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MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
Kotex ad, magazine
unknown, 1927
"Hygienic Freedom Such As Women Never Knew Before"
with horse & borzoi
Woodbury soap ad (reverse side of page)
"At the Most Fashionable Resorts"
history, menstruation, menstrual cycle, hygiene, period
women, health, advertising, sanitary napkin, horse, borzoi dog
Rich ladies give two everyday items - soap
and menstrual pads - class in these two huge
ads in the years right before America collapsed into the Great Depression.
The ads, on heavy coated paper, probably came from an expensive magazine.
A third ad, again for Kotex, pictures ordinary
Americans in "Woman's Home Companion," a magazine for a broader
market.
When this appeared Kotex had been in stores less than 10
years although other disposable brands had appeared earlier.
Some women still needed an explanation for why the old-fashioned washable rags were not adequate. A maid
washed the rags of a rich women. Kotex, which women could toss
away after use, solved the problem for the rich but it was too expensive
for most women.
A photographer who accompanied a reporter for the Chicago Tribune visiting
the museum in my house told me that as a kid
in the 1950s he saw many drying washable menstrual rags hanging on clothes
lines in the black Chicago neighborhood where grew up. Rags are probably
used by millions of women around the world today.
I thank the donor of many items, including
this ad!
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© 2011 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
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