See more underpants on this site.
See more 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)
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:
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.

 

"Sanitary panties" ("Monats-Höschen," underpants with holders for a menstrual pad, about 1960, Germany)

European cultures, such as Germany and America, seem to have sold tight-fitting underpants to hold a menstrual pad in place for much of the 20th century. The Sears, Roebuck catalog sold one as early as 1922 for night wear (and see many from the 1946-47 catalog, together with pad belts.)

Self-adhesive pads chased most of them out of the market in the early 1970s. See a similar American brief from 1972.

By the way, Monats-Höschen, usually written Monatshöschen today, means something like monthly underpants, meaning, of course, not that they are worn for a month, but that they are used for that monthly business, menstruation.
See more underpants on this site.

 

Most of the underpants consists of white Perlon, an artificial fiber; the crotch is lined with plastic; the loops - they hold the ends, the tabs, of the pad - are also of plastic. The waist and leg openings tighten with elastic.
The picture (I, Harry Finley, added the words and arrow) and technical information come from Zur Geschichte der Unterwäsche. 1700-1960. Eine Ausstellung des Historischen Museums Frankfurt 28. April bis 28. August 1988, by Almut Junker and Eva Stille; FfM, Germany (Historisches Museum) 1988, the catalog of an exhibit about the history of underclothing in the city historical museum of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1988. 
See more underpants on this site.

© 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