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THE MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
Ads for washable menstrual pads (Teufel brand of Damenbinden, German
for menstrual pads), about 1900? from Germany
Women have probably used washable pads
for thousands of years, washing them rather than throwing them away, perhaps
because of cost and perhaps because of taboos.
My hunch is that commercial washable pads first appeared in the 19th
century; women made their own before then and of course still do today (see
late 19th or early 20th century Japanese and
German instructions for making them).
Below we see commercial German pads from about 1900 (see roughly contemporary
Norwegian, Italian
and American washable pads, and Japanese
pads from slightly later; and see how a modern pad can trick an Indian
woman's family and neighbors into giving her more freedom!). They
button to a holder and
belt, as they also did in the 1930s, even after the German disposable
pad Camelia (introduced in the 1920s and, sadly, absorbed by Kotex recently;
see an old and recent
ad) vied for women's Reichsmarks.
Damen means ladies
and Binde means bandage.
The U.S. government classifies patents for
menstrual pads with bandages, showing a cross-cultural similarity. And the
o.b. in o.b. tampon - a German brand before Johnson & Johnson bought
it in the 1970s - stands for ohne Binde, without
a pad, meaning a tampon. (See an ad from the 1950s and a later German one, from the
70s)
By the way, Teufel means devil
in German, something oddly appropriate here, although it's undoubtedly the
family name of the manufacturer. In my 13 years in Germany I didn't come
across someone with that name, however, a tribute to my clean lifestyle.
The ad is from The pictures and technical information come from Junker,
Almut and Stille, Eva.: Zur Geschichte der Unterwäsche [Towards
a History of Underwear]. 1700-1960. Eine Ausstellung des Historischen
Museums Frankfurt 28. April bis 28. August 1988. ; FfM, Germany (Historisches
Museum) 1988, the catalog of an exhibit of
the history of underwear at the museum of the city of Frankfurt am Main,
Germany. Unfortunately the catalog does not tell where the ad appeared;
it strikes me as being from the manufacturer's catalog - see the last sentence of the page for Teufel's Diana belts, which
suggests that.
Americans, suggest to the lady or gent at YOUR hometown
museum that it display women's underwear and menstrual gear!! Tell me what
she says, if it's printable without a jail term! Hey, a Norwegian town museum did it, as
the did one in Frankfurt! That'll convince 'em! Those sinful Europeans!
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My translations of title and of two items:
Teufel's simple menstrual pads of down and
terry cloth
No. 15. Terry-cloth menstrual pad, simple quality (Damenbinde
is literally ladies' bandage; bandage is a word you can
see in a menstrual suspenders ad
from America). Price per 10, 3 marks
No. 19. Down menstrual pad, better quality. Price per 10, 4 marks
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© 2001 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute work
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