The Perils of Vaginal Douching (essay by Luci Capo Rome) - the odor page
"Faultless Feminine Syringe," No. 240, made by the Faultless Rubber Company, Ashland, Ohio, U.S.A., perhaps from the 1960s or 1970s.
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | MUM 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.

Mon Docteur vaginal douche set (incomplete?), with (separate?) documents, American, 1928-29?
Booklet: "Why Haven't We Women Been Told This Thing Before?" pages 1/2-3/4

Mon Docteur - French for "My Doctor" (a nice medical connection with French haughtiness and naughtiness, huh?) - douche apparatus allegedly cured many ills, beautified the user and even could prevent her from dying. This was an era when a "germ"-free vagina led to better health rather than to worse health as believed today. (Read Luci Rome's essay on why women should not douche. And for the heck of it, surprise yourself with what causes menstrual odor.)

Women could also buy an early menstrual cup associated with the same company. See it as well as more literature about the beauty-douching connection (!) here and here.

And read what Leona Chalmers, who developed an early menstrual cup, writes about douching in a roughly contemporary book, The Intimate Side of a Woman's Life.

Senator Royal Copeland, mentioned below, former dean of a homeopathic medical school and not a medical doctor, was the "author of several scientific works [and] nationally known for his writings and radio broadcasts on health problems" and served in the U. S. Senate from 1923-1938, according to http://bioguide.congress.gov/. He was also loyal to New York's Tammany Hall political machine.
But at the start of the great flu pandemic of 1918-20, which killed millions worldwide, as head of the New York City health department, Dr. Copeland and the port authority health officer
jointly stated that there was "not the slightest danger of an epidemic" because the disease seldom attacks "a well-nourished people." (Even had he been right, a study by his own health department had just concluded that 20 percent of city school children were malnourished.) He took no action whatsoever to prevent the spread of infection.
[from "The Great Influenza. The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" by John M. Barry (New York, 2005)]
"Spank all the flappers" is priceless, flappers being the wild young women of the 1910s and 1920s in America. I believe H. L. Mencken brought the term from England when he was editor of either The American Mercury magazine or Smart Set.
 
 

NEXT: Pages 5-8 of Why Haven't We Women Been Told This Thing Before?
Box - douche syringe - tablets - Leaflet: The "Mon Docteur" Way to Health[,] Vitality[,] and Beauty (covers, pages 1, 2/3) - Leaflet: This is It (covers, pages 2/3, 4/5, 6/7/8) - Leaflet: Every Woman Wants to be Lovely and Belovèd (pages 1/4, 2/3) - Booklet: Why Haven't We Women Been Told This Thing Before? (covers, pages 1/2-3/4, 5/6-7/8, 9/10-11/12, 13/14-15/16, 17/18-19/20, 21/22) - Booklet: The Mon Docteur Treatments (pages 12/1, 2/3, 4/5, 6/7, 8/9, 10/11) - order form

Copyright 2006 Harry Finley