“Kids Need This”: This Disney Cartoon Episode About Periods Caused A Fiery Debate On Appropriate Topics For Kids
Marvel’s newest animated series, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, has caused online conversations about which topics are appropriate for kids’ consumption.
Disney+/Marvel Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
The Disney+ series, which is currently in its second season, follows a 13-year-old super-genius named Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl who transports Devil Dinosaur, a T-Rex, to present-day NYC, and together they team up to protect the Lower East Side from crime.
Disney+ / Marvel
And when she’s not fighting crime, Lunella is seen experiencing and exploring topics common to the average young girl, like school, friends, family, and puberty. But a recent episode titled “Full Moon” has made quite the impression on viewers.
Disney+ / Marvel
The episode sees Lunella getting her first period. Despite Lunella being a little afraid and worried about it, her mom treats it as a celebration as she prepares her daughter for what to expect.
Disney+ / Marvel
A Disney Animation fan account shared a “Full Moon” clip on X (formerly known as Twitter) and it has since gone viral, garnering both appreciation and disgust for the episode’s theme.
Disney+ / Marvel
A lot of the backlash seemed to come from faceless accounts and male users who deemed the episode as “sexual,” “fucking gross,” “afterschool programming from hell,” and “a fetish for creators.”
NBC
One user even compared it to — hypothetically — having an episode about a boy learning about an erection. I thought the initial comments were baffling, but this one took the cake.
Prime Video
In the clip, Lunella’s mom introduces her to her “period pack” where she keeps her period essentials. She then gave her daughter her first pad.
Disney+ / Marvel
What made this particular scene beautiful was that it showed a variety of sanitary products, including menstrual cups.
Disney+ / Marvel
Despite the uproar it caused, women praised the episode for shedding light on the topic because not everyone grew up with parents like the ones in the show to inform and support them through their first-time experience. Others related to the feelings of fear Lunella displayed after seeing blood in their underwear for the first time.
Disney+ / Marvel
When I got my first period it was the last day of 6th grade and I came home and put on music and was having the BEST day reveling in the first taste of summer. I went to the bathroom and looked down and my world stopped. Thought I had internal bleeding and was going to die.
— BarefootEllecktric
(Elleck) (@BarefootElleck) February 17, 2025
This show is a true gem
Craig of the creek energy but Disney superhero
I love periods are being celebrated instead of sexualized and demonized. Mom helped me prepare and celebrate
This show is beautifully done as always.
— Lia Monè (@AMB0915) February 17, 2025
I got my period before any of the girls in my year, and before my parents thought it was appropriate to tell me. I thought something was awfully, shamefully wrong, and that i might die. I didn’t know enough to know what was happening, but I knew enough to realise it was shameful.
— k (@tmavagueposting) February 17, 2025
honestly putting this in a cartoon for kids is a good thing bc when my older sister got her period for the first time she didnt know what it was and started crying bc she thought she was about to die
— irl chao (@dreamlike_real) February 16, 2025
Why are people saying ew to this? It’s a bodily function that girls go through
it’s important for kids to understand what happens in a positive and family friendly way
— Spring!
(っ´ω`c)#1 Aqua lover (@SpringRolls3_2) February 16, 2025
This is sooo so cool
. Not just for young girls to know that periods are literally*normal*, but for parents (both mom and dad) to learn that supporting young girls through this really scary time is essential for their development
. Wow. Well done on this
.
— Motshabi Makgotlho (@wasabie_dee) February 17, 2025
I wish more shows targeted at girls talked about this kinda stuff when I was growing up. It woulda made my first period a LOT less of a terrifying experience. It’s a normal process and shouldn’t be something we’re ashamed to talk about.
Good on Moon Girl for addressing it!— Kelpy
(@KelpsSoda95) February 18, 2025
I wish this was on tv when I was a pre-teen. When I got my first period at 10, I backed up against the wall, and slid down it dramatically like I was in a movie while sobbing
— Catherine
(@CatzzzandStuff) February 18, 2025
My first period was treated as shameful and secretive. I love my mom but the way she educated me on what was happening to me and how to use the products made me so shameful with what was happening to me. This is absolutely a godsend for a show to do
— Dallana
(@LadySylphide) February 17, 2025
More mothers should be like this. I know a lot of girls who didn’t even know the basics of periods because their mothers never explained it to them or it was too taboo for them. Having to learn it on the fly or never or through friends
— the nerd (@Lima39282438) February 16, 2025
this is actually so sweet. wish i had more of this normalcy around periods while i was growing up, instead i was just told it was gross and not to talk about it
—
Mr.Valentine (@valvaquero) February 16, 2025
People comparing this to making an episode about “a boy getting his first erection” is literally proving why an episode like this needs to exist. Periods are stigmatized as sexual when they are not and should be normalized as a natural part of growing up, Kids NEED this. https://t.co/3LPoWVsli0
— Tavrium
(@tavrium_) February 16, 2025
Disney+/Marvel / Twitter: @tavrium_
What do you think of the episode’s topic and the discourse that followed online? Watch the clip and let me know in the comments.
Disney+/Marvel / Twitter: @DTVANews
