Turning Red, the most recent Pixar film, has sparked debates online after parents discovered periods are mentioned as part of the plot.
The animated movie follows 13-year-old Mei Lee, a Chinese-Canadian school student who transforms into a giant Red Panda whenever she gets upset or finds herself in a strong state of emotion.
Mei Lee's spontaneous metamorphosis is a "magical metaphor for puberty," according to director Domee Shi, for a bodily function roughly half of the world's population experiences. However some people still can't wrap their head around it.
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One man who was completely confused has faced backlash on Reddit after his wife posted their conversation about the Turning Red.
The couple share a 10-year-old daughter who watched the film, however the man was left seriously unimpressed by some of the content.
Writing on Reddit, the man's wife said: "Just put on 'Turning Red' and my husband can’t fathom why a movie about a 13-year-old girl would have periods in it."
"'Is it educational?'" he asked.
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She replied: "No, why does a movie have to be educational to mention periods?"
He said: "'But why does it need to have them?'"
His wife responded: "Because 13 year olds get periods and it’s a MASSIVE deal when you’re that age."
Finally, he answered: "'I don’t care that it has them, I just don’t understand why?'"
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The Redditor ended their conversation with: "Because it’s life!?!"
She wrote in her post: "We have a 10-year-old daughter and yet he still can’t understand why a movie that isn’t educational would have periods in it. And now he’s got his face buried in his laptop instead of taking the chance to learn a little about what his daughter’s about to go through."
People in the comments defended the film. One woman shared: "Please make it known to your husband that little girls as young as your daughter can have their period too. I had mine at 9. Periods aren’t weird or inappropriate, it’s literally just a NORMAL thing girls go through."
Similarly, another woman wrote: "I had them at age 12 but other students in school thought even 6-year-olds needs to know something so my mother needed to educate me sooner.
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"Either way it is good to know as soon as possible and appropriate."
While another person shared why it's important to teach children about periods from an early age. "I had mine at 10 a week before my school told us about sex ed and I implore you, teach your kids.
"I laid across two chairs for 30 minutes, convinced I was going to die. My mum told me about them when she picked me up and later on when they got worse she tried to help me by letting me know that I’d have to deal with them every day."
Other parents in the comments said they're excited to watch the film with their children. "Looking forward to watching it with my family this weekend. Heard lots of great things, in many ways it's your typical teenage movie about kids going through change like Teen Wolf but now about a girls view, great."
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Another Reddit user said: "I’m so confused about the “controversy” in Turning Red, like there are violence, sex and abuse in many movies and people are judging why there is a scene where a woman has period?"
The original poster shared an update after her husband watched more scenes from Turning Red. She said he "seems to be enjoying it" and clarified that he wasn’t upset or "grossed out by the idea of periods being in the movie," he was "genuinely baffled" by them even being mentioned in a Pixar movie.
We need more films like this!
Turning Red is available to watch on Disney+
Featured Image Credit: DisneyTopics: TV And Film, Disney, Health, Sex and Relationships