See ads for menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1933), Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1970s)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates), and Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1928).
And read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets!
See more Kotex items: First ad (1921) - ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Lee Miller ads (first real person in amenstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here to Kotex items) - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls; Australian edition) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal method - box from about 1969 - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
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.


THE MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH - 1997

Look What the Norwegians Have done!

A town museum in Norway is now teaching its citizens a lot about menstruation, courtesy of the company celebrating its fiftieth anniversary that makes Libresse pads, a popular brand in Scandinavia.

Merethe Slensvik of Libresse just sent me a stack of newspaper stories and photos of the exhibit, part of which you can see in this MUM site.

Even though museum officials say this is a very unusual exhibit, I could have expected it in a liberal country like Norway.

I visited Oslo, the capital, in 1966 as a soldier stationed in Germany. Walking into a little milk-and-bread store - it reminded me of a 7-11 here in the States - I saw a grandmotherly lady tending the cash register. In front of me was a rack of, well, pretty naughty little magazines, with much more explicit covers than Playboy, which represented the extreme of anything I had ever seen.

That was 31 years ago. I think it is indicative of the status of menstruation that it has taken this long for such an open country to have a public exhibit about it.

But better late than never!

When Canadians Can See Under Wraps

Penny Wheelwright, a producer and writer of the film Under Wraps, the great Canadian film about menstruation, called to say the hour program will run on the Knowledge Network on 29 April, TV Ontario on 30 April and on the Communications Network in Saskatchewan on 7 May, in addition to the 11 March date in Toronto.

You can also buy the film!

Speak Up in the Menstrual Hut!

A friend of the museum, Miki Walsh, e-mails:

This is to let you know that there is a brand new discussion list out there, started by yours truly, called The Menstrual Hut. This is intended to be a forum to discuss any aspect of menstruation and help get rid of some of the myths and taboos that STILL surround the subject! It promises to be informative, fun, and, well, perhaps even cathartic!

While the subjects of sex and menstruation will be discussed, please don't confuse this list with alt.sex menstruation!

Anyone can join us in the Menstrual Hut - young or old, female or male! The only requirements are that you want to share your thoughts, experiences, questions, and concerns with others, and that you want to be part of a community that is working towards getting rid of some of the negativity surrounding menstruation.


Menstrual Sponges Issued to WACs in World War II?

What with the interest today in alternatives to pads and tampons, consider the menstrual sponge, which probably predates the menstrual cup by eons.

A reader of the Chicago Tribune article about this museum a year or two ago, John Fleer, donated to MUM a sponge and its case (above left) he found in an abandoned drugstore in Kansas decades ago while looking for old patent medicine bottles.

Both Fleer and Dr. Barbara Czerwinski, who is conducting a study about the hygienic requirements of female members of the military for the Department of Defense, believe the U.S. Army issued this sponge to members of the Womens Army Corps (WAC) during World War II.

Check out our sponge!

MUM Looks for Additions

Do you have or know of items which belong in the Museum of Menstruation? These can be articles, books, ads, actual products (but unused!), packaging, pictures or silly, kitschy things - and anecdotes or reports from any culture. Actually ANYTHING concerning menstruation in any culture, however humble, is a welcome addition to the museum and archive.
Scholars and the public from around the world look to the museum as a source for cultural information about menstruation, and you can help them!
The museum is expanding its collection, and is seeking a completely public place for its exhibits and archive - and future cafe, shop and meeting and lecture halls.
Being considered also is a unique display of the history of women's health, an expansion of the concept of the museum.


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© 1997 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org

See Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and
German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1981) See a Lucky Strike cigarettes ad from 1933.

See ads for menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1933),
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates),
and Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1928).
And read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets!
See another ad for As One Girl to Another (1942), and the booklet itself.