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NEXT |
instructions p.1
& p.2
- tampon
o.b. ads,
booklets & actual tampons: German
(1970s) - German
(1972)
nude woman on bed - German nude
(1970s) - French
(1989) - folder,
Germany, early 1950s (tells what o.b.
means!)
- Dutch,
two ads from 1959 giving THEIR
take
on what o.b. means, which was wrong
- [Die] Menstruation (excerpts,
1977,
o.b. tampons, Germany)
Photographer David Hamilton
contributed many photographs to
this explicit and beautiful
booklet.
So many BOOKLETS
- So many TAMPONS
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© 2010 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
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