Kotex sells its pads in early vending machines. See a Kotex pad sold in a 1930s vending machine.
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.
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
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepageMUM 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

Disposal bags for sanitary napkins, page 8 (see pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11)

Years ago Dr Melissa Terras started these pages on MUM by sending me disposal bags while studying for her doctorate at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and has contributed many more since then. She's now (2014) Director, UCL Centre for Digital Humanities and Professor of Digital Humanities, Department of Information Studies, University College London.

This note (excerpts) accompanied Dr Terras's donations to MUM (I reddened and emboldened the words):

                                            Ch[rist] Ch[urch]  9/11/02
Hi Harry,

Some more disposal bags for you. ...

The one with the advert was from the Bodleian Library, Oxford (hmm, are they trying to say something about the career prospects of female academics?) The one with the Pamela-Anderson-a-like was from the Hoegaarden Brewery in Belgium. [Oh, for the academic life!] ...

Hope that you are OK!

Best,

Melissa

The bag reflects the often wonderful humor the Brits show in many ads for menstrual products (here, non-menstrual here, here, and here).

Thanks again, Mel!

Read a general discussion on page 1.


Below: The wrapper's pouch measures 4 x 14" (10.2 x 35.6 cm).

The bottom sentence, "Win a ...," seems to mean you'll find a job in Mauritius if you win the trip there. Sounds better than sitting in a WC at Oxford's Bodleian library, no matter how esteemed. The library, ... well, the toilet too?

"Stuck in the wrong position?" is an image for deconstruction to a woman poised over a hole filled with water and ...  um, yes, with water. And the air's better in Mauritius, ranked second worldwide in a quality index released by the World Health Organization in 2011 according to Wikipedia.

Reflecting the academic atmosphere, the very bottom sentence reads, "free thinkers welcome."





Above:
a beach in Mauritius, not the view in the Bodleian WC. (from Wikimedia Commons)
Below: Other side of the wrapper.

If you do win the trip, subscribe to the Guardian in case you want to switch to a secretarial or administrative job from your winning job as a WC attendant. Gosh, Guardian, don't you have jobs serving gin and tonics to people lying under umbrellas? Tips might be better, too. More sand. More, er, water.








Below: The wrapper measures 4 1/2 x 11" (11.4 x 27.9 cm) and is obviously not to the same scale as the Mauritius wrapper right above.

Dr Terras picked this up in the Hoegaarden Brewery in Belgium. Like, what goes on in brewery "rest" rooms"?

Below: The back is all white, blank, like white sand on a perfect beach. Oh, wait, that was the other bag.



NEXT Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 of disposal bags. Kotex sells its pads in early vending machines. See a Kotex pad sold in a 1930s vending machine. See some pad dispensers.

© 2014 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