The Sanitary Belt
- I.L.
- Mar 30, 2021
- 1 min read
Nowadays, people use various products to control their periods, pads and tampons being
the most popular. But what was the popular product 60 years ago?
The sanitary belt was invented in the 1920s by the female African American inventor, Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, and was patented in 1956. The belts were easy to construct and use, adjustable for various sizes, and cheap to manufacture. It was the first menstrual product that used an adhesive to keep the pad in place rather than safety pins.
*Learn more about Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner*
In 1959, she patented another sanitary belt with a moisture-proof pocket. This new and improved version had a cloth pouch with a moisture-proof seal in which you could put the pad or other absorbent material such as cotton or rags.
During this time, tampons were not very popular as people questioned their morality. For example, people believed that tampons caused menstruators to lose their virginity.
*Tampons don't cause a loss of virginity. Read more about it here.*
Unfortunately, racism was and still is, unescapable. The company that was initially interested in marketing the sanitary belt lost interest when they found out Mary Kenner was black.
Despite this, the sanitary belt became a very popular option until adhesive strips were added to the bottom of pads in 1969. In the '80s, tampons became more common. No longer requiring a fancy contraption, the sanitary belt was replaced, and now remains as an artifact of the past.
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