Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made
for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine
- a list of books and articles about menstruation
- videos
See a Kotex ad advertising a Marjorie May
booklet.
See many more similar booklets.
See ads for menarche-education booklets:
Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1932),
Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal
Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b.
tampons (lower ad, 1981)
And read Lynn Peril's series about these
and similar booklets!
Read the full text of the 1935 Canadian edition
of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, probably identical to the American edition.
More ads for teens (see also introductory
page for teenage advertising): Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.),
Are you in the know? (Kotex
napkins and belts, 1949, U.S.A.)Are you in
the know? (Kotex napkins, 1953, U.S.A.),
Are you in the know? (Kotex
napkins and belts, 1964, U.S.A.), Freedom
(1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
See early tampons and a list of tampon on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.
 
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Ad for Tassaway menstrual cup, the Netherlands, 1972,
Margriet magazine
(Photos of the cup sit under the ad.)
Until I saw this ad (below) it had never occurred to me that American
menstrual cups had been available in Europe before The Keeper (there are
European patents for cups well before this date). This ad appeared just
as the manufacturer was shutting down because of legal problems (read more
here). According to the text at the bottom, "Tassaway
plays an important role in the life of women in America, Scandinavia and
Germany" (my translation). I wonder if "important" is exaggeration
since apparently women only bought a few thousand Tassaways in the U.S.A.,
where it originated.
Not all the text is readable on this black-and-white photocopy but the
headline screams "Change once a day - imagine" and underneath,
"No pad, no tampon." This must have been music to many ears!
I guessed the date of the ad by reading the sentence at the bottom of
the coupon ("This coupon is valid until 31 December 1972.")
See a Dutch Tassaway ad from 1973.
A Dutchman sent a better scan of the ad than the photocopy Margot van
Mulken kindly sent me, one of scores, along with some original ads as part
of the research for her article "De verpakking van maandverband: De
ontwikkeling van retoriek in tijdschriftadvertenties" in Tidschift
voor Genderstudies, 2005-1.
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A woman wrote to this museum that she had sharp memories of the rings
that circle the entrance to the cup - they injured her vagina. I suspect
they were supposed to increase the hold on the vagina to keep the cup in
place. You can see (I hope) two tiny holes on the cop maybe 1" above
the. yes, "1"" on the side view, which apparently served
to allow air in and out so the user could pull just the darned thing out
and not her uterus. Men live such simple lives, at least reproductively.
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Here are OPINIONS about menstrual cups.
Introduction to the History of the Menstrual Cup,
first cup, Tassette,
Tassaway, The Keeper,
Daintette, Foldene)
© 2006 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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