Menstrual humor page Read an ad for Venus menstrual pads and underpants in the June 1936 The American Girl. 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. 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? | 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. Ethnic Jokes in The American Girl Magazine, June 1936 This has nothing to do with women's health - physical, at least - but is so extraordinary, and it reminds us of another era in America, when drinking fountains had "whites only" signs. Girls, probably Girl Scouts - the Girl Scouts of America publishes this magazine - sent in the jokes below, including the three using supposed speech patterns of the ethnic groups in question. All three stories ("Hibernian," "The Funniest Joke . . . " and "The Reason," the latter from the May issue) illustrate alleged traits of American minorities: the combativeness of the Irish, laziness of the blacks and stupidity of the Swedes. I suspect jokes about Jews had stopped receiving support from mainstream magazines by this time. "Nice" girls sent these in and THE Girl Scout magazine published them. How times have changed! I wonder when blacks first became Scouts. And there must have already been Swedes and Irish girls as members. How did they feel about such stories? How many Girl Scouts today or anyone else know what Hibernian means? Do you? Why do these jokes feature males (except for Aunt Ella)? Do they challenge a society much more male oriented than today's America? Or maybe girls were traditionally not featured in humorous stories. Read an ad for Venus menstrual pads and underpants in the June 1936 The American Girl.     Above: from the May 1936 The American Girl    Above: from the June 1936 The American Girl  Read an ad for Venus menstrual pads and underpants in the June 1936 The American Girl - Menstrual humor page © 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 [email protected]