Similar Irving Nurick ads for teens: 1942, 1943, 1944, World War II era, Great booklet (1956), 1948, 1949, 1949, 1950s, 1952, 1953, 1964
See also Ads for Teens

Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation
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Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

"Why was I born a Woman?"
Ad for Kotex menstrual pads, September 1941, in
Woman's Home Companion magazine, U.S.A

I can't answer big questions like the title of this ad, a cri de coeur. Writers send similar questions in sometimes stronger language to this site's Would you stop menstruating if you could? page. I know some of you feel that way.

But I can answer small questions!

I want you to study the ad below and the enlargements on the next page. The great Irving Nurick (more about him) painted it in the American tradition of realism he demonstrated in many ads for Kotex and other companies (see more examples in the left column and below the ad).

OK, start studying! Then go to the next page.

Oh, just a few months after this ad appeared the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, which had been blasting England, preparing it for its invasion. Nurick showed men in uniform during the war.

See "As One Girl To Another," advertised at the bottom right.

The manufacturer probably gave decks of cards to dealers to nudge them into selling Modess pads in the 1960s.

I thank the generous donor, who has contributed many items since the start of MUM, in 1994!


Kotex ad,
                                1941
NEXT | interesting details
Similar Irving Nurick ads for teens: 1942, 1943, 1944, World War II era, Great booklet (1956), 1948, 1949, 1949, 1950s, 1952, 1953, 1964
See also Ads for Teens
Many more
BOOKLETS - See TAMPONS, MENSTRUAL BELTS, PADS, CUPS, SPONGES, UNDERPANTS

© 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