Here are OPINIONS about menstrual cups.
Introduction to the History of the Menstrual Cup, first cup, Tassette, Tassaway, The Keeper, Daintette, Foldene)
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation - videos
What did American and European women use in the past for menstruation?
See also How shall I tell my daughter? and Personal Digest and read the whole booklet As One Girl to Another (Kotex, 1940).
See a Kotex ad advertising a Marjorie May booklet.
See many more similar booklets.
See ads for menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1932), Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1981)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), and Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates)
And read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets!
Read the full text of the 1935 Canadian edition of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, probably identical to the American edition.
Is this the first Tampax tampon? Go to Early Commercial Tampons
Other early commercial tampons - Main Tampax patent - Ad from 1936 - World War II Tampax sign
More ads for teens (see also introductory page for teenage advertising): Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.), Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and belts, 1949, U.S.A.)Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins, 1953, U.S.A.), Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and belts, 1964, U.S.A.), Freedom (1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
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.

Ad for Tassaway menstrual cup, the Netherlands, 1972,
Margriet magazine

(Photos of the cup sit under the ad.)

Until I saw this ad (below) it had never occurred to me that American menstrual cups had been available in Europe before The Keeper (there are European patents for cups well before this date). This ad appeared just as the manufacturer was shutting down because of legal problems (read more here). According to the text at the bottom, "Tassaway plays an important role in the life of women in America, Scandinavia and Germany" (my translation). I wonder if "important" is exaggeration since apparently women only bought a few thousand Tassaways in the U.S.A., where it originated.

Not all the text is readable on this black-and-white photocopy but the headline screams "Change once a day - imagine" and underneath, "No pad, no tampon." This must have been music to many ears!

I guessed the date of the ad by reading the sentence at the bottom of the coupon ("This coupon is valid until 31 December 1972.")

See a Dutch Tassaway ad from 1973.

A Dutchman sent a better scan of the ad than the photocopy Margot van Mulken kindly sent me, one of scores, along with some original ads as part of the research for her article "De verpakking van maandverband: De ontwikkeling van retoriek in tijdschriftadvertenties" in Tidschift voor Genderstudies, 2005-1.
 

 

A woman wrote to this museum that she had sharp memories of the rings that circle the entrance to the cup - they injured her vagina. I suspect they were supposed to increase the hold on the vagina to keep the cup in place. You can see (I hope) two tiny holes on the cop maybe 1" above the. yes, "1"" on the side view, which apparently served to allow air in and out so the user could pull just the darned thing out and not her uterus. Men live such simple lives, at least reproductively.

Here are OPINIONS about menstrual cups.
Introduction to the History of the Menstrual Cup, first cup, Tassette, Tassaway, The Keeper, Daintette, Foldene)

© 2006 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of the
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