Film

While there are a few documentaries that deal with the feminine cycle, most of these take a strictly biological view and focus on giving the person (usually the pubescent girl) the “facts”, in order to enable her to understand the changes taking place in her body as she matures into a woman. Not many of them deal sensitively, if at all, with the emotional changes that accompany the physical changes. If they mention emotions, they tend to explain them as responses to hormones and leave it at that. The message is that all women experience them, and they mean nothing, so ignore them as best you can.

However, many of the emotions felt are due more to the family and cultural contexts in which the girl is having the experience. Where there is a code of repression, hiddenness, distaste or shame, which may be either unwritten, e.g. where the absence of any discussion of the issue makes it clear that it is a non-topic, or explicit, e.g. in religious texts, the psychological confusion and pain accompanying the changes may be far more difficult to deal with.

Please read our notes on how to participate.

The following are films that offer useful or interesting perspectives. We would love to know about any more.

Films about the feminine cycle on other sites

Leave a Comment