Advice from Disney: “Don’t Stop Showering When You Have Your Period, Stinky.”

Heard on one of the questions in this week’s Not My Job segment of Wait, Wait! Don’t Tell Me!:” a reference to an animated film made by Walt Disney in the 1940s to educate young girls about the salient phenomenon of female puberty, and sponsored by (who else?) Kotex. Peter Sagal: “What’s interesting is the title. The Story of Menstruation—it’s like How it Was Invented!”

Found tonight, and shared with you: the very film in question, all oddly moody blue backdrops, calm female voice-over, and cutesy animations. It’s the least I can do. I really wouldn’t want to be alone in having the bizarre pleasure of hearing and seeing illustrated such words of wisdom as:

“Try not to throw yourself off schedule by getting overtired, emotionally upset, or catching cold.”

“But don’t let it get you down. After all, no matter how you feel, you have to live with people. You have to live with yourself, too. And once you stop feeling sorry for yourself and take those days in your stride, you’ll find it easier to keep smiling and even tempered.”

If you stick around long enough, you’ll get to the counsel in this post’s title, somewhat more gently put.

Just one question, Disney. If you were brave enough to take on what, nearly seventy years ago, was even more sensitive a subject than it is today, sensible enough to actually illustrate it with images of the uterus and fallopian tubes, and scientific enough to take viewers through the hormonal pathway first triggered by the pituitary gland, why then did you totally wuss out and transform menstrual blood into the color of milk? Honestly. There’s a scene where it looks like a alien-head shaped cow is being milked.

P.S. The scene in the screen grab you see above goes along with a bit about how all women, being different, have different menstrual schedules and periods that last for differing amounts of time. Why this message is accompanied by a group of chicks standing around staring at a Scottish Terrier, one of whom appears to be wearing a crown, I can only imagine. Hypotheses are welcome.