Libresse ad, Poland, ca. 1998 (translated) - ad, Dutch, 1998, showing red on a pad - Dutch bus-stop ad in the town of Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, where the contributor lives, 2006 - telephone-booth ad in London, U.K. - ad praising the men who helped Mølnlycke company, which makes the pad, reach second place in the Netherlands (1978)
Similar Personal Digest leaflets (6), 1966-67, describing Modess products
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation - videos
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.


The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

Libresse menstrual napkins (pads, towels) puberty booklet for girls,
Omdat de lijnen van je lichaam veranderen: informatie over je menstruatie (English: As the lines of your body change: information about your menstruation), 2007, the Netherlands

The company that makes Libresse, SCA, headquartered in Sweden, held a museum history exhibit of its Norwegian division in the early 1990s, about the time I opened this museum in my house. Out of the blue a visitor to the Norwegian exhibit sent me the exhibit guide and I later had many friendly contacts with the women who ran the show in Norway. Later, SCA printed a profile of me next to astronaut Sally Ride in its company magazine!

Even though this small booklet is meant for Dutch speakers, English shows its ruddy face on most pages as the international language of young, educated speakers. I feel lucky to natively speak English.

The Dutch contributor (the father of four daughters and no sons) writes,

[In] contrast to the Tampax booklet, ... [the booklet below] promotes sanitary napkins and ... it illustrates how much the cultural influence is of the American way of life on Dutch teenage life. Look at the English on the pages:

Hot news, exclusive for you, SecureFit, Libresse Invisible, anytime, The M-factor (also a contribution to your list of words and expressions! but in the Dutch or the American list??); no problem; menstruation talk; that's all, etc. etc.

But the subjects are the same as in the Modess/Tampax/Kotex etc. booklets: what is menstruation, how long, when, the negative side of it, the sunny facts, how to feel better and the solution: Libresse.

Libresse ad, Poland, ca. 1998 (translated) - ad, Dutch, 1998, showing red on a pad - Dutch bus-stop ad in the town of Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, where the contributor lives, 2006 - telephone-booth ad in London, U.K. - ad praising the men who helped Mølnlycke company, which makes the pad, reach second place in the Netherlands (1978)
Similar Personal Digest leaflets (6), 1966-67, describing Modess products
I thank the generous Dutch contributor (see above) for these scans and several other items on this site!

Below: The opening pages (one folds out).
English hits you in the face - Exclusive for you! - Hot news - even in the product name SecureFit. Hoi, related to ahoy,
means hello. So the right hand page reads (my translation),
"Hello, Exclusive for you! If you please! You'll get from us a cool little package with a menstrual pad
so you can discover for yourself that you feel secure with Libresse. Feeling secure is neat and so
Libresse developed SecureFit! A menstrual pad that has distinct front and back sides to help
prevent leaking."

NEXT cover, 2 & foldout-3 - 4-5 - 6-7 - 8-9 - 10-11 - 12-13 - 14 & foldout-15 - 16-17
Libresse ad, Poland, ca. 1998 (translated) - ad, Dutch, 1998, showing red on a pad - Dutch bus-stop ad in the town of Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, where the contributor lives, 2006 - telephone-booth ad in London, U.K. - ad praising the men who helped Mølnlycke company, which makes the pad, reach second place in the Netherlands (1978) - similar Personal Digest leaflets (6), 1966-67: describe Modess products

© 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