Read an earlier discussion of this: What did European and American women use for menstruation in the 19th century and before?
See the B-ettes tampon. See the tampon directory.
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, 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)
More ads for teens: See a Modess True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
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.


The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

Some European women regularly menstruated into
their clothing:
More evidence (Part 4)

A 19th-century German comments on menstruation, with a proposal for a menstrual pad and belt: from Friedrich Eduard Bilz's Das Neue Naturheilverfahren (about 1890)


Read the discussion here.
(translated text continued from here)
Translation by Harry Finley (the original text is at the bottom of this page):
After a discussion of making pads for women who have just had babies, which I've omitted, Bilz discusses girls starting puberty. The word he uses for a girl's puberty, Mannbarkeit, is strange, having the German word for male, Mann, as part of it. In my first translation I missed the sinister aspect to the word. The Austrian woman who contributed the text to the museum set me straight:
The word in this case does not mean "manhood," but has more sinister nuances. Let me explain with examples: something you can eat/ is good enough to be eaten, i.e., edible, would be "essbar" [in German, from the German essen, to eat]. Something you can read/ is good enough to be read, i.e., readable, would be "lesbar" [from the German lesen].
Edible, readable, essbar, lesbar, etc., are nowadays used when describing something not too enthusiastically, though I suppose the nuances of expression have changed in the last 100 years. Although I am tempted, I wouldn't go so far to translate "mannbar" as the British "shagable" ["fuckable" in the U.S.A.].
In this word you see a definition of womanhood because of its use to the male. "Mannbar" means literally "man-able," implying that a woman that is able to menstruate has a) matured enough to be used sexually by a man (for his pleasure) and b) can now be impregnated and be bearer of his children.
So boys may mature into man-hood, whereas girls apparently only mature into being man-able.

Translation:
It's very desirable that grown daughters are made to act in the same way during their menstruation. If they get a small pad corresponding to their body size at the time of puberty and are guided about cleanliness, they'll be spared much unpleasantness and in any case will have an undisturbed sexual development.
Poorer women for whom the rather low price for such pads and accessories is still too high can easily make pads from any kind of fabric and the pillows from muslin and cheap cotton bought wholesale by weight.
End

End - Read an earlier discussion of this: What did European and
American women use for menstruation in the 19th century and before?

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