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, 1970s)
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 - 1997
Look What the Norwegians Have done!
A town museum in Norway is now
teaching its citizens a lot about menstruation, courtesy of the company
celebrating its fiftieth anniversary that makes Libresse pads, a popular
brand in Scandinavia.
Merethe Slensvik of Libresse just sent me a stack of newspaper
stories and photos of the exhibit, part of which you can see in this MUM
site.
Even though museum officials say this is a very
unusual exhibit, I could have expected it in a liberal country like
Norway.
I visited Oslo, the capital, in 1966 as a soldier stationed
in Germany. Walking into a little milk-and-bread store - it reminded me
of a 7-11 here in the States - I saw a grandmotherly lady tending the cash
register. In front of me was a rack of, well, pretty naughty little magazines,
with much more explicit covers than Playboy, which represented the extreme
of anything I had ever seen.
That was 31 years ago. I
think it is indicative of the status of menstruation that it has taken this
long for such an open country to have a public exhibit about it.
But better late than never!
When Canadians Can See Under Wraps
Penny Wheelwright, a producer and writer of the film Under Wraps, the great Canadian film about menstruation,
called to say the hour program will run on the Knowledge Network on 29 April, TV Ontario on 30 April and on the
Communications Network in Saskatchewan on 7 May, in addition to the 11 March
date in Toronto.
You can also buy
the film!
Speak Up in the Menstrual Hut!
A friend of the museum, Miki Walsh, e-mails:
This is to let you know that there is a brand new discussion
list out there, started by yours truly, called The Menstrual Hut. This is
intended to be a forum to discuss any aspect of menstruation and help get
rid of some of the myths and taboos that STILL surround the subject! It
promises to be informative, fun, and, well, perhaps even cathartic!
While the subjects of sex and menstruation
will be discussed, please don't confuse this list with alt.sex menstruation!
Anyone can join us in the
Menstrual Hut - young or old, female or male! The only requirements are
that you want to share your thoughts, experiences, questions, and concerns
with others, and that you want to be part of a community that is working
towards getting rid of some of the negativity surrounding menstruation.
 Menstrual Sponges Issued to
WACs in World War II?
What with the interest today in alternatives to pads and
tampons, consider the menstrual sponge, which probably
predates the menstrual cup by
eons.
A reader of the Chicago Tribune article about this museum
a year or two ago, John Fleer, donated to MUM a sponge and its case (above
left) he found in an abandoned drugstore in Kansas decades ago while looking
for old patent medicine bottles.
Both Fleer and Dr.
Barbara Czerwinski, who is conducting a study about the hygienic requirements
of female members of the military for the Department of Defense, believe
the U.S. Army issued this sponge to members of the Womens Army Corps (WAC)
during World War II.
Check out our sponge!
MUM Looks for Additions
Do you have or know of items which belong
in the Museum of Menstruation? These can be articles, books, ads, actual
products (but unused!), packaging, pictures or silly, kitschy things - and
anecdotes or reports from any culture. Actually ANYTHING concerning menstruation
in any culture, however humble, is a welcome addition to the museum and
archive.
Scholars and the public from around the world look to the museum as a source
for cultural information about menstruation, and you can help them!
The museum is expanding its collection, and is seeking a completely public
place for its exhibits and archive - and future cafe, shop and meeting and
lecture halls.
Being considered also is a unique display of the history of women's health,
an expansion of the concept of the museum.
© 1997 Harry Finley. It is illegal
to reproduce or distribute 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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See Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and
German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1981) See a Lucky Strike cigarettes ad from 1933.
See ads for menarche-education booklets:
Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday
(Kotex, 1933),
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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