Welcome to Period Pieces, our journey through the bizarre and beautiful cultural history of menstruation. Inspired by #throwbackthursday, we serve up our favorite ads, images, and factoids about periods throughout the ages.

This week's Period Piece comes to us via the Society for Menstrual Research, one of our favorite sources for women's health information. On the surface, the advertisement below for Kotex's appears to be just like most other ads from the era--promising the "utmost daintiness of a person" who uses the product, featuring stylish women in lady-like dresses, et cetera--but thanks to the smart folks at SMR, we get to see another layer.

kotex nepenthe

 

Check out the name of the ship, printed on the the life saver hanging on the ship's rail: Nepenthe. As the SMR points out, "nepenthe" is a literary nod to a magical potion that makes the user forget his woes (see: The Raven and The Odyssey for references to nepenthe) . These smart women appear to be setting sail on Kotex's soft, deodorizing pads to forget their menstrual woes--really, to forget they're on their periods at all.

What do you think of this advertisement? Should menstrual products make you forget about your period?

About the author of this post:

tracypuhl is the owner of GladRags and is passionate about period positivity and empowering women everywhere. When she’s not in the office, you might find her attempting to run a faster 10k, traveling, practicing yoga, or pointing out how cute her cats are being right now.