See the American "Sylvia" comic strip episode about this museum and some cartoon-style ads for menstrual products, here, here and here.
And see
my own comic strip about the future of this museum.
See early tampons and a list of tampon on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.
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.

 "Now, what's the matter, are we going to pee?"

"I'm not ready, nurse."

"PEE! NOW!" 

"The whole ward peed in their beds!"

"I'm terribly indisposed. [I'm having my period]


"Single," comic strip, the Netherlands, 31 October 2005,
by Hanco Kolk and Peter de Wit

"Single," which appears in some publications in the Netherlands, including the national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, deals with the lives of three single nurses. Two men create the strip.

Above, Nurse Nienke has menstrual period problems not only in this episode but in several others, in one case causing the traffic on a main highway to be rerouted via a broadcast through car radios - she got not only her own lane but her own side of the highway!

The Dutchman who sent me the strip wrote, "As in your country [America] menstruation is mostly not openly discussed and is also rare in daily mainstream strips!!"

The contributor, who has generously sent scans of many ads and other items from Europe and America (like here) dealing with menstruation, wrote that "Ik ben ongesteld" - "I'm indisposed" - is the common way for a woman to say she's menstruating - similar to the German expression. See more at Words and expressions about menstruation. And the Dutch, like the Germans, call nurses "sister," ("zuster," above, and see a German "Schwester") which is how Americans address Catholic nuns. But nurses and nuns and hospitals all have roots in Christianity.

And how about the English word as title? Many countries use bits of English in advertising and elsewhere, for example Germany (the Germans call it "Denglish," combining Deutsch and English, Deutsch meaning German in German) and Japan ("Engrish," since the Japanese don't have an L sound in their language and usually can't pronounce it). English speakers of course use their words too, like verboten and tsunami.

The "Single" Web site is at http://www.s1ngle.nl. Note the number 1 instead of an i. Otherwise you get a dating site - um, OK, but do you write Dutch?

If anyone knows of other comic strips anywhere dealing with menstruation please write me! Can you imagine an American strip in a national publication dealing with, um, er, peeing?

See the American "Sylvia" comic strip episode about this museum and some cartoon-style ads for menstrual products,
here, here and here.  And a German comic strip about menstrual synchrony.