Underpants directory - tampon directory - early commercial tampons - ads for teens
See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?
See the actual Pursette tampon, box and tote - German underpants for menstruation, about 1960 - underpants directory - tampon directory - early commercial tampons - ads for teens
See ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story)
See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?
Go to Saba ad, Are you in the know? (Kotex ads 1949, 1953), Ads for Teens
See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?
The Pursettes tampon itself
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 Tampon Panty and box (U.S.A., from Pursettes, with a box of three free Pursettes tampons inside, 1968)

Tampons, for all their virtues (read an 1945 report about tampon pluses and pad minuses), still sometimes allow leakage of menstrual discharge. Pursettes, an American tampon with no applicator, and a lubricated tip to facilitate insertion, came to the rescue with this white panty. The company used cartoons and letters directed at teenagers to sell their tampons; women tend to stay with the menstrual products they use in their teens, so the companies fought early for their dollars.

Women used to be able to buy all sorts (and a big listing) of protective underpants, aprons, etc., against menstrual leakage when pads and tampons worked worse than they do today. A late example is a panty from Kotex, sold today (2000). It's a confession of failure. How come we can zoom to the moon but not . . . ? Priorities, I guess.

In 1997 Tambrands gave the underpants to this museum as part of an amazing gift of 450 boxes of tampons dating to the founding of the Tampax company, 1936, plus hundreds of other items, including more underpants.

 

 

The box lists the components of the panty as Body: 100 percent acetate tricot;  Crotch: Olefin fiber and plasticized acetate.

 

 

I divided the box to speed download. 

 

 

Probably the original donor's hand wrote "Zayre Discount [store], Balt[imore], Md. [Maryland]," followed by what look like the writer's initials and the date, 2/15/68.

 

 

The box - front, above - which came inside the panty box, above, measures 2.5" x 1.75" (about 6.4 x 4.6 cm).
Back of the box. see the actual Pursette tampon, box and tote

See the actual Pursette tampon, box and tote - see ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story)

© 2000 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