See more Kotex items: First ad (1921) - ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Lee Miller ads (first real person in amenstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here to Kotex items) - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls; Australian edition) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal method - box from about 1969 - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
As One Girl to Another (complete booklet, 1940, Kotex, U.S.A.) - Teacher's kit (complete, early 1950s, Personal Products Corp., U.S.A.) - Shame in menstrual hygiene. A very early Tampax ad (1936)
See ads for menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1933), Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1970s)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates), and Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1928).
And read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets!
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.

The first real woman in a menstrual hygiene ad (Kotex): Lee Miller

In order to make some money after arriving in New York, the young Lee Miller made stock photos for the famous American photographer Edward Steichen. Steichen sold some to Kotex, which put one into the first menstrual hygiene ad (above) ever to show a real person; it ran from July 1928 into 1929. America, and Miller, were horrified. No decent woman would associate herself publicly with menstruation!

But by December 1928 Miller was enjoying her fame, and left with a girl friend to Paris, where she met the Surrealist painter and photographer Man Ray; they became lovers, and Ray made some great pictures of Miller.

Her association with photography probably began with the nude photographs her father made of her when she was a teenager. Much later Miller became a great World War II photographer in Germany.

But probably the first famous person to appear in menstrual hygiene ads, in distinction to someone who only later became famous, was the Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby in the 1970s, who appeared in many Stayfree ads. She also appeared nude doing a split on a balance beam in Sports Illustrated, so she was willing to take chances! She still makes ads today, although not for menstrual hygiene.

See also here for more about Miller, Rigby, and others.

As One Girl to Another (complete booklet, 1940, Kotex, U.S.A.) - Teacher's kit (complete, early 1950s, Personal Products Corp., U.S.A.) - Shame in menstrual hygiene. A very early Tampax ad (1936)

© 1998 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