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Site guide for booklets explaining puberty, menstruation and the
facts of life companies made for girls, teens, and their parents
- and sometimes boys - (Pad (towel, napkin) directory
- Tampon directory)
Companies (and other organizations) making menstrual products sometimes
produced, and produce, literature for women and girls - and boys, for sex
education - to explain menstruation, menarche, "the
facts of life," and company products.
As far as I know the first booklets appeared in the 1920s, at least
in America. Professor Joan Brumberg, of Cornell University, has written
about how the teaching of the facts of menstruation passed from the family
in the early 19th century to the schools and then to the companies, which
sent its information to the schools. And girls
who start with the product supplied by a company in school seldom change
their brand. So it's an important step for companies to interest the schools
in their teaching material. (See "Something Happens
to Girls': Menarche and the Emergence of the Modern American Hygienic Imperative"
by Joan Jacobs Brumberg, of Cornell University, in the Journal of the
History of Sexuality, 1993, vol. 4, no. 1.; see also Lynn
Peril's essay on this MUM Web site.)
You can find the following on this Web site.
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Booklets for girls
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Accent on you (complete
booklets, 1970s-1980s?
& 1980, Tampax,
U.S.A.)
Always Changing (complete
booklet, 1995, Always pads, Procter & Gamble, U.S.A.)
As One Girl to Another (complete
booklet, 1940, Kotex, U.S.A.)
Congratulations! You're growing up! menstruation:
a guide for maturing young women (complete booklet,
1978, Midol pain medication, Glenbrook Laboratories, U.S.A.)
Essence of Womanhood (complete
booklet, 1959, Personal Products Corp., Modess tampons, 1959, U.S.A.)
Getting to Know Yourself (complete booklet, 1962, Pursettes lubricated tampons,
U.S.A.)
Growing Up and Liking It (complete booklets:
1944, 1949, 1957, 1964, 1970,
1972, 1976, 1991. The Personal Products Company, U.S.A.) (many covers, 1944-1991)
Having Your Period (complete
booklet, 1985, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., U.S.A.)
Text and pictures are to the point; there's no product to sell.
Health Facts on Menstruation, by Lloyd Arnold,
M.D. (complete booklet, 1933, Kotex, U.S.A.)
How shall I tell my daughter? [How
Shall I Tell My Daughter? in the 1954 edition & Daughter in 1969] (complete booklets, 1954
1963, 1969, 1981, Personal Products Co.) See covers
of Modess booklets. Excerpt about how to
fasten a pad to a belt and about sanitary panties & a funny story from
the 1969 booklet.
Hvordan Kroppen Din Forandrer Seg ("How
Your Body Changes," complete booklet, Tampax
tampons, Norway, 1990; my translation) A Norwegian kindly donated the booklet.
it's time you knew . . . [all about menstruation]
(complete booklet, 1966, Tampax, U.S.A.)
Just Between Us . . . 1950
edition - (1961 edition, cover & several pages
about menstrual belts and panties, Beltx)
(The) Life Cycle Library: The Miracle of You, Your
Years of Self-Discovery and You and Your Daughter (covers
and excerpts, 1968, Kotex, U.S.A.)
Marjorie May Learns About Life (complete
booklet, 1936, Kotex, Canada)
Photo of Mary Pauline Collender, author of
the Marjorie May stories
Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (almost
complete booklet, 1928, Kotex, Australia)(complete
booklet, 1935, Canada)(cover, mid-1930s, U.S.A.)(complete booklet, 1938, U.S.A) Photo of Mary Pauline Collender, author of the Marjorie May stories
[Die] Menstruation (excerpts,
1977, o.b. tampons, Germany) Photographer David Hamilton contributed many
photographs to this explicit and beautiful booklet. By the way, "Die"
in the title means "the," not to lose life.
now you are 10 (complete
booklet, 1958, Kotex, U.S.A.)
Omdat de lijnen van je lichaam veranderen (Dutch;
English: As the lines of your body change), 2007, the Netherlands, Libresse pads & puberty booklet
The Periodic Cycle (complete
booklet, 1938, The Personal Products Corp., U.S.A., maker of Modess
pads) The booklet states that this is for older teenage girls, and is probably
a companion to What a trained nurse wrote to her young
sister, below.
Personal Hygiene for Women
(complete booklet, 1928, Kotex) How to
flush Kotex down the toilet, physiology, etc. Contemporary with Kotex's
booklet for girls Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday,
almost complete booklet, 1928, Australia.
Preparing for Womanhood (almost
complete booklet, 1920s, Kotex, Australia)
Sally and Mary and Kate Wondered . . . (complete booklet, cover,
1956, Personal Products Corp., U.S.A.)
Strictly Feminine (complete
booklet with an actual letter from a mother to her daughter's doctor
- 1969, Personal Products Co. [Modess], U.S.A.)
Tampax Satin Learner's Kit, 2001, in 3 languages:
English. Booklet, pads & tampons
Trousse de l'étudiante French
Estuche de Aprendizaje Spanish
Tell it like it is: Straight talk about tampons (complete booklet, Kotex stick tampons, U.S.A., 1968,
revised 1974; complete booklet, 1981, although the title lacks the subtitle
"Straight talk about tampons")
That day is here again . . . (That
day is here again . . ., 1944, Kotex, International Cellucotton Products
Co., U.S.A.) World War II influences this booklet in drawings and text.
A frequest Dutch contributor generously sent the scans.
Very Personally Yours (complete booklet, 1948 & the cover of the 1981
booklet), Kotex, U.S.A.) The 1948 booklet praises Allah, something Muslims
might be as puzzled about as people of other religions.
Volwassen worden ("Growing up," the
Netherlands, excerpts, 2004, o.b. tampons)
What a trained nurse wrote to her young sister
(complete booklet, probably late 1930s-early 1940s,
The Personal Products Corp., U.S.A., maker of Modess pads). Probably a companion
to The Periodic Cycle (1938), above, written for
older teenage girls.
What a Young Woman Ought to Know,
Self and Sex series, 1913, U.K.
Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M.D. Selections
World of a Girl (complete
booklet, 1963, Scott Paper Co., U.S.A., Confidets menstrual pads) Colorful,
beautiful illustrations.
Your Personal Guide to Menstruation and Tampon Usage
(complete booklet, U.S.A., 1988, o.b. tampons)
"You're a young lady now" (complete
booklet, 1952, Kotex, U.S.A.) The first owner
might have printed her named on the back of the booklet. Complete booklet,
1959, apparently with the owner's name cut out.
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Portfolios and guides for teachers
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"A Teaching Guide for Menstrual Hygiene"
(cover, 1962, Personal Products Corp.,
U.S.A.)
"A Teacher's Guide to Feminine Hygiene"
(cover, 1973, Personal Products Corp.,
U.S.A.)
"Educational Material on Menstruation furnished
by the makers of Tampax" (1966) U.S.A.
Folder with huge number of information sheets, etc.
"Educational Portfolio on Menstrual Hygiene"
(1968) U.S.A. Teacher's
kit for Modess sanitary napkins, menstrual tampons
and panties (mostly complete)
"From Fiction to Fact: a teaching guide about
puberty, menstruation and the human reproductive system" (cover, 1986, Tambrands, U.S.A.)
"Teacher's kit" (complete,
early 1950s, Personal Products Corp., U.S.A.)
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See also . . .
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Sex Facts for Women, by Richard L. Lambert,
Ph.G. [Graduate Pharmacist], M.D., 1936, New York
Walt Disney film for Kotex, excerpts
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