Guess when the first gender neutral menstrual product was invented....
If your guess was a date any later than April 1862, you're wrong.
If your guess was a date any later than April 1862, you're wrong.
Meet the Improved Female Supporters Or Truss Or Support Or Catamenial Sack, submitted by Alexander D. Reeves in 1862, a device "for all purposes of both male and female uses". 
In particular, it was "more especially a female periodical receptacle", which means you can keep your copies of Good Housekeeping and Cosmo in there.
The patent application explains that the wearer places a sponge "of any dimensions needed" inside a small rubber sack, keeping clothing dry. In all positions it would "keep its place and do its office".
Aside from mentioning "female periodicals", the patent application is coy about what other uses the device had. It's likely it was designed for incontinence as well as menstruation.
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