Open and closed drawers, ad, 1922, Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, at the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

See an interesting chart, almost contemporary (1923), showing a proposed relationship between dress length, etc., and painful menstruation, in Woman's Physical Freedom, a book by Clelia Duel Mosher, M.D., and read a discussion of dress length and bodily functions, on this site.

Underpants directory - tampon directory - early commercial tampons - ads for teens

See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?

See the actual Pursette tampon, box and tote - German underpants for menstruation, about 1960 - underpants directory - tampon directory - early commercial tampons - ads for teens

See ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story)

See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?

Go to Saba ad, Are you in the know? (Kotex ads 1949, 1953), Ads for Teens

See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?

The Pursettes tampon itself

DIRECTORY of all topics (See also the SEARCH ENGINE, bottom of page.)

CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links: homepage | LIST OF ALL TOPICS | 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.

Ads for open- and closed-seat drawers (underpants) (1922 Spring-Summer Montgomery Ward & Co. catalog, U.S.A.)

Open-seat underpants (see drawings of an older pair showing how they "worked") enabled women to easily urinate and defecate without having to reach under their dresses to pull down or remove anything. It also allowed them to wear a menstrual belt and pad over their underpants, since the pad could pass through the opening (see a German drawing from 1888). That's my theory, anyhow.

Open seats had at least two disadvantages. They didn't

1. adequately protect clothing against stains from bodily fluids and solids

2. conceal the genitals if the clothing rose high enough, or if the observer was low enough, or both; concealment seems to have been the main reason underpants came into being.

But after World War I dresses became shorter and less bulky, making closed-crotch underpants - still long; they seem not to have become short and tight until the mid 1930s - unnecessary, so the crotches closed.

This 1922 catalog, in a transitional period, might be one of the last one to sell open-seat underpants. Some one-piece underwear covering most of the body has retained a helpful drop-seat feature.

See an interesting chart, almost contemporary (1923), showing a proposed relationship between dress length, etc., and painful menstruation, in Woman's Physical Freedom, a book by Clelia Duel Mosher, M.D., and read a discussion of dress length and bodily functions, on this site.

Below:
Open-seat (crotchless) drawers from probably right before 1900. See more details.

Rear view.

Below:
Rear view with schematic menstrual-pad belt showing how the belt can be worn on top of the underpants (see how menstrual-pad suspenders looked). Ands see German crotchless underpants designed to hold a pad (1888, contemporary drawing).

See a belt ad from the 1920s in the U.S.A.

Dress from the catalog.

"A particularly smart frock which reflects in every line the latest New York style," reads the ad copy for the first dress (and in color) in this 1922 catalog. On the same page we read, "Our own fashion experts, living in New York all the year round, and studying the styles, have selected for you the best of everything new this season. If you select a dress from these pages you know positively in advance that you are to have the pleasure of wearing an authoritative new style."

Women could maneuver better in the dresses of 1922 and decreasingly needed the convenience and disadvantages of an open seat.

Right:
Enlargement from the dress ad. This is typical of the dreamy, seductive drawings of houses of the time in America.

See the actual Pursette tampon, box and tote - see ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story)

© 2001 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

See an interesting chart, almost contemporary (1923), showing a proposed relationship between dress length, etc., and painful menstruation, in Woman's Physical Freedom, a book by Clelia Duel Mosher, M.D., and read a discussion of dress length and bodily functions, on this site.

Underpants directory - tampon directory - early commercial tampons - ads for teens

See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?

See the actual Pursette tampon, box and tote - German underpants for menstruation, about 1960 - underpants directory - tampon directory - early commercial tampons - ads for teens

See ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story)

See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?

Go to Saba ad, Are you in the know? (Kotex ads 1949, 1953), Ads for Teens

See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?

The Pursettes tampon itself

DIRECTORY of all topics (See also the SEARCH ENGINE, bottom of page.)

Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Ads for open- and closed-seat drawers (underpants) (1922 Spring-Summer Montgomery Ward & Co. catalog, U.S.A.)

Open seats had at least two disadvantages. They didn't

1. adequately protect clothing against stains from bodily fluids and solids

2. conceal the genitals if the clothing rose high enough, or if the observer was low enough, or both; concealment seems to have been the main reason underpants came into being.

But after World War I dresses became shorter and less bulky, making closed-crotch underpants - still long; they seem not to have become short and tight until the mid 1930s - unnecessary, so the crotches closed.

This 1922 catalog, in a transitional period, might be one of the last one to sell open-seat underpants. Some one-piece underwear covering most of the body has retained a helpful drop-seat feature.

See an interesting chart, almost contemporary (1923), showing a proposed relationship between dress length, etc., and painful menstruation, in Woman's Physical Freedom, a book by Clelia Duel Mosher, M.D., and read a discussion of dress length and bodily functions, on this site.

Below: Open-seat (crotchless) drawers from probably right before 1900. See more details.

Rear view.

Below: Rear view with schematic menstrual-pad belt showing how the belt can be worn on top of the underpants (see how menstrual-pad suspenders looked). Ands see German crotchless underpants designed to hold a pad (1888, contemporary drawing).

See a belt ad from the 1920s in the U.S.A.

Dress from the catalog.

Women could maneuver better in the dresses of 1922 and decreasingly needed the convenience and disadvantages of an open seat.

Right: Enlargement from the dress ad. This is typical of the dreamy, seductive drawings of houses of the time in America.

See the actual Pursette tampon, box and tote - see ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story)

© 2001 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

Below:
Open-seat (crotchless) drawers from probably right before 1900. See more details.

Below:
Rear view with schematic menstrual-pad belt showing how the belt can be worn on top of the underpants (see how menstrual-pad suspenders looked). Ands see German crotchless underpants designed to hold a pad (1888, contemporary drawing).

Right:
Enlargement from the dress ad. This is typical of the dreamy, seductive drawings of houses of the time in America.