See a Kotex ad advertising this booklet.
Read a Personal Products booklet for older girls from about this time, The Periodic Cycle (1938). See similar booklets on this site.
See also How shall I tell my daughter? and Personal Digest and read the whole booklet As One Girl to Another (Kotex, 1940).
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)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), and Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates)
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.
Is this the first Tampax tampon? Go to Early Commercial Tampons
Other early commercial tampons - Main Tampax patent - Ad from 1936 - World War II Tampax sign
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.
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.

"You're a young lady now" (Kotex puberty & menstruation booklet,
U.S.A., 1952)
Complete booklet

This booklet for menarcheal girls, which experienced at least 3 editions (see later ones from 1959 and 1961, covers below), continued the unstuffy language probably begun by the Kotex booklet As One Girl to Another, (1940), a great departure from the Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday booklets of the 1920s-1930s. About this time, Kotex went overboard, but pleasingly so, immersing its ads in slang in the "Are You in the Know?" series. Read more about these booklets; here are the ones on this site.

Someone folded the booklet vertically down the center, maybe to stick it in a pocket. Was that person the one whose name appears on the back cover (below, beneath the front cover)? If she is still alive, wouldn't it be interesting to know if this approximately 59-year-old (in 1999) - maybe a grandmother - remembers that day in class?

Many pages are cybersliced for your downloading enjoyment!
I created smaller files with the computer to allow faster downloading. The little booklet dozes uncut in its archival folder.


 

 

 The back cover with a name: the first owner?

Below: The covers of the 1959 edition, maybe by the same artist, and 1961 version. Again, it shows pants on the prepubescent girl and a dress on the menarcheal one. The 1961 cover dispenses with showing change but continues the feminine-appearance theme.
1959
1961
 
 

NEXT - Introduction (p. 1) - pages 2-3 - pages 4-5 - pages 6-7 - pages 8-9 - page 10-11 - page 12 - inside back cover - 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)
 
© 1999 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