Blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research

Menarche at the Movies

June 1st, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Only Yesterday DVD cover/movie posterI’m not an expert in Japanese anime films, but I am pretty knowledgeable about the representation of menstruation and menarche in films in the English-speaking world, especially the U.S. So I was surprised to read in this review/story about the Isao Takahata film, Only Yesterday, that the reason the film won’t be distributed on DVD in the U.S. because there is a menarche scene.

The reason Only Yesterday has not been released on DVD in the United States, and never will be in the near future, is because it includes references to menstruation. Disney has a distribution deal with Studio Ghibli, but decided it could not release the film because of this. And Studio Ghibli included a clause in their contract which stated the scene could not be altered. Removing this scene would have been detrimental to the film, also foolish. This is I’m sure a fundamental part of growing up for females, and the point of its insertion is that the ‘82 Taeko is changing just as she was changing in 1966. She must learn to accept these changes, not reject them, and it is an issue she faces at both periods in her life. (no pun intended)

Menarche has been used in other films to communicate the same kinds of messages; as I argued in Capitalizing on the Curse, that was part of the purpose of Vada’s menarche in My Girl. This is a turning point in the film, in which Vada realizes that she is a girl, will develop into a woman, and must abandon her childhood pastimes – including her friendship with Thomas J.

Menarche scenes occur in other films as well, with similar plot functions, but usually the actual bleeding takes places off-camera, as in My Girl. (A Walk on the Moon is a notable exception.) I can’t tell from the review how explicit menstruation is in Only Yesterday, but given the description of the rest of the film, it’s hard to believe it justifies blocking U.S. release of the movie.

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Posted in Film, Independent Film, Media, Menarche, Studio Film | 4 Comments »

Strawberries and Spinach: Menstrual Monday 2010

May 3rd, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Guest Post by Geneva Kachman, MOLT: The Museum of the Menovulatory Lifetime

Back in 2000, when my Menstrual Monday journey began, an ever-reasonable friend had pointed out it took 13 years for Julia Ward Howe to establish Mother’s Day. Being a holidaymaker, and more on the creative side than reasonable, I poo-poo’d my friend’s caution. Seriously – Julia Ward Howe didn’t have the Internet! Thirteen years is two centuries in Internet time!

Eleven Menstrual Mondays later, I humbly look forward to the year 2012, and raising a glass (of tomato juice) to Julia Ward Howe, unmoved by any doomsday scenarios erroneously attributed to the Mayan calendar. Holidaymaking is just not as easy as it looks!

Display of Uterine Flying Objects (UFOs)

Display of Uterine Flying Objects (UFOs)

On the other hand, Menstrual Monday parties are rather easy to throw. Here’s all you need to do:

  1. Check out the official mission statement for Menstrual Monday – of note, the first goal is to create “a sense of fun around menstruation.” One benefit of “silly” party favors and decorations, such as the U.F.O. (Uterine Flying Object), PMS Blowt-Out, and Tampose (tampon + rose = tampose), is that women from all walks of life are put at ease, wondering “what is that?” rather than being focused on menstrual negativity (taboo and shame are such heavy words, aren’t they?).
  2. Ask everyone to bring something from the Five Menstrual Monday Food Groups: Green stuff, red stuff, chocolate, poppy seed, egg. Or serve a spinach salad with tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs and poppy seed dressing, with chocolate for dessert. Before sitting down to eat, why not chant “green stuff, red stuff, chocolate, poppy seed, egg” a few times, just for fun?
  3. To get the discussion going, you can download A Cuppa Questions from MOLT – the questions are printed on drawings of human ova. Cut the ova out, drop them into a cup, and let each guest select a question. Make sure to download the answer sheet as well. You can also cut out extra circles, for guests to write their own questions on.
  4. If you haven’t tried reusable menstrual pads or menstrual cups before, a Menstrual Monday party is a good time to learn about them. Two such companies are LunaPads and Glad Rags. You and your friends can decide to try these products yourselves – as well as donate pads to young women, who would otherwise be kept out of school.
  5. Display of MOLTwheels and red packaging.

    Display of MOLTwheels and FloFlags

    If you like working with fabric, check out Have a Hester at MOLT, and learn about scarlet letters and flow-dyeing. Right now I’m enamored of red shop rags – I add glitter glue, and use them to package MOLTwheels – the mini-frisbees in the photo. See what ideas you and your guests can come up with.

  6. Individuals can purchase a DVD copy of the documentary Period: The End of Menstruation? for $29.95. For more film suggestions for your party, see the FloFilm Index at MOLT.

I notice I’ve mentioned a couple of things that require spending money – the most intriguing question to me this Menstrual Monday is: Where is the intersection of feminism, menstruation, and entrepreneurship? I’m wondering: How can there be a transformation in attitudes toward the red stuff, without a corresponding transformation in where women’s green stuff (money) is being spent?

Strawberries and spinach: Food for thought, indeed.

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Posted in Activism, Art, DIY, Menstruation | 1 Comment »

Bravery and Intellect Over Easy: Scrambled

March 12th, 2010 by Giovanna Chesler

(This post also published at the blog g6pix.)

I’ll try not to sound too fan-girlish here as I write about the documentary Scrambled: A Journey through PCOS by Randi Cecchine, but admittedly, it is a difficult task. For in this film, which chronicles Cecchine’s struggle with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, we meet a filmmaker brave enough to show us, wart-hairs and all, the challenges inherent in this disease embodied. She does so with humor, with information, and with space for personal reflection.

As Cecchine and the health practitioners she speaks with share, PCOS is a condition that affects 8% of women but that goes under-diagnosed. Though largely undetected in the women who have PCOS, the first sign of something wrong is the absence or change in the menstrual period. According to Cecchine’s participant Dr. Geoffrey Redmond, an endocrinologist who has studied female hormone problems for over twenty years, PCOS generally shows up during puberty or shortly during the menarche period. In his interview, he argues that a delay of fifteen years in diagnosis typically occurs because “people who care for teenagers are typically not clued into this condition.”  Continue reading...

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Posted in Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhea, Film, Health Care, Independent Film, Menarche, Menstruation | 3 Comments »

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