Teen ads directory. The company made similar folders for its Modess pads, underpants, etc.
Are you in the know? (a great Kotex booklet with priceless language)
See a slightly earlier booklet for girls in Germany from o.b. tampons. (See all MUM booklets for girls on this site.)
More Stayfree (U.S.A., the Netherlands) ad with Cathy Rigby (1982). More ads with Rigby and others (U.S.A., Germany, Hispanic America). Listen to Cathy Rigby speak a radio ad for Stayfree (1982). Ads, U.S.A., 1973, 1974, showing new beltless pad - Ad, 1980, cheerleaders - Ad, 1977, girl skateboarding in white shorts - Ad, 1982, white shorts - Ad, U.S.A., 1984: white sheets as main design element - Ad, 1996, cartwheel in white pants - Dutch ads showing women wearing pad & belt: 1972 (photo), 1973 (drawing) - German, 1976, 1977, diagrams showing blood flow & panties
More Modess (Johnson & Johnson, U.S.A.) 1927 Gilbreth report to Johnson & Johnson about Modess - newspaper ads 1927-28 - "Silent Purchase" ad, June 1928 - ad, 1928 - ad, April 1929 ("Don't weaken, Mother") - ad, June 1929 ("Never mind, Mother, you'll learn") - ad about concealing pad, 1930 - ad compared with Kotex ad, 1931 - ad, 1931 - wrapped Modess pad for dispenser, 1930s? - Ad, U.K., 1936 - True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947 - Australian ad, 1957 - ad (1956) with "Modess . . . . because" ad incorporated into it - ad for "Growing Up and Liking It" booklet (1963, Modess) - actress Carol Lynley in "How shall I tell my daughter?" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates) - French ad, 1970s? - ad, French, 1972, photo by David Hamilton - Personal Digest leaflets (6), 1966-67: describe Modess products - How Modess Sanitary Napkins Began: excerpts from"A Company That Cares: One Hundred Year Illustrated History of Johnson and Johnson"
Read the complete Growing Up and Liking It for girls booklets: 1944, 1964, 1970, 1972, and many covers 1944-1978
Read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets! And see the covers of the booklets How shall I tell my daughter?, Growing up and liking it, and Personal Digest; read the whole booklet As One Girl to Another (Kotex, 1940).
HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
LIST OF ALL TOPICS |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
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, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
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 |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

Personal Products Company (Stayfree, Carefree panty shields, Sure & Natural & Modess sanitary pads & tampons), menarche, menstruation & puberty folder for teenage girls
(To answer your questions about) Your Teenage Menstrual Cycle, 1980, U.S.A., complete

This folder is a short version of the typical booklet for girls that companies produced to explain menstruation and pitch their products. The company made similar ones for its Modess pads, underpants, etc.

But untypical is the joke - I think it's a visual pun - on the cover, below: The girl rides a [bi]cycle - har de har har, get it? - with a basket of flowers, a common association with menstruation and an old name for it. Well, lessee, could the basket be a - vagina? (See an ancient bowl as a bleeding vagina.) Wow, those Personal Products Company people were a riot! Very clever, actually, and admirable.

But get this: The girl is on top of her menstrual cycle, meaning she understands and controls it (through this folder)! The controlling part is a stretch, still. This is the wittiest outburst I've ever seen in a publication from a major American menstrual products company, which tend to be corporate uptight (like America). Even the Are you in the know? (a great booklet with priceless language) ads from Kotex are cute and amusing rather than clever, and Betty Kay from a menstrual belt company is PMS ravaged, even scary. But then there are the British . . . .

More humor.

Teen ads directory
See a slightly earlier booklet for girls in Germany from o.b. tampons. (See all MUM booklets for girls on this site.)
More Stayfree (U.S.A., the Netherlands) ad with Cathy Rigby (1982). More ads with Rigby and others (U.S.A., Germany, Hispanic America). Listen to Cathy Rigby speak a radio ad for Stayfree (1982). Ads, U.S.A., 1973, 1974, showing new beltless pad - Ad, 1980, cheerleaders - Ad, 1977, girl skateboarding in white shorts - Ad, 1982, white shorts - Ad, U.S.A., 1984: white sheets as main design element - Ad, 1996, cartwheel in white pants - Dutch ads showing women wearing pad & belt: 1972 (photo), 1973 (drawing) - German, 1976, 1977, diagrams showing blood flow & panties
Below: Small pictures of the two sides of the folder (enlarged on the next two pages). The open folder measures 18 7/8 x 7 7/8" (c. 48 x 20 cm) and folds into four sections, the fourth being about half the size of the others.
 
Below is the cover but we'll start with the other side of the folder (next page), which is where the narrative begins. I added the black lines around the pages.
The girl rides a [bi]cycle - har de har har, get it? - with a basket of flowers, a common association with menstruation and an old name for it. Well, lessee, could the basket be a - vagina? (See an ancient bowl as a bleeding vagina.) Wow, those Personal Products Company people were a riot! Very clever, actually, and admirable.But get this: The girl is on top of her [menstrual] cycle, meaning she understands it (through this folder)!
 
NEXT || beginning of text (explanation of the menstrual cycle) - reverse side || Are you in the know? (a great booklet with priceless language) || Teen ads directory || See a slightly earlier booklet for girls in Germany from o.b. tampons. (See all MUM booklets for girls on this site.) More Stayfree (U.S.A., the Netherlands) ad with Cathy Rigby (1982). More ads with Rigby and others (U.S.A., Germany, Hispanic America). Listen to Cathy Rigby speak a radio ad for Stayfree (1982). Ads, U.S.A., 1973, 1974, showing new beltless pad - Ad, 1980, cheerleaders - Ad, 1977, girl skateboarding in white shorts - Ad, 1982, white shorts - Ad, U.S.A., 1984: white sheets as main design element - Ad, 1996, cartwheel in white pants - Dutch ads showing women wearing pad & belt: 1972 (photo), 1973 (drawing) - German, 1976, 1977, diagrams showing blood flow & panties. More Modess (Johnson & Johnson, U.S.A.) 1927 Gilbreth report to Johnson & Johnson about Modess - newspaper ads 1927-28 - "Silent Purchase" ad, June 1928 - ad, 1928 - ad, April 1929 ("Don't weaken, Mother") - ad, June 1929 ("Never mind, Mother, you'll learn") - ad about concealing pad, 1930 - ad compared with Kotex ad, 1931 - ad, 1931 - wrapped Modess pad for dispenser, 1930s? - Ad, U.K., 1936 - True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947 - Australian ad, 1957 - ad (1956) with "Modess . . . . because" ad incorporated into it - ad for "Growing Up and Liking It" booklet (1963, Modess) - actress Carol Lynley in "How shall I tell my daughter?" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates) - French ad, 1970s? - ad, French, 1972, photo by David Hamilton - Personal Digest leaflets (6), 1966-67: describe Modess products - How Modess Sanitary Napkins Began: excerpts from"A Company That Cares: One Hundred Year Illustrated History of Johnson and Johnson"
 

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