Molly Grows Up - Sex Education
Menstruation education film for young teenage girls, redolent with dated detail. This film was written by a man, Donald Hatfield (who also worked on How Boys Grow), which must account for all the bizarre advice that Molly and her classmates get about menstruation. Were women were so disempowered in the fifties that they needed a man to tell them about menstruation? Unlike How Boys Grow, which starts with scenes of boys having fun at the playground and amusement park, the opening credits for Molly Grows Up are in the form of a plain notebook on a checkered tableclothin other words, the film starts in the kitchen, womens place. We meet Molly as she tells two elderly women neighbors about a wedding where the bride wore the most beautiful white dress Ive ever seen! The film is narrated by Miss Jenson, the school gym teacher. Molly comes home from school one day and tells her mom (whos in the kitchen, of course) that her period has started. Molly and her mom have a heart to heart talk that night about growing up and even tell Mollys dad whose response is What! Already? The boys film takes place in the school locker roomfor boys growing up signals separation (we never see their parents). But in this film, for girls growing up means staying closer to home. We cut to a Mollys hygiene class where Miss Jenson explains the mechanics of menstruation. In the boys film, theyre told about masturbation and sexual intercourse; but the girls are only told about sanitary pads and to wear your prettiest dress and be your most attractive self. The boys are allowed to have a sexual life; the girls are only given a weird list of things to avoid: square dancing, skating and horseback riding. Even though this film is progressive for its time, it still denies girls a sexual life. The films ends with Molly looking on longingly while big sister Jeannie goes out on a date. According to Miss Jenson, growing up for girls means lovely, romantic dresses and wonderful, important friends. All the talk about dresses in this film is meant to lead up to Mollys penultimate dressher wedding dress. There are many wonderful things to look forward to! says Miss Jenson. But what are they? The only possibilities we see for Molly are to be either an unmarried teacher like Miss Jenson or an intelligent woman stuck at home in the kitchen all day like her mother.
Comments (0)
Write comment
