Tampax Junior tampons, late 1930s-1940s
Tampax Satin Learner's Kit (for
menstruation), 2001, in 3 languages
Instructions from Tampax about what to tell customers, 1936
Tampax "Educational Material
on Menstruation," 1966
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies
made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine
- a list of books and articles about menstruation
- videos
See early tampons and a list
of tampons on this site - at least the ones
I've cataloged.
 
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Tampax menstrual tampons educational booklet,
"Accent on you . . ."
1970-1980s?, U.S.A.
Whole booklet
Back and front covers
Tampax, the first tampon with an applicator (early 1930s; read a short history), and the first
really successful tampon, has a long history providing information about
menstruation and tampons. The company had to in order to sell the tampon
idea to skeptical customers worried about losing their virginity
(see a letter a mother wrote to her daughter's
doctor about tampons and hymens), losing the tampon in the vagina, blocking
the menstrual flow, etc. Many of these questions Tampax answered in its
Bulletins from the 1950s, in a medical
journal article, in a medical journal ad as
well as in early commercial ads.
And yes, use Tampax and you can swim! But only if you could before.
Read some jokes about that.
Menstrual blue, very common on menstrual products
from the liquid in ads to the old Kotex box (read what a famous efficiency
expert wrote about it) is odd: does it inadvertently
reflect what many women feel right before and during menstruation?
The drawings below describe what can be done while
menstruating with Tampax: everything, something the company has harped on
since its beginning. And why not?
But the drawings - not those below but later in the booklet - are of
the most sophisticated, skinny and old looking 12-year-olds
I've ever seen, about like the 12-year-old flapper
in the Marjorie May booklet from 1935. Maybe the Tampax people used clip-art
drawings, common in those days. But they look wildly wrong.
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Back cover, below
The closed booklet measures 5" x 7 1/8" (about 12.7 x 18.1 cm).
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Front cover, below
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© 2007 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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