Kotex ad emphasizing shame,
1992
See Kotex items: First ad (1921) -
ad 1928 (Sears and
Roebuck catalog) - Lee
Miller ads (first real person in a
menstrual 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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Early interesting letters to the
Museum of Menstruation and Women's
Health when it was in my house
Someone sent this letter to MUM from
Cheyenne,
Wyoming; I reduced the
margins to save space. There are also
some quotes
from other letters elsewhere.
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Megan
Rosenfeld, who wrote a story about MUM
for the Washington
Post (15 April 1995),
received the unsigned
letter below at her office
soon afterward and forwarded it to the
MUM director. (See also how the Post investigated
the director of MUM, as well as a
letter the writer received.)
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What
she suggests is actually a good
idea, but it's been done before! See
the last item on this page.
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Is "sexism"
the actual point of her letter (I
assume the writer is a woman)? Compare
"put women down"
in the first letter.
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Giles S.
Rich, retired
judge of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit,
here in Washington, D. C., left a
message on my (MUM director Finley's)
answering machine soon after the Post
article (above), saying he wanted to
tell me something I might be
interested in. I was terrified! Now I KNEW the
Museum of Menstruation was illegal,
and he was kindly warning me that the
police would soon be breaking down my
door!
Here's part
of his letter to me a couple
of weeks later:
Relax. You are not
breaking any law that I know of.
The Post
article intrigued me because I
have written on the subject matter
dealt with by your MUM museum as
you will see from the enclosed
opinion of October 9, 1984
[concerning Kimberly-Clark, the
maker of Kotex, and another
company]. Judges have to be
prepared to deal with any subject,
no matter how many people may feel
squeamish about it. After all,
sentiments change. Consider how
Surg. Gen. Koop changed the
country!
. . .
Museums come
in all types. I recall that in
Paisley, England, I ran into a
museum on the history of the flush
toilet or "water closet." Perhaps
you should exchange privileges.
Carry on!
The vast majority of letters and
e-mail to MUM are positive, by
the way. See some TV
& online and other media
that have mentioned or discussed this
museum. 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, 1981).
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.
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© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 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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