Pictures of this cup and others.
Tentative history of this cup.
Older comments from users of menstrual
cups.
 
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MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
Tassette rubber menstrual cup (catamenial
receptor) prospectus,
instructions, newspaper articles, promotional leaflets for women,
doctors & medical community (1950s-1960s, U.S.A.)
(tentative history
of this cup, pictures & sketchy history of American menstrual cups)
Stock prospectus for Tassette, Inc.
When this museum opened in my house, in
1994 (it closed in 1998), a reporter from Seventeen magazine present asked
me (a guy!) what I thought the best menstrual hygiene
device was. I told her the menstrual cup.
It was compact and cheap over the long run.
But many women did not (and do not) want to insert,
empty, and reinsert it - especially in public places. I've received
many e-mails pro and con over the years about this.
Probably the first modern American cup (there are patents for foreign
cups about as old or older) appeared in the 1930s - this cup, Tassette, in its earliest incarnation.
Tambrands (former maker of Tampax tampons)
donated this Tassaway prospectus from 1961 and the instructional and promotional
literature that follow, some perhaps older. Like all companies, Tambrands
followed the activities of its competitors and pounced on information about
new ones whether menstrual napkins, cups or fellow tampons and anything
else - including any drugs to suppress menstruation.
Read here the interesting early efforts to sell
this menstrual cup - the difficulties are familiar
to people selling later cups and to their users.
I thank the former Tambrands, maker of Tampax tampons, for contributing
this material!
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Below: The black & white prospectus
measures 7 x 9" (about 17.7 x 22.3 cm).
Someone from Tambrands wrote to the right of the "Class A stock
. . ."; it's probably someone's initials with a date.
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NEXT page of prospectus - undated ad: "3 out of 4 nurses use Tassette" - newspaper
article, 20 March 1961: "New Menstrual Aid Offered
on National basis" -
undated leaflet: "'Tassette' menstrual cup for
internal sanitary protection" - undated leaflet: "a
fresh point of view" (#1) -
Tassette stock prospectus, 1961 - "Tassette:
the safe and sanitary menstrual cup" - "a
fresh point of view" (#2) -
"A Note to the Budget Minded" - "Tassette Menstrual
Cup: The ultimate in Sanitary Protection"
- the third "a fresh point of view"
Pictures of this cup and others. Tentative history of this cup. Older comments
from users of menstrual cups.
© 2008 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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