Updated 5 Feb. 2010; more late 11 February
This museum is "odd, funny and well researched" - The New York Times
This museum collection is "[U]nrivaled. . . . [T]he best material culture collection on menstruation in the world."
-
Menstruation: A Cultural History
(Howie, Shail, eds.)
This museum Web site is "a treasure trove of information." -
Kotex, Kleenex, Huggies: Kimberly-Clark and the Consumer Revolution in American Business, by Thomas Heinrich and Bob Batchelor.

Listen to MUM director Harry Finley carry on about men and menstruation, the MUM museum in his basement, toxic shock, etc., on the Keeper menstrual cup site. No, they didn't pay me.
ABOUT MUM (MUseum of Menstruation):
"May God close your horable museum." From a letter, with original spelling, to the Museum of Menstruation, from "Shocked, by women," mailed from Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.A.
"Consider how Surg. Gen. Koop changed the country! . . . Carry on!" Judge Giles S. Rich (retired), United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington, D. C. (from a letter to me)
"Odd, funny and well researched" - The New York Times
Comments from TV, online and other media about this museum.
Three listeners' comments (more) from my half-hour interview with Howard Stern (here):
° "Get a life, creep."

° "[I] am quite familiar with the obstacles to a frank and intelligent discussion of menstruation." (Nancy Freedman, author of Everything You Must Know About Tampons, 1981)
° "I was just listening to your interview with Howard Stern. You handled yourself very well with him. He lambastes just about anyone with a peculiar interest, but you had him very much in check. I was amazed!"
"Stick to jock itch products, buddy." In a commentary about the museum and its creator in the defunct Sassy, an American magazine for teenage girls.
"Terrifically diverse" - The Independent on Sunday (London, England)
"It's fabulous that somebody out there is willing to . . . pull back the curtain." Mona Miller, national media relations director of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, discussing the museum in The Prince George's Journal, Maryland, U.S.A.
"One of the best on the Internet" - Britannica.com 
"Ecco perché Harry Finley ne sa più della tua Mamma" - Marie Claire magazine (Italian edition)
"This gem of a website is a virtual repository for everything you ever
wanted to know about women's periods."
- New Scientist magazine (United Kingdom)
"More interesting than you might think. . . . lively." The V Book: A Doctor's Guide to Complete Vulvovaginal Health, by Elizabeth G. Stewart, M.D., of Harvard medical school and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.
More media on MUM


Current articles & news below

Lubricated applicator! Lubricated tip!
Highly absorbent!
What more could you want?
Pursettes applicator tampon, 1960s-70s?

Contribution from New Zealand to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?


Small Wonder:
How Tambrands began, prospered, and grew

(1986)
Tampax wrote its company history.

Next update: at least one contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
and news.


"You and Your Daughter:
Asked & Unasked Questions Every Mother Should Answer"
Kotex, 1968

"Scent of a Woman: Men's Testosterone Responses to Olfactory Ovulation Cues
"
[A]fter smelling the shirts, the men rated the odors on pleasantness and rated the shirts worn by ovulating women as the most pleasant smelling."
Read the article.



IMPORTANT!
Did you use a
menstrual cup in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or earlier? A Yale PhD student in the history of medicine is currently working on a history of the menstrual cup and is seeking older cup users for casual interviews. Email her at kelly.odonnell@yale.edu.
This is an important history, MUM visitors, and you can make a contribution!


The new pads come to Germany:
Mimosept, early 1970s


The new pads come to Denmark:
Mimosept, 1972


The dawn of a new pad era in Germany:
Ad for Camelia, 1973


A lubricated tip made this tampon easier to insert
for "unmarried" women:
Pursettes box of 40 (1960s?)

More
Words and expressions about menstruation:
Canada: Puppy pads, The magic I, The Soviets are coming
and more.

Just arrived!
1926 newspaper ad for Kotex


Tampax tries to convince German women to use
them: the booklet
"It's a Matter of the Best Years of Your Life!"
translated from
"Es geht um die besten Jahre Ihres Lebens!"
(1956?)

Two new contributions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?


New Zealand ALSO sold Meds tampons:
see a box from 1970

1/3 humor and 2/3 serious

I'm updating the list of booklets on this site, starting with patent medicine for women.


The 1940s produced another Meds tampon,
the Modess tampon

Two more contributions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?


Competing for blood:
Playtex Super Self-Adjusting Tampon, 1974


An interesting but failed early Kotex tampon:
Kotams, probably from the 1940s


Sanshe's Sanitary Shields
for sanitary napkins, 1940s-50s?


Teaching girls about Tampax: accent on you, 1983
Previous editions 1970s-1980s?, 1980


A MUM visitor writes, in part:
"[T]here's a difference between a guy knowing about menstruation and a guy knowing that his classmate is menstruating. Menstruation is at the heart of what it means to be feminine, and so it is at the heart of the mystery of being a woman. . . . [N]ot all shame is a bad thing."

The London Review of Books gets this museum's name wrong
but MUM answers a question for the writer
(Thanks to Lara Freidenfelds for the tip; as the
author of The Modern Period: Menstruation in 20th-Century America [Johns Hopkins, 2009], she's the real subject of the article.)
BTW, the LRB writer, Jenny Diski, found her answer here
and liked this and her mother worried
about this. But she's wrong that Kotex
"designed and packaged the first disposable sanitary pad" -
see some predecessors here and here.

Kotex's Becoming Aware Educational Kit is COMPLETE!
Final section: pads & tampon
and booklets for parents and girls, sample pads & tampons
Complete kit.



New
Would you stop menstruating if you could?


New
Words and expressions about menstruation:
(U.S.A.)
Ugly Sister
(U.S.A.) Shoots


New humor

"Judy Blume: 'I Was Margaret' "
"Over her 40-year career, Judy Blume may have done more for sex education than the last 10 surgeons general."
Read the interview.


"The Beauty of Artificial Virginity"

"If you're a woman in a conservative Muslim country, you had better bleed on your wedding night. If you don't, your husband or his family will know you aren't a virgin. For that, you could be beaten or killed."
More.


Solving The Period Problem: Researchers Develop Sanitary Pads From Local, Organic Materials

ScienceDaily (Oct. 6, 2009) - For most American women, their "time of the month" is seen as a hindrance to daily life. In impoverished and developing countries, however, monthly periods are a major cause for concern among women. The lack of affordable, quality sanitary pads results in females missing up to 50 days of school annually ­ thereby compromising their educational and professional potential." Whole article.


Early birth-control pill booklet, 1960

2 more contributions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?

Children at play: humor

Call for Papers, Artworks, Photography, Fiction, Interviews

TRUNK Volume Two: BLOOD

Full details at http://trunkbook.com/trunk/


Did women who pined for freedom in Japan
use Pine tampons in 1977?

"New Device Could More Effectively Alleviate Menstrual Cramp Pain"
a tampon coated with ketorolac (Toradol®), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication
Read more.


Has anyone seen this funny TV ad for OB?

re: Cycling is the new blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. re: Cycling is written by members of SMCR about all matters menstrual, especially sociocultural aspects of menstruation and new research about menstruation and women's health.
The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research strives to be the source of guidance, expertise, and ethical considerations for researchers, practitioners, policy makers and funding resources interested in the menstrual cycle. Visit us online at MenstruationResearch.org.

Next update I'll show more items from the MUM archives.
This week reality intervened in the form of a feral kitten with an ulcer dissolving his left cornea (he's now hospitalized) and
an unruly neighborhood.

Not menstruation but important:
Manufacturers can add substances to cat and dog food
to increase your pet's (or pets') hunger
, making them eat
more, increasing profit for the companies and adding to
veterinarian bills by increasing sickness. The German
news magazine Der Spiegel writes (in German) that, for example,
the enzymes of the Danish firm Novozymes
(Protamex and Novo Pro D) DOUBLE
the hunger of test dogs and cats
.

Former FDA chief Dr. David Kessler reports in his
new book The End of Overeating how food manufacturers
engineer flavor to make you eat more and not necessarily healthy food.

Looks like they do the same to pets.


A new Art of Menstruation:
Jacquelyn Rixon


New expressions about menstruation:
U.S.A.: gender-specific, Potential Murder Suspect

A generous contributor to MUM comments on stick tampons

More information about the mysterious menstruating bowl from ancient Peru.

New books:
http://www.flowthebook.com/
Cultural history
(appears in November)

Tales of the Curse by Peggy Lumpkin
People's stories about menstruation


Kotex tried to stick it to Tampax:
Kotams stick tampon, 1960-65.

New
Words and expressions about menstruation:
"
nosebleed pillow, the comma"

Letter to your MUM:

Hi Harry, I'm giving you links to two websites I've found useful.

http://clothpads.wikidot.com/ - Cloth Menstrual Pad Wiki

It's a database of different cloth menstrual pads- patterns, photos, tips on washing and care, and a great way to search for different sellers using the tags. Anybody can contribute.

http://clothbank.net/ A Cloth Menstrual Pad Co-Op.

It uses a moneyless system to trade in pads and sewing supplies that don't suit the user, so more favourable pads can be taken out.


Tampax made a tampon to detect cancer cells:
Draghi Detection Tampon, undated.

New
Words and expressions about menstruation (U.S.A.):
"Over the rainbow"

Letters to your MUM:
Hello,
A friend of mine suggested that I send this link to you.
It is an unusual ladies' purse or cosmetics bag that has a special pocket just to hold feminine hygiene products in.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29433254
I don't know if it would be something worthy of including on the site or in the museum. Either way, my friend thought you would be interested in seeing it.
Best Regards,
****
Hi there,
I thought you would appreciate this funny craft idea:
http://www.favecrafts.com/Christmas-Crafts/Unique-Tampon-Angel#
I like your website-it is very comprehensive. I have visited 4 or 5 times and haven't event scratched the surface!
****
The recommendation of wearing a thong-type panty over regular panties when wearing a pad is [see A reader recommends for a tighter fit, below], indeed, a very good one! The desirability of keeping the pad intimately close is well documented and which regular panties don't really do that well.
Check out patent number 7,537,587 relative to keeping the pad protectively close and the merits of a thong in this regard. However, this is just one of many, many statements in numerous patents about the desirability of keeping the pad close so that absorbency is directly into the pad rather than running across the surface. Compare, too, the length of the old traditional napkins held closely via a sanitary belt versus panty-held overnight pads.
Also check out the Japanese Unicharm web site and their various sanitary panties. Note how they are much like regular panties with a thong built-in to hold the pad close.



Under Western Eyes the Japanese
Emil tampon (1974) was absorbed in its task. I would
apologize to Joseph Conrad for his book title were he alive.

"My goodness, what an awesome site of history and humor. I think I have roughly been on your site for a good 2 hours now."
Then she and another contributor added the following:
New

Words and expressions about menstruation (U.S.A.):
It's sticky time! - The kat is runnin' amok - My uterus is falling apart! - Sorry, no kitty for you. - I'm gushin' -
Grandma fell off the roof.

"Quick And Accurate Way Of Diagnosing Endometriosis
ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2009) - A quick and accurate test for endometriosis that does not require surgery has been developed by researchers from Australia, Jordan and Belgium, according to new research published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction." Details.



St Michael tampons & Tampax: too close for comfort?

A reader recommends for a tighter fit:

"To get a closer self-adhesive pad fit, I recommend that a women first attach a pad into a full size panty, pull them up, and then pull on over these a thong type panty. It will then give a firmer, accident free feeling, that was reportedly given by belted pads."



Protective briefs (menstrual panties) from Boots, U.K.

New: Words and expressions about menstruation:
Dot, dot, dot (U.S.A.)


Old Boots pharmacy bottle.
The U.K. company also makes menstrual products.


An early beltless maxi pad from Kotex (1974)

"Chinese Herbs May Relieve Endometriosis Symptoms, Review Finds"


Belt to hold tabbed menstrual pad from the English
company Boots, 1990s(?)

MacArthur Fellow and menstrual theorist Margie Profet
"vanished into thin air, disappeared without a trace."

Article about menstruation in early modern era

The Modern Period:
Menstruation in Twentieth-Century America
The excellent new book by Lara Freidenfelds.
Don't waste your time reading my review - buy it!

"String of tampon machine thefts hit MSU
[Michigan State University]
"
Wait! Shouldn't that be "hits" since the subject is string?
Anyway, it's funny and so are the many comments.


Always menstrual pad folder for girls, 1993

"For countless women across India who don't even have enough cloth to cover their bodies, menses is a monthly disaster in the absence of adequate clean cloth."
See the good work in India enabling women to use menstrual pads

"Virtual Reconstruction Of A Neanderthal Woman's Birth Canal Reveals Insights Into Evolution Of Human Child Birth"
Read the short article.


Ethereal white folks in a puberty booklet
for mothers of girls:
How shall I tell my daughter? (1968)

New Scientist magazine on a roll:
"Everything you always wanted to know about female ejaculation (but were afraid to ask)"
&
"Six things science has revealed about the female orgasm"

"Contraceptive Sponge Makes a Return to Pharmacy Shelves"
More at the New York Times.


Girls' & boys' puberty booklet from Tampax:
"Q girls & boys A," (1987)

New words and expressions about menstruation from
French Canada (Quebec):
Etre sur ma semaine / avoir ma semaine
Etre menstruée

In India, with the help of UNICEF:
Menstrual pad dispenser, and electric incinerator
"A Revolution in Personal Hygiene"

"Higher Prevalence Of Early Onset Of Menstrual Periods Among Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse" More.

"Traditionally, . . women have been constantly under the influence of a hormone [oxytocin] that promotes selective social memory, and women seem often to be the keepers of positive social interactions and the initiators of diplomacy and peace-making." Much more, also about the baleful influence of birth-control pills, which suppress oxytocin.

"Genes That Influence Start Of Menstruation Identified For First Time"
More.

Do fish bite used tampons?
"MUM.ORG is very interesting.
"Have you ever heard of anyone using used tampons or pads as fishing bait?
"I have heard that fish are extremely attracted to male ejaculate and could imagine the same for menstrual flow.
With fish attracted to blood and scents it would make sense to me.
"I could imagine a cooperative wife dropping used tampons into a ziplock bag and letting hubby freeze them until the next fishing trip. I assume as they defrost he could cut them up into nonrecognizable chunks.
"Thank you,"


Rubella tampon (1973) with an ad:
The French were not afraid of the measl-, er, red
in menstrual advertising:

Fanni Fazekas changes a painting, Red Rain,
in her Art of Menstruation

The first Social Entrepreneurship Fellow from
Harvard Business School
uses her $25,000 prize
to start Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), which
enables girls and women in Rwanda to use cheap, locally made
pads for menstruation so they won't have to miss work and school. Read about winner Elizabeth Scharpf here.
(Thanks to Prof. Elizabeth Kissling for the info.)
Read about & see two similar projects in Rajasthan, India, (partly supported by the MacArthur Foundation) & in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The Times of India says, basically, that these organization and I should mind our own business.

E-mail update from Duncan McLeod:
"The duncan guy band has moved the Menstral Album over to the band site. Your community can get the lyrics on that site and we will have song clips up soon. We are still getting a lot of requests for these songs live and the on-line community continues to support them - I guess women are still menstruating.
"Thanks for your support and if you want to change to a link that works it is now under: www.duncanguyband.com "

Join a MIGRANE HEADACHE study!
"In the past I've gotten several participants for each study from your referrals [from MUM, this site] & now I'm doing a small study with a pilot educational intervention -- a major focus of this study is menstrual migraine. . . . The web site for our new study is https://cfusion.sph.emory.edu/migraine2/ "
Margaret Moloney, RN, PhD, ANP
Associate Professor
Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing
Georgia State University


Stems, x-rays, the finder of the G-spot &
HEATING TESTICLES:
More from
Dr. Robert Dickinson's
Control of Conception (1931/32)


The most important sex researcher before Kinsey,
artist & doctor Robert Dickinson, describes contraception
and MUCH else in his
Control of Conception (1931/32)

New Words and expressions about menstruation:
(all U.S.A.) I'm rejoicing in my womanhood. - I have my girl thing. - Well, your little plan failed this month. - Your vagina is emo!


The Times of India invented a quotation from me.
What else did it invent?

The writer who made suggestions about the
What did women do about menstruation in the past?
page: PLEASE RE-SEND YOUR MAIL!


Dr. Pierce to you:
SHOVE IT!
Read about this in his
Ladies Note Book and Calendar (1914)

Boys needed to know about Women's Mysteries:
"For boys: a book about girls" (1981/87),
a booklet from the company that made Modess menstrual pads


The guys at a pharmaceutical firm wane poetic:
"You are a woman. Your body curves . . .your skin is soft . . ."
Read the Norforms booklet from Norwich Pharmacal Co., 1968

New
Words and expressions about menstruation
from
India: The crow has touched them, Baith Jana, Mahwari, &
Maasik Dharm

A MUM visitor writes,
Hello, Mr Finley,
The people at this website are apparently planning to sell a USB flash drive housed in a tampon (it's at the bottom of the page in the "Coming Soon" section). It comes in "Regular," "Super," and "Ultra."


In spite of the name, DYKON is a contraceptive
jelly from the 1930s.


What contraceptives could you buy in 1957?
Read the sometimes funny list.


Finally, read what you can do to
prevent and cure FEMALE TROUBLES!
Read Gilbert Thayer's Special Book for Women,
probably from the 1920s. Some are very up to date.
Articles continue below the ad(s)

Current articles & news below


Early sex researcher Clelia Mosher, M.D., corrects
myths about women in
Woman's Physical Freedom (1923)

She adds diaper, plug, and not a good day to
Words and expressions about menstruation.
Birth of a word?
tokophobia

"I am quite sure you have received numerous answers to the name of the 'weed' that provided fluffy material to use for menstrual pads in the days of long ago ( maybe even today for rugged ' ladies of the woods'? ). The wild weed is assuredly what is known as Cat Tail or Cattail. They grow wild near water sources ( most often ) such as streams, lakes, etc. Just wanted to help.
****, North Carolina"


Kotex for the traveler:
Kotex individually wrapped feminine napkins, 1966

"My periods are not heavy or painful but they make me feel so dirty and vile I just cry and cry for hours."
And more of her mail at
Would you stop menstruating if you could?

New words and expressions about menstruation:
Tetherball, from 8th graders: "It works perfectly and the guys have no idea what we're talking about!" More.


The matron saint of the pharmaceutical industry
takes you on a tour of New England in
Mrs. Lydia Pinkham's
Landmarks of New England


You think WE have problems? Kimberly-Clark's (Kotex) employee publication Cooperation during the early Great Depression (1931-34)



She drew Dick and Jane and
made illustrations for this Lydia Pinkham patent medicine booklet
The Happy Baby


Smyle
! It was Nice to have a Pro-Fo Lactic!
Interesting names for contraceptive & anti-STD products from the 1940s-1960s. (Start here.)

A woman comments about boric acid, childbirth and Intelligent Design:
"I think a woman's physical makeup proves that there IS an Intelligent Designer, because there is no physiological reason for labor to be painful, or for childbirth to hurt (with the exception of IF the perineum is torn.)" More.


Modess menstrual pads produced this leaflet for women (1967)
with advice for new mothers after childbirth, &
information about menstruation & hospital-size pads (really big ones!), & household tricks.



The company that brought you Kotex & Kleenex
also brought your forebears this antiaircraft gun!
Kimberly-Clark company history (through 1947)
Four men and a Machine (1947)

More comments added to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?


Modess menstrual pads produced this leaflet for women (1967)
tied to a famous ad campaign.


An early American gynecologist discusses
his discovery and includes many patient
stories in his
(Dr. Alexander Skene's) Diseases of Women (1892)


Easy-to-make Christmas slippers!


Redheads and menstruation - a connection?




The little pad for between lips of the vulva: inSync Miniform
Promotional package, 1997


Two new views on
Would you stop menstruating if you could?


Humor and a question for YOU.


She's trying to get her boyfriend to look at MUM.


The maker of the Keeper menstrual cup shows
photos
of what you use in menstrual products
compared with one little Keeper.

Preparing for Your Daughter's First Period
at Harvard's health site


"Fertile women more open to corny chat-up lines"
Read the story!

"Ecstasy over G spot therapy"
"
It has evaded lovers for centuries, but in February we learned that the elusive and semi-mythical G spot had been captured on ultrasound for the first time." Read the story.
And read about it here on MUM.


Drug Maker Said to Pay Ghostwriters for Journal Articles
[favorable to its female hormone replacement therapy Prempro]
Story



FINALLY COMLPETED
the museum's Tassette material (unless I find more
in the thousands of items not on this site)

Prospectus & other material about the first
modern American menstrual cup
:
Tassette (1930s-1960s)


The inventor of the
Instead menstrual cup
made & wore this cup dress for public relations;
company officials sent it to this museum.
See it! (And read about its twisted
connection to Comedy Central's The Daily Show)


The pad & belt don't show!
Kotex Without a Shadow of a Doubt ad, 1949


More advice to teenagers in 2 ads from Kotex
during and right after World War II.


What's a cleaning lady doing in an elegant Modess
menstrual pad ad?

Well, she isn't, she's . . . (click!)

Kotex explained why dumping water on your date
was INCORRECT
in an Are you in the know? ad from 1954.

New in Words and expressions about menstruation:
Gruesome week and Red storm rising

More stories from you about
Would you stop menstruating if you could?

"Brain flip helps to relieve pre-menstrual stress
The female brain has a clever way of mitigating the stress experienced during menstruation: it flip-flops."
Read more.



Kotex instructed mothers how to handle
NAUGHTY GIRLS
and girls how to handle
NAUGHTY BOYS
in 3 ads from the 1940s.


Kotex taught teens how to deal with
STUPOR-MAN
and difficult situations in 3 ads from 1945-46.

Proposals for sex education in America
right after the Second World War:
How Can We Teach About Sex?, 1946


Giving pleasure to cure disease
courtesy of your doctor, 1890s, U.S.A.

She fixed her menstruation problem.

New Hormone Data Can Predict Menopause Within A Year.
Read.

Her brother hoarded tampons!
The George Bush you never knew - you betcha


Secret & illegal birth control in the Great Depression:
The manual
New Knowledge for Women (1933)


A tampon from right after World War II

More stories about
Would you stop menstruating if you could?

Uterine Jihad "It's a euphemism for menstruation, particularly one with bad cramps. I don't know the origin, but I've seen if floating around a few message boards for a couple of years now."
Read more words and expressions about menstruation


Tampax teaches you:
"From Fiction to Fact:
A teaching guide about puberty, menstruation and the human reproductive system"

1986
Women have a higher-pitched voice two days before they ovulate and during ovulation. And that's not all that makes them more attractive: their skin color becomes lighter, certain body parts become more symmetrical - and men find their body odor and face more appealing. All this from an article unfortunately in German (here) but find the voice study in an article from UCLA researchers in "Biology Letters" of the British Royal Society.

Tereatment options for women who bleed heavily
(New York Times story)


Tampax announces 16 new ads in a
folder for dealers in 1969.


9 new ads in Tampax's 1968
ad campaign folder



Is Tampax telling its customers to Go fly a kite?
I don't think so. Tampax new ad campaign folder, 1967, with 7 new ads.

"Study says women on [The Pill] may sniff out wrong mate"
"In its effort to prevent pregnancy, the pill alters a woman's sense of smell, which is one of the ways she decides, consciously and unconsciously, which men she is attracted to. When on the pill, she is attracted to men with similar genes, the study revealed. With these men, she is more likely to have a miscarriage or a baby who has a compromised immune system, or suffer from infertility. When she is not on the pill, her nose tells her to choose men who are genetically dissimilar, which increases her chances of producing a healthy child. It is Survival of the Fittest 101."
More at the Baltimore Sun.




Oh, no, the tampon deodorant doesn't work!
Just joking.
Tampax new ad campaign folder, 1966, with 6 ads.


A Procter & Gamble tampon from the Sixties
before Christian groups charged the company
was tied to the Church of Satan (because of its logo, also on this box)

Two more replies to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
The New York Times quoted from your e-mail about stopping menstruation for an article on menstrual suppression in the 14 October 2003 edition, Science Times section (online here).

"My Aunt Flo from Red River is visiting."
"My Expression for Menstruation is something I've borrowed from others and tried to add to. I say, 'My Aunt Flo from Red River is visiting.' And if it's a particularly heavy or uncomfortable flow, I add, 'And I have to go to the train station to pick up all her baggage.' That basically says it all." (More Words and expressions about menstruation)

"First let me tell you that yours is a wonderful site. Love the cat info too! . . .

"Your website is wonderful. It's so sad that menstruation is once again being demonized. I can't believe it is safe to suppress your periods and all this crap about breakthrough bleeding is strange. Isn't it still a period if it has the same flow and length? Only in America could we see such stupidity and prudishness brought to such heights. It's a shame everything that was brought up in the late 60's and 70's is now gone."

Leonardo turns in his grave
"Hi Harry! I was visiting Dave Barry's blog recently and I clicked a link that led to this item which is up for auction on E-bay. It is a tampon Mona Lisa." [See more Art of menstruation.]


Klick your heels together for Cellopon tampons!
No, wait, that's a schematic view of the vagina! Sorry.
More about Japan's Cellopon (1968)


A competitor of Kotex's Life Cycle Library?
Chapter 4, "A Girl Becomes A Woman,"
from The Life Cycle Library
(the Parent and Child Institute, 1969)


The Miracle of You:
What It Means To Be A Girl

puberty booklet from Kotex, 1968


It's a Woman's World,
menstruation information booklet from Tampax (1980s?)


Well, in emergencies this was better than a sock, I guess:
Compad compressed pad & belt, 1940s-1960s?

Humor


Dealers' cartons of boxes of Wix tampons, 1930s-40s

"Stem cells from menstrual blood save limbs"
"Stem cells derived from human menstrual blood have, in mice, prevented limbs with restricted blood flow from withering. Trials in humans facing amputations are expected to start next year."
More.



Counter display for the first successful Kotex tampon,
1930s-40s?

A little Lysol with your tampon? No? Well, how 'bout hydroxyquinoline from the same company?? Sure, on
F & L New Improved Tampons (1930s-40s)!

 

Sta-Pacs, a 1930s Tampax rip-off?

Brazilian TV Humor

Kotex puberty booklet Very Personally Yours, 1981

I tried to finish this update but a car killed Max, my oldest and favorite cat, this morning. I hope to have an update this Sunday, 10 August.


How shall I tell my daughter? (1973) Well, first, you could stop saying feminine.

Are you gasping at another picture of ripped American Olympic swimmer DARA TORRES or just another Englishman in women's underwear?
Curses, see for yourself!
Confirmation of sorts of the date of perhaps the earliest commercial English menstrual pad.

More Words and expressions about menstruation:
The Axe wound
: "This one is my favorite. My brother came up with it. He calls it ... The Axe Wound."


periods and puberty: a practical guide for girls (from Always pads, 1987)

Kotex's puberty booklet Very Personally Yours (1961)

Miss Buchholz needed Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
after 13 years of
EXAMINING MEN'S UNDERWEAR!

Read about more troubled ladies in the Pinkham company's "Stretching Your Dollar" (1920s).

More menstrual products ads from the U.K.

New Humor

A pill to make you a lesbian?? Wow, American enterprise at work!

COSMETIC douching? Huh?
And it's from Tampax!

So, what's so FUNNY about TV ADS for pads and 'pons??
This Australian program shows you!

Is it right to tax menstrual products? Help this tax payer learn more.

The Art of Menstruation:
Two more pictures by Dr. Nelson Soucasaux


Take THAT, fatness and falling wombs! Oh, and take Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound.
And read her Home Exercises!


Oops! Maybe I, a male, shouldn't put this on. Oh, well:
Lydia Pinkham's [complete] Private Text-Book upon Ailments Peculiar to Women, about 1910

 
****


Menstruation news CONTINUED

 
Discover the rich history of menstruation and women's health on this Web site - MUM for short - devoted to menstruation and selected topics of women's health!
LINKS within this site BELOW
Leer la versión en español por María García de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - El Punto Gräfenberg (Punto G) - Los riesgos de las duchas vaginales - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación - Sincronía menstrual y suspensión - Aspectos arquetípicos de los genitales femeninos
Comic strip: A conservative American family visits the (future) Museum of Menstruation
CONTRIBUTE to Humor and
Words and expressions about menstruation and
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site
LINKS:
LIST OF ALL TOPICS | MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
E-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? Listen to him.
Amazing women!
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation)
Artists (non-menstrual)
Asbestos & menstrual products
Belts, menstrual
Bidets
Birth control douche & sponges
Birth control drugs, old
Birth control and religion
Founder of MUM 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
Cups, menstrual | cup usage
Dispensers, menstrual products
Douches, pain, sprays
Essay directory
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history)
Extraction, menstrual
Facts-of-life booklets
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads
FAQ | founder/director biography
Feminine napkins, pads, towels & ads directory
Former (physical) museum
Future of the museum
Gynecological examination of a woman's pelvis (short history)
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux
Humor
Huts
Links
Masturbation
Media coverage of MUM
Menarche booklets for girls and parents
Menstrual napkins, pads, towels & their ads directory
Miscellaneous
Norwegian menstruation exhibit
Odor
Olor
Pads, towels, napkin & their ads directory
Panties & underwear directory
Past American & European customs
Patent medicine
Poetry directory
Poison, menstrual (menotoxin)
Products, a very few current
Puberty booklets for girls and parents
Religion | Religión y menstruación
Remedies for menstrual discomfort, your
Safety of products | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación
Sanitary napkins, pads, towels & their ads directory
Science
Shame
Slapping, menstrual
Sponges
Stop menstruating comments, your
Synchrony
Tampons & ads directory | some early tampons
Teen ads directory
Towels, pads, napkins & their ads directory
Tour the former museum in Harry Finley's house (video)
Underwear & 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 cloth pads

 
Web MUM.org

© 2010 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
Harry Finley is the founder and director, and he created, writes and maintains this site.