A Period Piece: How ‘Big Mouth’ Gets It Right
Netflix’s animated series, Big Mouth has everything I’ve ever wanted in a show about the painfully embarrassing parts of puberty. It’s as relatable as it gets. It follows five pre-teens: Nick, Andrew, Jessi, Missy, and Jay, on their journey through puberty, guided by their own hormone monsters, which are more or less like imaginary friends that give puberty-related advice on things like being the only girl with boobs in your class. In a show about the horror stories of growing up, it’s no surprise the second episode covers what girls like me dreaded the most: periods.
When I first watched the episode, “Everybody Bleeds,” (written by Kelly Galuska), I was brought right back to my pimply, awkward years; thirteen-years-old, having a grand old time at a sleepover with my best friend at my house. Everything was great, I was a carefree kid watching One Direction music videos on YouTube.
All until I got my period.
I felt funny. My lower stomach and back hurt. I had broken out more than usual that morning. I knew something was off. I ran to the bathroom. When I was finished, I looked down in the toilet bowl and cried. I was now, “a woman,” and the thought of that terrified me.
How could this happen to me? Why now? Why me? Couldn’t it have waited a few more years? My mom had the talk with me early on, so I knew what periods were. I didn’t think I was dying, but I did feel like my life was over. It felt like a curse; the curse of womanhood.
I felt horrible and disgusting. I would have to hide this dirty little secret once a month for the rest of my life. Pads would always be in my purse, everywhere I went -- “just in case.” I could no longer wear white shorts and white pants when my “time of the month” was coming near.
I cried some more and sat there feeling humiliated. Finally, I decided to face the music. I yelled for my mom, and she came in and showed me how to use a pad.
I walked back to my room, shoulders slumped, and shared the news with my friend. There wasn’t a party with red-velvet cake or a firework display set to, “Man! I feel like a Woman.” My dad didn’t get all teary-eyed and take us out for a celebratory dinner like in 7th Heaven. Nor did my friend mock me for getting my period, bring a bunch of my other female friends around to throw things, laugh, and humiliate me like in Carrie. I just sank down in my bed, blithely told my friend what happened, and tried to enjoy the “What Makes You Beautiful,” music video while suppressing my hormone-fueled self-loathing. It didn’t feel like anything I saw in the movies or on TV.
My first period wasn’t 7th Heaven or Carrie, it was Big Mouth. It was, “crying so hard into your pillow that no sound comes out,” as Connie, Jessie’s hormone monster, says so poignantly.
Netflix’s Big Mouth
I felt all the things Jessie felt in that episode when she got her period on a school trip to the Statue of Liberty (while wearing white shorts too, yeesh). I still feel the things Jessi felt to this day. Somehow, Big Mouth managed to perfectly depict all the conflicting emotions that come along with your first period and gave a realistic portrayal of the highs and lows of every girl and young woman’s period. Puberty hits you like a ton of bricks and to finally see a story about periods that felt real and true to my own experience was a breath of fresh air.
I wish I had a mature, confident, period-positive hormone monster by my side during my pre-teen years to explain what I was feeling like Connie does for Jessi. Connie is the one who helps Jessi accept her newfound womanhood. While Connie gives some bad advice, like telling Jessi she should call her mom “Shannon,” she provides context to the overall experience of having a period. She is the embodiment of the best and worst things about becoming a woman. Our hormones conflict with our emotional well-being and our physical state when we have a period. Understanding this gives us a better understanding of our own bodies.
Not to mention, this episode manages to give an all-around empathetic view of periods, even from the male characters. Jessi’s friend Andrew is initially grossed out. He actually vomits when Jessi tells him she’s just gotten her period. But then, he looks around at the gift shop for feminine products to help his friend. Later on in the episode, Andrew and Nick talk about what it must be like to have a period and how crazy the whole concept of a period is. They even try to imagine what it would be like if blood came out of their penises and shudder at the thought. They worry about Jessie.
Netflix’s Big Mouth
Portraying two pre-teen boys talking openly about periods, who acknowledge that their friend has just been through something big, but still decide to treat her like normal, is something I’ve never seen before. While the series was created by three men and one woman: Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett, it’s also important to note that this brilliant episode is written by Kelly Galuska (a woman). Compare this to Carrie, (written by men) and it’s safe to say things have changed for the better.
Carrie, based on the novel by Stephen King and adapted for the screen by Lawrence D. Cohen was the first-ever on-screen depiction of menstrual blood. The movie shows Carrie getting her period in the shower for the first-time during gym class and in turn, being tormented and shamed by both her mom and her peers (who will later on drench her in pigs’ blood) for becoming a woman. What does it mean when the first-ever depiction of menstrual blood elicits fear and stigma of periods? Even worse, that this movie and the novel it was based on, were both written by men?
Showing how Nick and Andrew acknowledge and accept Jessi’s period for what it is without shaming her, is a big step in the right direction. Unlike Carrie, they don’t condemn Jessi for becoming a woman, but instead, empathize with the crap she now has to go through once a month.
Throughout the episode, Jessi has been told that being a woman sucks, by both her mom and the Statue of Liberty. But Connie proves that while it can suck, there is empowerment in growing into yourself and claiming your independence as a woman. Her spiel to Jessi when she first appears to her manages to convey all the emotion, beauty, and suck of a woman’s period at once.
From Netflix’s Big Mouth
I didn’t have a Connie growing up. It took time for me to realize that being a woman is actually pretty cool, and even though we do bleed once a month, we’re bad-asses because of it, not in spite of it! It’s nothing to be disgusted by or ashamed of, it’s natural, and without it, we wouldn’t bring life into this world. The fact that another human being comes out of us still boggles my mind. Not to mention that we go through enormous amounts of emotional and physical stress every month, but still go to school, work, and take care of our loved ones. Women are resilient. I’ve learned to accept all the highs and lows of being a woman. Cramps and all.
Had I seen Jessi, an awkward pre-teen like I was, get her period onscreen and eventually accept this new chapter of her life, maybe I could have realized that becoming a woman is nothing to be grossed out by a long time ago. I hope girls today watch this episode and feel a little less scared about growing up.
As Nick says to Andrew, “If you bleed out of your vagina once a month, that’s going to change you.” He’s not wrong.
