Every culture has myths about menstruation.
Mothers, aunts, storytellers, and community leaders passed down these myths from one generation to the next. Today, many young women continue to believe that they will lose their virginity by inserting a tampon. Advertisements for feminine hygiene products that target pre-adolescent and adolescent girls frequently employ headlines that reinforce this belief. The central argument of this paper is that modern advertisements for feminine hygiene products still reflect, in part, some of the centuries-old myths and taboos associated with women's bodies. Previous studies have found that feminine hygiene ads in Seventeen presented menstruation as something to be feared as well as a hygienic crisis that encouraged guilt, diminished self-esteem, and focused on the importance of peer support over that of adults.