From ‘nature’s handicap’ to a global awareness day: How history of period products unfolded

Although menstruation is now far from the taboo topic of the 20th century, some still believe there’s more work to be done for it to be celebrated. By Kristi Boland.

New Zealand has come a long way in its advertising of period products and knowledge of women’s menstrual cycles but stigma and discrimination remains, says a menstrual justice charity.

From reusable rags and towels to menstrual cups, tampons and period underwear – period products have evolved since the early 20th century.

Once you started menstruating you were a woman, mothers told their daughters over the years, but knowledge of hormones did not really develop until the 1920s, historian Barbara Brookes says.

‘‘Mothers didn’t really have any language to talk to their daughters. They didn’t particularly know what the mechanism was themselves except they knew once you started menstruating you could get pregnant, so it was a time of warning really.’’

Brookes co-authored an article with fellow historian Margaret Tennant in Women’s History Review called Making Girls Modern. They found in the 1930s and 40s menstruation was largely associated with illness, and the language used to discuss it was negative.

Many mothers lacked a vocabulary to convey information to their daughters, so advice booklets were made in the form of conversations between mothers and daughters, Brookes said.

Marjorie May’s Twelfth Birthday was an advice booklet that made its way to New Zealand in the 1930s to help with that conversation. In it, Marjorie’s mother tells her daughter about the ‘‘means of purification’’ about to take place in her maturing body.

Mrs May is a ‘‘modern mother’’ who provides her daughter with an elastic girdle and Kotex pads to prepare her. But concludes with a warning: Daddy should not know of these products or this conversation.

Purchasing and disposal of period products had to be discreet. ‘‘That all had to be hidden in the house from the boys and the men,’’ Brookes said.

Period products were hidden down the back in supermarkets and advertising for them was mostly in women’s magazines. There was no way period-related ads could be shown on TV.

‘‘There was quite a controversy about it because people said it would be disgusting to see such things while they were eating their dinner,’’ Brookes said.

Blood was never mentioned nor was the condition the products were designed to address. Advertisements’ descriptions of menstruation included ‘‘nature’s handicap’’ or ‘‘those difficult days’’.

By the 60s, tampons were the preferred option to towels or pads, Brookes said and were announced to be ‘‘good news for women’’, especially those who were married, their research found.

The belief that internal protection was not for virgins was widespread into the 1960s. One woman recalled that single women using Tampax ‘‘had the connotation of perhaps being a rather ‘flighty’ type’’, the researchers said.

Brookes remembered being a student flatting in the 70s and periods being an unfamiliar subject for men. ‘‘I remember some guy in a flat thought that the tampons in the bathroom were toilet cleaners.’’

Brookes has seen the move towards menstruation being something to be celebrated rather than hidden but The Period Place chief executive Danika Revell says there’s still work to do.

‘‘For Aotearoa we are in the waka, we’ve got the paddles, and we’re on the river. The transformation I have seen in the last five years has been phenomenal. Not fast enough – but phenomenal. There is still a lot that needs to be done in education, not just in schools but adults,’’ Revell said.

Revell co-founded The Period Place, a charity that provides education on periods, and offers better access to period products. It has distributed 1.5m worth of free period products to those in need – to people who can’t afford products, have a bleeding disorder, live rurally, or anyone else in need. Education is high on its list. ‘‘People are more willing to engage and understand it and understand the complexities of it.

‘‘Women’s health has never been a priority in the medical world and from a technology perspective the last five to 10 years have been bloody phenomenal. There are so many innovations around different types of products.’’

Today is World Menstrual Hygiene Day. The Period Place hopes to raise $10,000 on One Good Kiwi app to purchase $10,000 worth of period underwear from partners UbyKotex. If the goal is reached, UbyKotex will match it with another $10,000 worth of period underwear.