Booklets menstrual
hygiene companies made for girls, women and
teachers - patent
medicine - a list
of books and articles about menstruation - videos
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)
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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