Let’s talk about periods, baby.
Periods are still treated as taboo around the world, to varying degrees, and to detrimental effect. In North America many folks still pay luxury taxes on menstrual hygiene products—a basic human need—while many more have no access to these products at all. It's no coincidence that it has taken decades of television advertisements for period blood to actually appear red, instead of that detergent-like blue liquid we're used to seeing.
As communications experts, we're doing our part to help normalize menstruation in all its forms. In honour of Menstrual Hygiene Day, we're bringing you a curated selection of period-centric media to enjoy this weekend.
Periods on film.
Throughout the history of film and television periods have become cinematic shorthand for a couple of things:
1) A girl becomes a woman (and, subtext, sexually mature) — See the recent critical darling (and problematic in other ways) Netflix show The Queen's Gambit. And yes, this trope is largely gross and needs to be retired.
2) A girl becomes a monster — Yep, you read that right. This is a spin on the previous trope and particularly prevalent in the horror genre. See classics such as Carrie or Ginger Snaps for examples, and read Jude Doyle's Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers for context.
3) A woman is erratic or emotional — See literally any sitcom from the 90s.
Real subtle, huh?
Needless to say, these tropes have been largely established by men, and do not represent or reflect the full multiplicity of experiences that face people who menstruate. Lucky for us, women writers and directors have done amazing work to subvert these lazy narratives.
In the last year alone we saw Michaela Coel's empowering and straightforward approach to hooking up while menstruating on her brilliant (and totally underappreciated) series I May Destroy You. Periods are treated as normal, casual—nothing to be ashamed of or disgusted by (this shouldn't be revolutionary, but it kind of is).
Another British import and anti-heroine favourite, I Hate Suzie, created by Billie Piper and Lucy Prebble, characterizes PMT (pre-menstrual tension, or Permanent Mega Truth, as renamed by one of the characters) as a time of clarity and decisiveness—directly subverting trope number 3.
These are just two recent examples, and there are tons more, which have contributed to the mission of normalizing experiencing, depicting and talking about periods on screen. But it is also important to note that we have very little representation of menstruation for trans and non-binary folks in mainstream media at all, and that needs to change.
For more on the history of periods in film and television click here.
Tech Spotlight: Tampon Run
Throw tampons at period shamers and collect more by jumping for boxes.
After meeting at a summer program led by Girls Who Code, high school students, Sophie Houser and Andrea Gonzales, teamed up to make Tampon Run, a game about de-stigmatizing the menstrual taboo.
The notion of weaponized tampons references a 2013 incident where Texas state troopers confiscated tampons (as potential projectiles), but not guns, from visitors who were trying to get inside the Texas State Capitol to observe a controversial vote on abortion restrictions.
Play the game here.
Our Period Playlist
That's right. We've carefully crafted the perfect playlist for the emotional rollercoaster that is menstruation. Listen to it here.
Have a bloody great weekend!