See a Dutch Libresse ad, 1998. See an old American
tampon, Lotus.
Read a Personal Products booklet for older girls from about this time,
The Periodic Cycle (1938). See similar
booklets on this site.
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made
for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine
- a list of books and articles about menstruation
- videos
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)
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.
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.
 
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Shame in a Polish menstrual napkin ad for Libresse, c. 1998
Elvira, who contributed to the Art of Menstruation - here
- sent this Polish ad that she translated into English for the museum. (It's
possible the ad was created for the markets of many countries; the appropriate
languages then filled the balloons.) Born in Poland but living since she
was six in Austria, she returned to Poland for a year in 1998 and found
this ad in a magazine for teenagers.
She writes that in Catholic Poland menstruation, masturbation, homosexuality,
abortion and contraception are very taboo and hardly discussible, more so
than in Austria. Sounds kinda like parts of America - and my family! In
her Polish biology book, in 1998, there were four pages of tips to help
young people avoid masturbating (read a famous American doctor's tips to avoid masturbating.) After Elvira decided to
study medicine, her mother's first words were, "I hope you won't become
a gynecologist." "As if that were something disgusting,"
she adds. Good luck, Elvira!
Staining their clothing with menstrual blood is a concern for many women
and this ad demonstrates that - and how to solve it the Libresse pad way!
See an earlier ad, this time American and for small
tampons, that also takes place in a gym and similarly concerns that timeless
concern, shame.
Note the very feminine main characters and the masculine instructor
with the short blonde hair. And it seems to me that Japanese manga comics
influenced the drawing, especially the eyes.
A section of the Polish language part sits below the large ad.
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| Below: part of the ad showing the original Polish. |
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See a Dutch Libresse ad, 1998. See an old American
tampon, Lotus.
© 2005 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
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