See a Dutch Libresse
ad, 1998. See an old American tampon, Lotus.
Read a Personal Products booklet for older
girls from about this time, The Periodic Cycle
(1938). See similar
booklets on this site.
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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Shame in a Polish menstrual napkin
ad for Libresse, c. 1998
Elvira, who contributed to the Art
of Menstruation - here - sent
this Polish ad that she translated
into English for the museum. (It's
possible the ad was created for the
markets of many countries; the
appropriate languages then filled the
balloons.) Born in Poland but living
since she was six in Austria, she
returned to Poland for a year in 1998
and found this ad in a magazine for
teenagers.
She writes that in Catholic Poland
menstruation, masturbation,
homosexuality, abortion and
contraception are very taboo and
hardly discussible, more so than in
Austria. Sounds kinda like parts of
America - and my family! In her Polish
biology book, in 1998, there were four
pages of tips to help young people
avoid masturbating (read a famous
American doctor's tips to
avoid masturbating.) After Elvira
decided to study medicine, her
mother's first words were, "I hope you
won't become a gynecologist." "As if
that were something disgusting," she
adds. Good luck, Elvira!
Staining their clothing with
menstrual blood is a concern for many
women and this ad demonstrates that -
and how to solve it the Libresse pad
way! See an
earlier ad, this time American
and for small tampons, that also takes
place in a gym and similarly concerns
that timeless concern, shame.
Note the very feminine main
characters and the masculine
instructor with the short blonde hair.
And it seems to me that Japanese manga
comics influenced the drawing,
especially the eyes.
A section of the Polish language
part sits below the large ad.
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| Below: part of the ad
showing the original Polish. |
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See a Dutch Libresse
ad, 1998. See an old American tampon, Lotus.
© 2005 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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