Netflix recently released a new animated series called Big Mouth which centers around puberty within both males and females. The show, which currently has 1 season (a total of 10 episodes) discusses a variety of issues that everyone faces during puberty: sexuality, raging hormones, menstruation, and even boners. Today, I want to talk about its second episode, titled “Everybody Bleeds.”
The episode highlights one of the show’s characters, Jessi, who received her first period during a school trip. In 26 minutes, Big Mouth emphasizes on the changes that occur when a girl gets her period and how guys might react to it. Among the reactions were a lot of questions that the students had about what it means to finally have your period.
The show sheds light on the stigma that comes with a lack of understanding about menstruation. In fact, Jessi states that periods are not a strange thing because every girl gets them. I feel as if the idea of periods have always been a taboo concept that you are not expected to talk about publicly. As a matter of fact, some families simply do not talk about all of the changes that occur in a woman’s body as she undergoes puberty. I think that schools should invest more in their sex-ed classes to talk about puberty and the importance of understanding everything that surrounds it. Most classes seem to heavily focus on sexual intercourse. Although important, teenagers need to understand their bodies as well as the changing bodies of the opposite sex. We need to stop stigmatizing puberty and start embracing change because, like Jessi said, everyone goes through puberty.
Gip courtesy of Giphy.com
Cover image courtesy of Dot and Line