Here are OPINIONS about menstrual cups.
Introduction to the History of the Menstrual Cup, first cup, Tassette, Tassaway, The Keeper, Daintette, Foldene)
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation - videos
What did American and European women use in the past for menstruation?
See also How shall I tell my daughter? and Personal Digest and read the whole booklet As One Girl to Another (Kotex, 1940).
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)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), and Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates)
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.
Is this the first Tampax tampon? Go to Early Commercial Tampons
Other early commercial tampons - Main Tampax patent - Ad from 1936 - World War II Tampax sign
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.
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | 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 directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | 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
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Instructions for the Tassaway menstrual cup

 
This is a section of the instructions for the Tassaway menstrual cup, from the 1970s, donated by Dr. Philip Tierno of the New York University Medical Center.
 
The wearer folds the cup just as she does today's Keeper cup, and inserts it sitting on the toilet.
 
 
The cup had to protrude slightly from the vagina when the legs were apart. A user of today's Instead cup inserts it far into the vagina, next to the cervix.
 
 
 
The woman removed it by hooking a finger through the loop and gently pulling, breaking the vacuum seal.
 
Tassaway - pronounce it tossaway and you'll see that it was a disposable, like today's Instead - failed probably for a number of reasons, including the irritation caused by the sharp edges of the protruding rings around the cup, placed there to help hold the cup in position.
The Tassette company made the reusable Tassette cup in the 1960s; this failed too.
The spiritual successor to these cups is The Keeper. See an advertisement for Tassaway, and the cup itself, and the history of the Tassaway and other cups.

A short and preliminary history of the menstrual cup
Here are OPINIONS about menstrual cups.
Introduction to the History of the Menstrual Cup, first cup, Tassette, Tassaway,
The Keeper, Daintette, Foldene)

© 1998 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or
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