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MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
Kotex ad, magazine unknown, 1927
"Hygienic Freedom Such As Women Never Knew
Before"
with horse & borzoi
Woodbury soap ad (reverse
side of page)
"At the Most Fashionable Resorts"
And raised pinkies
Rich ladies
give two everyday items - soap and menstrual pads -
class in these two huge ads in the years
right before America collapsed into the
Great Depression. The ads, on heavy coated
paper, probably came from an expensive
magazine.
A third ad,
again for Kotex, pictures ordinary Americans
in "Woman's Home Companion," a magazine for
a broader market.
When this appeared Kotex had been in
stores less than 10
years although other disposable brands
had appeared earlier.
Some women still needed an explanation for
why the old-fashioned washable rags were
not adequate. A maid
washed the rags of a rich women. Kotex,
which women could toss
away after use, solved the problem for
the rich but it was too expensive for most
women.
A photographer who accompanied a reporter
for the Chicago Tribune visiting the museum in my house
told me that as a kid in the 1950s he saw
many drying washable menstrual rags hanging
on clothes lines in the black Chicago
neighborhood where he grew up. Rags are
probably used by millions
of women around the world today.
I thank the donor
of many items, including this ad!
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