See the roughly contemporary Cashay and Dale tampons, and very early Tampax and fax.
See a shorter version of the report published in Consumer Reports, in the September 1945 issue. It is less technical than the JAMA original, although approved by Dickinson.
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.

"Tampons as menstrual guards"

("The Dickinson Report," 1945)

This 1945 reprint, with minor additions, of the report of Dr. Robert L. Dickinson, entitled "Tampons as menstrual guards," in the 16 June 1945 issue (Vol. 128, pp. 490-494) of the Journal of the American Medical Association was important for its promotion of tampon use and the tampon industry, and the discouragement of the use of pads by women. Using tampons meant inserting something into the vagina, territory mothers told their daughters to stay away from. (Interestingly, one reason Dickinson gives for avoiding pads is the sexual stimulation of the woman by the friction of the pad against the vulva.) Many women, even today, believed that tampons could block the menstrual flow rather than absorb it. And there are other reasons discussed by the doctor.

Dr. Dickinson made training material for Tampax tampons (see some here), which clouds his impartiality (in my view). I don't know if he worked for other tampon companies, which multiplied during the 1930s (see some here).

Compare some of the advantages and disadvantages of pads with the ones that Dr. Lillian Gilbreth discussed in her lively 1927 report to the Johnson & Johnson Company, which appeared before women could buy commercial tampons in the early 1930s.

The two blistering opening paragraphs speak for many women today. I wonder what Dr. Dickinson would say about menstrual-suppression pills like Seasonale.

Read a long excerpt from Dr. Dickinson's book Control of Conception (1931/32).

See a shorter version of the report published in Consumer Reports, in the September 1945 issue. It is less technical than the JAMA original, although approved by Dickinson.
A Dutchman kindly donated scans of this report to MUM, which bears the following biographical information on its first page before proceeding to the text, below, on page 2:


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