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 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 Dcovers the stretch material
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.
The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
Four ads for substances
probably intended as birth control
The federal Comstock laws, from 1873, prohibited
explicit advertising for birth control, including
abortion, when these ads appeared in 1933. However,
"contraceptive devices could legally be promoted for
the cure and prevention of disease" (Wikipedia).
This led to the curious wording in the ads you see
below. |
The
donor of the scans sent these comments on two of
the pictured ads: From "Nostrums and quackery: articles on the nostrum evil, quackery and allied matters affecting the public health," Volume 1, American Medical Association, 1921, p. 179: Dr Southington Remedy Company [see the bottom of the left-hand column]—This concern published, in such newspapers as would accept them, advertisements to this effect: “Ladies—$1,000 reward. I positively guarantee my great successful ‘monthly’ remedy. Safely relieves some of the longest, most obstinate abnormal cases in three to five days.” Those who wrote for information regarding this advertised abortifacient were sent a stock letter and a booklet telling of the wonderful results of taking "Dr. Southington's Ergo Kolo Female Compound for Women Only.” The price of this “regulating compound” was $1.50 a package, “single strength,” but the “double strength,” which was recommended “for more obstinate cases,” costs $2. Comment is superfluous.—(From The Journal A.M.A., Oct 4, 1913.) From Women, science, and technology: a reader in feminist science studies ed. Mary Wyer: “Socially Camouflaged Technologies” by Rachel Maines (pg. 279-280) [more from Rachel Maines, toward the bottom of this linked page]: In the case of the vibrator, the issue is one of acceptability, but there are many examples of similarly marketed technology of which the expected use was actually illegal. One of these, which shares with the vibrator a focus on women’s sexuality, was that of “emmenagogues” or abortifacient drugs sold through the mail and sometimes even off the shelf in the first few decades of this century. Emmenagogues, called in pre-FDA advertising copy “cycle restorers,” were intended to bring on the menses in women who were “late.” Induced abortion by any means was of course illegal, but late menses are not reliable indicators of pregnancy. Thus, women who purchased and took “cycle restorers” might or might not be in violation of antiabortion laws; they themselves might not be certain without a medical examination. The advertising of these commodities makes free use of this ambiguity in texts like the following from Good Stories of 1933 [see American Home Health Service, the top left ad, below]: Late? End
Delay—Worry. American Periodic Relief Compound
double strength tablets combine Safety with
Quick Action. Relieve most Stubborn cases. No
Pain. New discovery. Easily taken. Solves
women’s most perplexing problem. RELIEVES WHEN
ALL OTHERS FAIL. Don’t be discouraged, end worry
at once. Send $1.00 for Standard size package
and full directons. Mailed same day, special
delivery in plain wrapper. American Periodic
Relief Compound Tablets, extra strength for
stubborn cases, $2.00. Generous Size Package.
New Book free.
The rhetoric here does not mention the
possibility of pregnancy, but the product’s
selling points would clearly suggest this to the
informed consumer through the mentions of safety,
absence of pain, and stubborn cases. The readers
of the pulp tabloid Good Stories clearly did not
require an explanation of “women’s most perplexing
problem.” |
| Below: Read the comments
about this ad in the text above right. |
|
 |
 |
| Below: Read more about
this ad in the text at the top of the page,
right-hand column. |
|
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MORE about contraception:
Contraception and religion
Old Contraceptive
drugs
Contraceptive douches & sponges