Every month young teenage girls open their YMs and eagerly read menstrual accident stories submitted by the magazine's young readers. What could be worse than having your period at prom? Have a tampon fallen from your backpack and rolled across the classroom floor and then stopped at the teacher's feet? And he's a man! Or return to the table only to hear your date tell you that something must have fallen because your panty liner is now stuck to the OUTSIDE of your pant leg? Why are young women so “mortified” (to use popular teen magazine parlance) when these things happen? This is the twenty-first century and we all know about menstruation. We see ads for feminine hygiene products on television and in magazines. These ads tell teen girls that they are strong, athletic, mobile young women, and that with the right products they can stay on the move, even during those “tough days.” More importantly, using the right products will ensure that no one else will even suspect that "it's that time of the month." Having your period shouldn't be public knowledge. How embarrassing! But why is it embarrassing? As Karen Houppert points out in her book The Curse: blood is a bit like snot. Why isn't he treated this way? People with runny noses do not hide their handkerchiefs from colleagues and family. They don't die of embarrassment when they sneeze in public. Girls don't get scared if a guy sees them buying a box of Kleenex. (Hoppert 4) How society viewed menstruation, feminine hygiene products, and women varied between the late 1800s and the 1940s. Much of this change was driven by the advent of advertising, the products created, and the prescribed ways in which women were expected to receive these products... middle of paper..., then sanitized and recommended by their doctor and finally they were even linked to the war effort. Every time these advertising campaigns changed, the women changed. They adapted to new products, developed new fears and insecurities, and saw themselves in a new way. Works Cited Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. The Body Project, an intimate story of American girls. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. Finley, Harry. Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health. March 14, 2002. http://www mum.org.Houppert, Karen. The Curse, tackling the last unmentionable taboo: menstruation. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999. Lajud, Carol, and Lorea Navaa. “History of Birth Control and Its Problems.” March 12, 2002. http://hss.fullerton.edu/womens/news/History on BirthControl.htm.“Modernist Advertising and the Modern Woman.” March 9, 2002. http://www. Menstruation. Com.au/contributors/bleedinwomanpart4.html.