Watch Period Piece

Period Piece is a 30 min. documentary about menarche--a girl's first menstrual period--which is a fundamental experience in every woman's life, yet one that is rarely celebrated. Women of different ages (8-84) and multi-cultural backgrounds tell their menarchal stories. All had different introductions to menstruation. They talk openly about how they were or were not prepared for menstruation by their families and school, the actual event of their menarche and their feelings about it. The stories they tell are full of the complexity of being human: they are sad, humorous, and poignant. Through focusing on the first menstrual period, we learn about the important and related issues of girl's feelings about womanhood, family dynamics and society's complicated attitude toward menstruation and the menstruating woman. Interspersed throughout Period Piece, as counterpoint to what the women are saying, are portions of old 1950's educational films about menstruation.

Period Piece addresses the pain girls experience trying to negotiate their bodies and their culture. The subject of menarche is rarely mentioned publicly, and in many families it is not even broached in private. Rather than celebrate this coming of age, we hide it and women are advised to deodorize, sanitize, and remove the evidence. Women watching this film will discover their connectedness to others, and mothers are provided with a choice they may not have realized they had about how to aid their daughters in this important and often neglected life transition. The audience will be moved by these stories to reexamine their own experiences, and to contemplate the ways in which our society teaches us to think and feel about menstruation. Period Piece demystifies for both men and women, one of women's most formative experiences. It is an entertaining and heartfelt film about a topic long considered taboo.

Period Piece is a 2007 documentary with a runtime of 30 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 5.4.