German menstrual education in the magazine Bravo
(early 1980s)
The contrast between northern European and American attitudes
about sex education couldn't be clearer than in this photo from a short
article in Bravo, a magazine for teenage Germans. The article explains something
about tampons, including the embarrassment some people feel about buying
them. The article starts off (my translation), "Heike [a girl's name]
waits in the drug store until she's the only one left in the store. Then
she says, 'A box of mini-tampons, please.'" No, no, she's not
in the store in the photo; she's at home. But some people, no matter where
they live, feel embarrassed about menstruation.
As you can see elsewhere (here,
for example), Germans are more used to seeing the body in publications and
in public than America would tolerate; women sometimes sunbathe nude or
semi-nude in city parks in Germany, and in public saunas no one wears a
thing - a shock for most Americans. And Scandinavia truly pushes
the envelope.
The caption on the photo translates, "When girls have a period,
they need hygienic protection."
The large words at left translate, "Does one feel the tampon in the
vagina?"
