Prudish 60s

On our honeymoon in the 60s my ex went into chemist to buy condoms. He came out with a toothbrush...went back in and came out with a bar of soap. He tried a third time. As he walked up to the counter the pharmacist handed him a pack of Durex saying "Is this what you are looking for Sir? "

Oh, how I remember. 10 years old going alone to ask for Dr. Whites and a belt. Not for nothing were they likened to hammocks. Don't even mention the egg that I was told would come out once a month. I only knew chickens eggs!! The embarrassment of the early 50s.

I had a few laughs reading all the comments but the subject was far from funny in the mid 50s. I was never told what was to come, even when sent aged 13 with my brother on a coach from Sussex to Lancashire to stay with my aunt. As we were leaving Mother told me that she had told Aunty that ‘something might happen and to tell Aunty if it did’. Not a clue what she meant and kept looking around for anything I ought to warn her about. Aunty had no children and I’m not sure I would have dared to tell her anyway.
I actually started my period at school a short while later and walked home in a mess believing that I was going to die. Mother could see the obvious aftermath and I was given a thick piece of cloth with two safety pins and told ‘it had started’ and never to say a word to my siblings. It was years before I heard of STs and saved up my babysitting money to buy a belt and those huge towels with loops. I thought they were wonderful but I still didn’t know what a period was as I wasn’t allowed to mention the subject.
Mother wasn’t stupid; she was a teacher and I still feel my fear and confusion and wonder how she could have left me so ignorant.
Writing this has made me wonder why we were sent to Lancashire for two weeks. I can’t remember any reason.

I had visitors for afternoon tea and there we were when my 3 year old son finished his roadway. Coming from our bedroom through the hall and into the living room. Beautifully constructed with a packet of STs. Lol

Mum sent me to the chemist for STs when I was about 10. The shop was self service and they were on a low shelf in a corner. I picked up a pack and took it to the counter. The lady gave me a look,came round the counter,went to the shelf and picked up a plain brown paper bag and put them inside before she came back and took the money!

This thread is conjuring up memories! Here are a few of mine.
One morning in the late sixties, on the bus on my way to my Saturday job, my nearly full packet of Lil-lets fell out of my handbag and they all rolled away down the gangway to the front of the bus. I was mortified, especially when a primary school girl in front carefully collected them all and handed them back to me! She was so proud to have been helpful. In those days 5 and 6 year old children routinely travelled alone on buses to school.

In the late 60s, a friend who worked as a dental nurse said that, to prevent embarrassment in front of clients, if they ever needed a tampon, her colleagues referred to it as a 'cigar'. Asking if someone had a 'cigar' now would probably sound odder than asking for a tampon!

At school, aged 11, we had a book called something like, 'How I began' by Cyril Bibby. It featured many details about rabbits, but when it progressed to humans there was only a line drawing of two people hiking, accompanied by the caption 'youth and maiden hand in hand'. The man was wearing a rucksack, so there was much debate as to whether the hand holding was the cause of pregnancy, or whether the baby was in the rucksack!

My mother viva 1950’s hovered in the chemist for a female assistant for ages and eventually got her ST’s. But before she could leave the male manager who had clearly observed her hovering, pulled her aside and gently told her off saying that they sell 100’s every day and she should have just asked him - it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
Months later she walked in - no female assistant so she plucked up the courage to ask the male assistant - he had on a white pharmacy style jacket so she quickly blurted out “ can I have some ST’s please”
His reply “Sorry love, I don’t work here, but I wish I did” Poor mum!

Her mother had died and her dad had an extra job filling vending machines, as money was tight and he had 5 daughters as mum was the eldest he said to her that he could bring home some boxes “of those things girls use every month” - although mum couldn’t afford to buy them, she was so mortified at the thought of her dad bringing them that she snapped “I don’t know what you mean, no, I don’t want them” she went bright red, as did he, and it was never discussed again!

I still remember the horrible smell of the school incinerator when in use. Acrid smokey smell.

Before the war when my mum first started work, a young girl complained of a headache to the supervisor who sent her to the factory nurse.
The young girl came back to work with a sanitary pad across her forehead with the loops over each ear..
She was not laughed at but taken under the wing of kindly older factory workers..

As told to me by mum

I remember this too ! Off to local shop with a note , never knowing exactly what I was buying.
It was worse when I needed them as I had to ask Mum for money.
I remember taking weeks to ask Mum if I could try tampons ! I was so pleased to get a Saturday job in Boots so I had both money and easy access to the dreaded items .
How times change. Our 3 daughters had no qualms at all about asking Dad to buy these for them when he went to Tesco . They did call them " lady things " though.
Dad always seemed happy to oblige too . Never a hint of embarrassment !
Not sure my Dad even knew what periods were !

My mother also sent me to the shop with a note for a packet of Dr Whites they came in a grey and white striped box.
Don't know about you other GNs but I never sent my girls to shop for my sanitary products, it seems it was very common back in the day!!

Gosh this has brought back some memories! Hated STs & started using Lillets asap, never could get along with Tampax which DM used.

DM gave me a booklet when I was about 11 & we had a talk in 1st year at Secondary School girls only, the boys all wanted to be included

I went to my GP in early 70s to ask for the Pill, I was 16/17, he asked if I had a steady boyfriend & if we were having regular sex, yes to both questions, Pill duly prescribed, 6 months at a time. He was Family GP but a lovely man & I was over 16 so my parents never knew.

I was at boarding school in the fifties, and when we had a period we had to ask the house mother for a birthday present, no idea where this code came from, but we all used it. There was a special incinerator built into the bathrooms.

Fennel you just reminded me saying about the Russian girls. My mum would cut up an old sheet for me and my sister as she could not afford to buy sanitary towels for us.

As a young new Saturday girl at a small branch of famous chemist's I didn't know what a lot of the products were. The full-timers told me to ask customers what something was for, as it would guide me to the right area of the shop. And so I asked the Scottish man with a loud voice when he asked for KY Jelly. Yikes! And the other staff corpsed under the counter! Mortified or what!?

My grandmother was more open about such things than my mother ( her daughter!). However, she did have some strange ideas. Until she told me, I had no idea that one should not have a filling at the dentist while ‘like that’ as they would drop out!
My mother would not let me wash my hair while menstruating. Apparently, it would result in pneumonia.

Urmstongran I've always wondered why John Wayne walked like that. Obviously he had an incontinence problem and needed Tena Men Secure !!

My mother told me quite early about menstruation etc. Unexpected visitors arrived and I was sent to the chemist with a note. I walked in to the living room swinging the bag around asking what they were.

My Mum thought she was dying when she started bleeding at school. When she arrived home her older sister threw a bundle of rags at her and told her it was the curse!

Only yesterday, the subject of the visiting speaker about "personal health & hygiene" who many of us encountered in secondary school came up in conversation with a couple of other GNers. In my case, it was a little late for most of us as we were not considered ready for The Talk until halfway through the fourth form!

One thing I had forgotten until now was how she explained the various methods of sanitary protection to us, adding that, of course, tampons were not really suitable for unmarried girls ... unless, that is, we habitually rode a bike or a horse. We all looked at each other, completely mystified and collapsed into fits of laughter.

Apart from that gem, I think the only other positive piece of information was that heavy petting could put a girl into a dangerous situation and lead to her getting an unsavoury reputation. In a bid to get some clarity, one classmate put up a hand and asked how making a fuss of her boyfriend's dog could possibly be dangerous? More laughter and I don't think that was ever answered.?

I have to confess I was always quite embarrassed when buying ST's or tampax - even though I only ever bought them with the rest of my shopping in the supermarket. I can remember furtively hiding them under other items in my shopping trolley. Ridiculous I know!

My husband was never bothered about discussing any personal issues and he would just go and buy pads or tampons for my daughter when she needed them and was short of money.
On the other hand, he would have died of embarrassment if he'd ever had to buy condoms - he never did, I used to get them from the Family Planning clinic!

I discussed periods openly with my daughter and as soon as she started secondary school she carried a little 'emergency pack' for when the inevitable happened.

Those huge long STs you got after childbirth. I'd forgotten about the different sizes.
You've also reminded me of the wool and underwear shops where ladies could buy their necessities. Barber's shops for men. "Anything for the weekend sir?"
I guess the scope for giggles, blushes and double entendre were endless.
Bikergran

I think sanitary towels were called "bunnies" because in the Ladies' toilets, the incinerator machines to get rid of STs were a brand name "Bunny" with a logo.

I was also a single parent and had to be Mum and Dad, as someone mentioned further back, and I took my daughter to the Family Planning Clinic a few weeks before she started university, and also gave condoms to my son when he was about the same age.

My son was well used to periods, PMT, etc and had a Saturday job in a corner shop, so was used to stacking the shelves with STs and Tampax. As I have M.E. amongst other illnesses, and sometimes he had to do the shopping for me, he was used to being asked for different absorbencies of tampons and just took it in his stride with no embarrassment whatsoever.

He apparently thoroughly amused the English teacher when he was 14. They were studying Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, and the teacher asked if anyone knew what a wet-nurse was. My son put up his hand and then apparently gave a short talk on the benefits of breastfeeding!!! I felt very proud of him.

This is so unlike my own experiences with a Mum who wouldn't talk about anything and just gave me a sanitary towel and belt in a brown paper bag to put in my shoebag at grammar school when I had no idea what to do with it.

I had been married 6 years when I became pregnant with my daughter. When we went to tell my parents, my Mum didn't want to consider my sex life and just said "I'll go and put the kettle on." My husband whispered "We are married, aren't we? She's acting as if you're a schoolgirl mother."

When I was 40 (it took me all that time plus 2 children to pluck up the courage) I asked Mum why she had never told me the facts of life, and she just said she thought I would be told at school. I wasn't!

When I was working, in the mid-sixties, one of my colleagues brought cakes in for everybody but refused to reveal the reason for the celebration. She later revealed to a few of us that she had at last managed to insert a tampon!

I was pleased to discover the Tassie, an earlier version of the Mooncup, which I used right through until after the menopause.

When I had fibroids I was glad of the huge night time pads I had to wear agnurse thank goodness for a hysterectomy.

I have heard horror stories about the brick hammocks, but I've never actually seen one in real life, nor have I used them. Mum told my sister and me that she only ever used them in hospital when she had babies, as that's what the staff had on hand at the time. (This was in the mid-80s to mid-90s; I am the oldest of six.) By the time I began doing maternity work as a nurse, we didn't even have belts and pads anymore - we just had large stick-on pads and elastic underwear for the mums.

I have used thicker stick-on pads in the past, and let me say, I am SO grateful for the ultra-thin but super-absorbent ones we have now!