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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Early "sanitary panties" for menstruation from the
Sears, Roebuck Catalog (1928)
Apparently women did not wear underpants until the upper classes started
doing so in the nineteenth century, probably originally developed in England
for children to shield their legs and genitals from view when playing at
school.
The first ones were essentially two long leg tubes joined at the waist,
leaving a large gap in the crotch, enabling the woman to perform bodily
functions without lowering them. I suspect the wide dresses of the era made
dealing with underpants inconvenient.
Later in the century the gap was closed, and the legs became shorter.
Sears sold a form of children's diapers early in the century which actually
looked like today's briefs for both sexes.
In 1922 Sears advertised "sanitary bloomers"
for night wear, which look like the briefs we know.
It wasn't until 1935 that Sears sold what we would call briefs
for women to wear in non-menstrual situations.
© 1999 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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