Little Doozee, an after-the-party contraceptive douche nozzle for a soda bottle.
Birth control drugs, old | Birth control douche & sponges
Birth control
and religion |
SECRET contraceptive tampon: Lehn & Fink New Improved Tampon
Australian douche ad (ca. 1900) - Fresca douche powder (U.S.A.) (date ?) - Kotique douche liquid ad, 1974 (U.S.A.) - Liasan (1) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Liasan (2) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Midol menstrual pain pill ad, 1938 (U.S.A.) - Midol booklet (selections), 1959 (U.S.A.) - Mum deodorant cream ad, 1926 (U.S.A.) - Myzone menstrual pain pills ad, 1952 (Australia) - Pristeen genital spray ad, 1969 (U.S.A.) - Spalt pain tablets, 1936 (Germany) - Vionell genital spray ad, 1970, with Cheryl Tiegs (Germany) - Zonite douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.)
The Perils of Vaginal Douching (essay by Luci Capo Rome) - the odor page
Read 1930s criticism of douche products Zonite and Lysol. See Lysol information in old newspapers and Lysol ads from 1948 and 1934.
Visit the odor page.
See more early tampons: A.C.C. Tamponettes, Fibs, B-ettes, Cashay, Daints, Dale, EZO, fax, Holly-Pax, Lotus, LOX, Moderne Woman, Tampax & many more
SEE the directory of all tampons on this site.
HOMEPAGE
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? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
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, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
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 |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.


MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH

New Knowledge for Women:
A Manual of Marriage Hygiene
By Alice Chapman Taft
American Health Association, 1933, U.S.A.
Whole pamphlet

Below: Wrapper for manual

Not long ago, Americans had to search dark alleys for sex and (illegal) birth control information, figuratively speaking. Hey, even today. This booklet was one of those alleys.

Appearing in 1933 in terrible economic times, the manual reflects another of today's struggles, that of providing sex information to the public. Folks, things were even worse then.

The charming text sneaks around birth control, nudging you and winking, never saying the forbidden words until the very last and then denying it ever had such an idea!

Its style reminds me of the contemporary Marjorie May booklets Kotex made to teach girls about menstruation, although those booklets were direct. You might laugh but the subject was serious and the public was probably used to learning through stories.

Read why this indirect approach kept the writers out of jail:

"The Comstock Act, (ch. 258 17 Stat. 598 enacted March 3, 1873) is a United States federal law which made it illegal to send any 'obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious' materials through the mail, including contraceptive devices and information. In addition to banning contraceptives, this act also banned the distribution of information on abortion for educational purposes following the ideal of 'Hear no Evil, See no Evil.' Twenty-four states passed similar prohibitions on materials distributed within the states.[1] Collectively, these state and federal restrictions are known as the Comstock laws.

"The sale and distribution of obscene materials has been unlawful in most of the American states since the early 1800s, and has been prohibited by federal law since 1873. The federal anti-obscenity laws are still in effect in 2008 and are enforced,[2] though there are extensive debates on what is 'obscene.' . . .

"In 1932, [Margaret] Sanger arranged for a shipment of diaphragms to be mailed from Japan to a sympathetic doctor in New York City. When U.S. customs confiscated the package as illegal contraceptive devices, Sanger helped file a lawsuit. In 1936, a federal appeals court ruled in United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries that the federal government could not interfere with doctors providing contraception to their patients.

"In 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut struck down one of the remaining Comstock laws, the bans on contraception in Connecticut and Massachusetts. However, Griswold only applied to marital relationships. Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) extended its holding to unmarried persons as well."
(From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comstock_Law [I added the red emphasis])

In Devices & Desires, Andrea Tone describes the organization that created this manual:

"Like Dilex, the AHA [American Health Association] borrowed a concept key to the burgeoning public health movement: house-by-household nursing visitations.The company hired women to be visiting nurses and equipped them with certificates of membership, badges of identification, and sacks full of AHA contraceptive merchandise. No training or experience was required to be a saleswoman, although each applicant had to pay thirty-five cents for 'membership privileges' and sign a pledge of allegiance to the company and its mission. This the AHA articulated as bringing 'healthful living through public education' to the masses." (P. 330, note 49, New York, 2001)

It's interesting that another organization visited homes to sell women douches and menstrual cups.

Mon Docteur douche set from the 1920s.

More: Little Doozee, an after-the-party contraceptive douche nozzle for a soda bottle. SECRET contraceptive tampon: Lehn & Fink New Improved Tampon - Birth control and religion | Birth control drugs, old | Birth control douche & sponges |
Australian douche ad (ca. 1900) - Fresca douche powder (U.S.A.) (date ?) - Kotique douche liquid ad, 1974 (U.S.A.) - Liasan (1) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Liasan (2) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.)

SarahAnne Hazelwood kindly donated the booklet.


Below: Back and front wrappers (not rappers), each measuring 4 5/8 x 6 5/16" (11.6 x 15.9 cm).
The paper is heavy and stiff.
The NRA graphic right below is not the National Rifle Association but the National Recovery Administration.
More about it: "The National Recovery Administration (NRA) came into being through a significant
measure in 1933. The NRA attempted to revive industry [affected by the Great Depression] by raising wages, reducing work hours and
reining in unbridled competition. The NRA was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1935;
however, the majority of its collective bargaining stipulations survived in two subsequent bills." (From
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1569.html)
 

NEXT: Wrapper - contents/front cover - The Case of Nancy Lee - The Nurse Calls - The American Health Association -
A Bride[']s Prayer Answered - The Usual Preparation for Marriage - Sex Organs and Their Functions -
The Female Organs/Their Physiology and Functions - The Internal Organs - Menstruation - Process of Reproduction -
The Vulva - The Vagina - The Distending Douche - The Health Shield - Preventing Infection - The Womb -
Amenorrhea - Dysmenorrhea - Menorrhagia - The Fallopian Tubes - The Ovaries - Leucorrhea -
A Few Precautions - Birth Control disclaimer: This manual is not what you think it is!
SECRET contraceptive tampon
: Lehn & Fink New Improved Tampon - Little Doozee, an after-the-party contraceptive douche nozzle for a soda bottle. -
Birth control and religion | Birth control drugs, old | Birth control douche & sponges Read 1930s criticism of douche products
Lysol & Zonite and. See
Lysol information in old newspapers and Lysol ads from 1948 and 1934. All tampons on this site.
Australian douche ad (ca. 1900) - Fresca douche powder (U.S.A.) (date ?) - Kotique douche liquid ad, 1974 (U.S.A.) -
Liasan (1) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Liasan (2) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) -
Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.)

© 2008 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\