HOMEPAGE
Underpants & panties directory
See German open-crotch underpants (Unterhosen) for attaching a menstrual pad (1888, drawing).
"Bikini" underpants from the 1912 Olympics (photo at bottom of page).
Open- and closed-crotch drawers (underpants), 1922 (ads from the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, U.S.A.).
See some German menstrual underpants from the early Nazi era, 1933, and German brief panty for menstruation from the decade before this catalog.
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
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, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
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 |
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.


MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH

German sanitary panties, pads, o.b. tampons, "massage" rod
from the Neckermann mail order catalog, probably 1970s
Also, cardboard insert for Hygimona Monatsslip (sanitary panty)


Underpants have been around for centuries. But American panties designed especially for holding menstrual pads might stem from the early 20th century.

See German open-crotch underpants (Unterhosen) for attaching a menstrual pad (1888, drawing).

"Bikini" underpants from the 1912 Olympics (photo at bottom of page).

Open- and closed-crotch drawers (underpants), 1922 (ads from the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, U.S.A.).

See some German menstrual underpants from the early Nazi era, 1933, and German brief panty for menstruation from the decade before this catalog.

Below: The reduced page offers sanitary panties (more), incontinence panties, menstrual pads, material for menstrual pads, o.b. tampons, key chains (!), massage devices for the face (ha!) and breasts, and incomprehensible stuff for hair.
Enlargements lie below.
Below: Sanitary panties (more) and underpants for incontinence.
Below: Adhesive menstrual pads, mini pads, o.b. tampons, and material for menstrual pads.
O.b. started in Europe, allegedly developed by Judith Esser. Later, the American company Johnson & Johnson
bought it, a company having a long history in American menstrual circles.
Below: For a short break from the catalog look at the cardboard insert for a package of sanitary panties - menstrual underpants.
"Kritische Tage" is German for what appears in many languages:
critical days, days during menstruation.
The catalog resumes below.
Below: "Supplies pleasant blood circulation" reads the caption for the suspiciously shaped battery-powered object right below. The Frau, about to burst into laughter (or something else), is thinking of her circulation somewhere else.
Read how a woman researching knitting magazines
stumbled on (the larger ones) ads in early 20th-century magazines that betrayed a long history of midwives and doctors, um, pleasuring women in need of relief, maybe from what was called hysteria.
Actually, the word hysteria comes from the ancient Greek for uterus and during orgasm the uterus does contract in spasms. This can propel the blood and tissue out into the vagina and the wide, wide world - or onto the pad or into the tampon or menstrual cup or sponge. Or into free fall as some women do and did.
Below: I wonder if the device at right came as a twofer with the vibrator at left for a lower price.
The text says it tones and forms [breasts] in a natural way. Do water breast massagers grow under trees?
Various underpants, panties, 1928 (page from Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, U.S.A.)
Step-in underpants, Hickory, 1928 (ad from Vanity Fair magazine, U.S.A.)
Variety of underpants from the Savage catalog, 1930, U.S.A.

© 2011 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\