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 sanitary
napkins, page 3 (pages 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Read an introduction on page 1.
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The wording avoids
any hint of menstruation; the
flowers and tendrils "euphemize"
the bag.
(A woman
studying at a university in
Arizona kindly donated this bag
in April 2001; see also the bag
below)
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The bag at left,
when seen from the back, above, is
really not taller than the front;
I sized it wrong.
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The back of
the bag at left is white with the
text
"BROWN PAPER GOODS
CO
WAUKEGAN, IL
REORDER #8B02
and the company
logo.
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"Smelling like a
rose" is the message, although I
could not detect the promised
scent.
This makes a rare
instance in the U.S.A. of a
menstrual product showing,
logically, red.
Picturing flowers
with menstrual products is not
unusual, as evidenced by other
bags on these pages. But there's
another tradition for this,
probably based on a
misunderstanding: according to the
Oxford English Dictionary, from
about 1400 to at least the 1660s
"flowers" could mean
"menstruation," based not on the
French word for flowers, fleurs,
but upon the French fluours,
"flows," which is logical and not
euphemistic. Gynecologists
sometimes say "fluor" when
describing vaginal discharge, a
meaning like that just discussed.
But I doubt the
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manufacturer had
any of this in mind when he or she
printed the bag.
The donor writes,
"This bag is a bit of a rarity -
most on campus are the ones w/ the
blue cross on them, and the small
ones [at left, which measures 4" x
3.375", 10.2 x 23.7 cm] I've only
seen in my old residence hall.
Luckily, I live in the suite-style
hall this year, so i have my own
bathroom. This bag came from one
of the other halls. This is also
the only scented bag that I've
ever seen."
(A woman
studying at a university in
Arizona kindly donated this bag
in October 2001; see also the
bag right above)
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© 1999-2004 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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