It was less than a decade ago that I learned about menstration in elementary school (4th and 5th grades) and the videos we watched mentioned nothing of sex (except cartoon sperm fertilizing eggs at one point. If we asked how the sperm got there or where babies came from we were instructed to go home and ask our parents. The rules of the school district forbade teachers from answering those type of questions.

Things changed when we got to middle school, though somewhere along the line we jumped straight from not uttering the word (sex) to being told it's dangers (and implying we might be tempted to try it??) without ever discussing the logistics.

I guess what I'm getting at is that things havn't changed ALL THAT MUCH from when this video was produced. Which is discomforting.

You have to keep in mind that this video was very progressive considering the time in which it was produced. Although the information is dated, I thought the animation was pretty cute.
Have you seen the one about VD? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eza2ZSlCV5E

i agree with bandersnatch about its information. in terms of what actually happens during your period, it was quite accurate. aside from the magic fertilized egg.

Everything after that though.... what??? "Try not to get emotionally upset... quit feeling sorry for yourself..." ummm, I have to take prescription Aleve for my cramps, that's how bad the pain can be. I've almost fainted from it before. Why wouldn't I get emotionally upset?? Honestly.

Thanks for posting this. It made me laugh. :)

I was transported back to 1984, when the teacher would turn off the lights, take ten minutes to get the film projector hooked up, and then we would all watch the movie in the dark. I even could hear the sound of the clicking of the projector!

That cheered me up!

I don't know why Disney is blaming me for catching a cold (it mentioned it at least twice). Perhaps if I wore more make-up and quit slouching I wouldn't have lost my voice last week.

I love my menses.

I"m disturbed the big general germ guy in the VD film looks like Tommy Cooper.

Could someone please photoshop that compact to be ortho-tryclen? Maybe the huge clock, too.

Okay; so when I have my period I have to do supervised excersise, get over myself and apply make-up to make myself feel better?? So when i have nausea and severe cramps make-up and 'taking it in my stride' will make it better wil it??? Hmmm...I feel sorry for the poor girls that had to get advice from stuff like this. You know, back in the day!

Y'all a bunch of haters.

You could look at the positives from the video. The constant reiteration that menstruation is normal, not strange or bizarre. No shame or shunning women, no saying you should stay at home hiding. What about the mad props they gave to mothers in the beginning of the clip?

But no... y'all a bunch of haters. Rather than looking for the good you focus on the bad. Rather than nurturing hope at the signs of progress y'all... are a bunch of haters.

Was it perfect? No. Does it beat some of the sex ed that alot of people get now? Yes. Could you imagine Jaywalking with Jay Leno and the responses he would get today if he asked people if they know what a Fallopian tube is? It would be ridiculous.

I actually do think there's a lot of positive aspects to this video, especially, as Steven said, the emphasis on your period being normal. And there was good technical information there, too. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be critical of the parts of it that did suck, and we should be able to do so without being called haters. There was a pretty strong undertone of "normal = getting married and popping out babies" as well as the idea that periods are normal. As others have mentioned, the idea that debilitating cramps and emotional rollercoasters are no reason to stop looking pretty for the boys is pretty grody. We can (and should) acknowledge both the good and the bad.

**ROFLMAO**

Why I love this blog:
"I"m disturbed the big general germ guy in the VD film looks like Tommy Cooper."

"... you must take great pains to look your best (stand up straight! Powder your nose!) in order to overcome the horrors of menstruation. Gag."

I'm glad that this was mostly pro-woman, but much of the last 5 minutes of the video was kind of crazy (as others have mentioned).

Don’t get a cold… cause it could mess up your cycle… WHAT? Why does it matter if my "cycle" is perfect. Most of the time, it won't be.

As for excercising... "Just use common sense. When you come to think of it, most of your daily routine is on the mild side (show woman cleaning house). It’s going to extremes that’s wrong and to be avoided.” It makes me laugh.

Then at the beginning the narrator said something about a girl progressing "from blocks to dolls to books" Of course, all girls play with dolls.

I like old vidoes like this, because they are a great way to examine societal values and gender framing in history.

So Steve, if critiquing a historical document makes me a "hater," then fine...I think the good things are taken for granted. If a specific thing was not pointed out as bad, then the assumption is that it was acceptable.

Yay! This is only my 4th blog ever and look at all the comments! And I have my first troll! Thanks, Steven. I've never heard the "lighten up" argument before!

"So Steve, if critiquing a historical document makes me a "hater," then fine..."
~Femgineer

"Nice try, but I won't let you spin me"
~some dude with his own TV show.

They where not critiquing, they where slamming it, pointing out only the bad, not the good. Bandersnatch did mention that it was progressive for its time. Aside from that, nothing but hating from haters.

"Why does it matter if my "cycle" is perfect. Most of the time, it won't be."

Well, yeah, now adays that is true, because so many women today take medications et cetera that deliberately mess with the natural hormone cycle with precautions that can last for years. I am sure back in 1946, before hormonal birth control, periods where more... periodic for most women.

In regards to exercise, the video pointed out women are affected differently... and you are on thier case for saying use common sense? Like if it hurts, stop? My wife cannot use an elliptical, much less do crunches on some periods. (I understand y'all being annoyed about the 'under supervision' thing).

Posture: very important, back in the day. Hell, even my parents told me not to slouch. Maybe, back in the 40's they thought bad posture was bad for you... I think they even say that today... hmmm.

Constipation: Do you want to go arownd bricked up all the time? that is just good advice generally. I don't know if constipation makes periods worse, but if constipation does, or they thought constipation made periods worse over 60 years ago, it gets a pass.

"Try not to get emotionally upset... quit feeling sorry for yourself" What would you rather they say? Be ashamed? Hide yourself? Wallow in misery? Let your cramps get the best of you?

Y'all are haters because you went out of your way to make a persuasive arguement that the video from '46 was horrible. If it was truly critiquing it would have 1) pointed out strengths 2) pointed out weaknesses/problems 3)recommended improvements.

Instead of critiques, we got haters. If you only point out the bad, you is a hater. (I got dinged for that one one of the threads around here, its true. Right now I am trying to not be hatin' myself).

So this is interesting! Many women have many different kinds of cycles and I don't think it's up to the creators from Walt Disney or anyone else to tell women how to "deal" with their periods. Discussing the details of the process is one thing but following it up with a list of things we should or should not do is just plain rediculous, especially when most of it was bullshit! And believe me, I speak from personal experience.

I think that video was pretty good. Yes, it mentioned dolls, but it's a clear case of something working within the boundaries of its time. Do you really expect something from the forties to not paint a girl's/woman's "routine" as something involving cleaning and make-up? At least that's not all it involved; at least they mentioned "dolls to books", which is positive.

While it was mentioning girls staying neat and in a good mood, the only time a man was directly referenced was at the very end, when they were dancing. I'm pretty unconcerned with impressing men, and I think it's good advice to attend to one's personal hygiene at all times. I'm equally disgusted by men and women who can't be bothered to bathe, put clean clothes on or even wash their hands when going into a public place.

The video is aimed at young girls who have not had their period yet or have only had it for a little while, that's why the exercises are "under supervision". Being supervised by someone who knows what the proper way to do the exercises makes sure they're working right. There wasn't really any "or else you might HURT YOURSELF, you fragile woman!" implication, that I can tell. If you're not doing them right, they're not going to help!

Now, if a video identical to this were being made now, I'd roll my eyes. But what should they be showing women doing? What activities define a liberated woman, exactly, and which of them might be mistakenly thought hindered by menstruation? It seems an easy line to muddy up, and something that would change from person to person.

In an educational video, where's the line drawn between something that perpetuates harmful stereotypes and expectations, and something that's progressive but distracts from the general message of the film?

Can't it be said that it makes sense to abide by the gender norms of the time, so everything in the video is familiar to the largest portion of viewers? Would the video be better with some "if this is normal for you"s added to it?

What I'm saying is not that teaching young women that there's more out there for them than cooking and cleaning is useless and detrimental to education, but that a video about menstruation might not be the best place for those lessons. Not in the forties, when the fact that they're even being shown such a video was probably pretty good, haha.

I have to agree with Jamie. Yes the sexism was rampant, but when wasn't it back then? There are several good things to point out in this film. The fact that menstruation is normal and the science behind it. It isn't saying lies about how it is the shame and curse upon women.

Though I have to admit, seeing the woman growing up and getting married did burst my bubble against all those good points. Oh well.

I personally vote that we all sit back and laugh at the kooky things Disney did and how silly they appear to us now.

the marriage bit was creepy
and the magically fertilized egg was weird too.

I think the constipation bit made sense, because being backed up really can increase the pain of cramps.

The part about sucking it up doesn't get as much of a pass, but I can see some of the logic behind it. Hormonal Birth Control wasn't introduced until 1960. Tylenol had just come out in 1949, but it doesn't work for everyone. The only thing tylenol works for (in me) is headaches. Asprin is generally not advised for people under 20 or so. Advil and Aleve didn't come out till 1984 and 1976 respectively. So there wasn't much to do for cramps other than try and live with them.

This was funny to watch how times have changed. I thought that it was interesting to listen when they talked about the egg being magically fertilized, not once was the word sperm used. They went through the explanation of were the baby grows but that was it.

I laughed when they said "Try not to get emotionally upset... quit feeling sorry for yourself..." Quit feeling sorry for your self, that’s a joke. Yes you may get a little tired but I’ve never felt sorry for myself.

Hey, I learned that only white women menstruate. I did not know this before! Here's to Kimberly Clark!
--CC

I am sure back in 1946, before hormonal birth control, periods where more... periodic for most women.

This is backwards. Hormonal birth control makes you more regular, not less, unless you choose to take it in a way that makes you less regular (like not menstruating at all.) The normal, unmedicated human woman may run 26-31 days as a general rule. I know my periods kind of randomly ran between 28 and 33 days when I was a teen girl (and I did not use any form of birth control then... well, unless you count virginity.)

Actually, considering the time period, I was fairly impressed. No mention of shame or "the curse," an empahsis on the normality of individual difference, and an attempt to dispel myths, including some that are rampant even today.
As for the bit about vigorous dancing or exercise...remember in 1946 we didn't have tampons or adhesive pads, so you'd be wearing a belt to hold your pad in place.
Of course aspects of it are sexist and dated, but I doubt you could put anything out back then that even implied a woman having a child without being married. Overall, again, given the time, I think it could be a lot worse.