See some pad
dispensers and ads for pads that come with
pouches: New
Freedom and Whenever,
from the U.S.A., and Camelia,
from Germany.
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
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The Museum of
Menstruation and Women's Health
Disposal bags for menstrual
napkins, page 1 (pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Ms Mel Terras, of Christ Church,
University of Oxford, England,
(when she sent these while
studying for her doctorate; Dr
Terras is now [2014] at University
College London as Director,
UCL Centre for Digital Humanities
and Professor of Digital
Humanities, Department of
Information Studies at UCL) kindly
sent me five disposal bags she
found traveling through Europe; that inspired
these pages. I added a
few the museum already had from
other donors and added many more,
including a great many from the
gracious Prof Terras. Thanks, Mel!
These bags, of course, women use
to hold used pads before they
throw them away - not down the
toilet, we hope. (Here are some examples
of pads companies designed to be flushable
- theoretically.) Many women
simply wrap toilet paper around
used pads before they toss them
into the myriad containers
designed for that purpose (a
future feature on this site).
Note that the European
printing colors, below, are reds and
browns (and black),
whereas the American are as far away
from that as possible (with one
possible exception). People,
including myself, have
criticized the menstrual
products companies for using
the famous blue for showing
how pads absorbed menstrual
discharge. (Read how the
famous American efficiency
expert Dr.
Lillian Gilbreth also
criticized blue on menstrual
products packaging, in 1927,
which appeared again and
again.)
And note
the flowers, a frequent
companion to menstrual
products (here's an example
for a menstrual
cup).
A Canadian television business
program interviewed me inside the
museum in the mid-1990s to discuss
the colors used on packaging for
menstrual products. The woman
moderator and I noted that if we
extend the reasoning that
menstrual products deserve red or
brown printing instead of the blue
liquid showing pad and tampon
absorbency then toilet paper
wrapping should be brown and
yellow, for feces and urine.
Right? The
lady and I were doing our best
to not burst out laughing at the
thought. I wonder if it made it
to broadcast.
The bags
differ slightly in size; I
mostly picture them as the same
width for the sake of fit.
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Picked up in
Lincoln, England (late 1990s)
(gift of Ms. Mel Terras, Christ
Church, University of Oxford)
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Picked up in
Glasgow, Scotland (late 1990s)
On reverse: Southalls
Hygiene Services Ltd
Alum Rock Road, Birmingham B8
3DZ
Tel: 0121-328-9666
(gift of Ms. Mel Terras,
Christ Church, University of
Oxford)
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Picked up in Oslo,
Norway (late 1990s)
The writing: For better
hygiene"
*Stick the used pad/tampon into
the bag
*Put the bag into the pad box
(gift of Mel Terras,
Christ Church, University of
Oxford)
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American? (1990s)
(the words "sanitary napkin" seem
uniquely American)
(anonymous gift)
The scale
applies to all items on the
page.
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Picked up in
Berlin, Germany (late 1990s)
(gift of Mel Terras, Christ
Church, University of Oxford)
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Picked up in
Oxford, England (late 1990s)
(gift of Mel Terras, Christ
Church, University of Oxford)
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American (1990s)
(anonymous gift)
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back of bag at left
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American (1990s)
from a commercial airplane;
comes with a clean pad
(anonymous gift)
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back of bag at left
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American (1990s)
(anonymous gift)
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© 1999-2012 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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