‘The Queen’s Gambit’ and erroneous depiction of menstruation scene
Beth felt embarrassed and ashamed, almost as if her period is a nuisance rather than a celebration of womanhood
"The Queen's Gambit" which has been named the most-watched limited series on Netflix and continues to remain in the top 10 most-watched in Bangladesh has certainly created more paths for females to enter into the world of chess.
Beth Harmon who loses her mother at a young age gets taken into an orphanage where she gets to play chess with her janitor. Beth's obsession with chess makes her taking part in competition so that she gets to unearth the tricks and moves of the squared battlefield.
"Queen's Gambit" had everything starting with a badass protagonist with an incredible sense of style. The complex characters also hook you up and build up the intensity of the play but even this masterpiece of a show has its own drawbacks.
In the second episode of "The Queen's Gambit," Harmon is well on her way to winning the Kentucky State Chess Championship when she feels a sharp cramp in her lower abdomen. She runs to the bathroom, clutching her stomach, blood streaming down her leg.
Harmon gets her period immediately after flirting with Townes, her first crush. The events, especially taken together, seem designed to convey an official transition into womanhood.
Beth felt embarrassed and ashamed, almost as if her period is a nuisance rather than a celebration of womanhood.
In Bangladesh, there was an incident when an advertisement of a brother buying pads for his sister was faced with criticism. The audience is able to accept the horrid depiction of menstruation on-screen but cannot even fathom the knowledge of a brother helping out their sister when she is facing cramps? Why is there so much taboo regarding the period in both the media and in society?
The period is a natural cycle that starts to occur in pubescent girls usually in the age range between 8 to 15 years old.
Period signifies the journey of a woman as she transitions from a child to a girl. The passage towards adulthood should be celebrated in society but in movies, the act of menstruation has been shunned into a horrible and terrifying thing for the girls.
Period can happen anytime as the process of ovulation begins in the body. This does not naturally have to happen due to deeply significant life events like having a crush or feeling the tingly waves of attraction towards a specific someone.
Television and movies dramatise the whole act of sprinting to the bathroom, hiding the giant red stain on your pants can traumatise a girl specially when she didn't even have her period.
Many characters have been wrongly showcased in series experiencing the first stage of menstruation. Here are some examples of confused adolescents to name: Rudy in "The Cosby Show," Anne in "Anne with an E," Sally in "Mad Men," Vada in "My Girl." In the iconic 1976 film "Carrie," the main character gets her period — then immediately acquires telekinetic powers.
Menstruation is a beautiful phase that helps in the growth and development of a young girl instead of portraying it as a horrid and shameful act, television, movies, and media should portray the act of period as an empowering phase for women as she banishes the toxic stereotype and normalizes the act of menstruation.
