History Main / FirstPeriodPanic

* Discussed in ''Webcomic/Rain2010''. [[spoiler: Heather]], who is intersex, doesn't have a uterus and therefore doesn't get periods. [[spoiler: She didn't fully realize the situation or how she was different, until her younger sibling Ky started menstruating and asked Heather for help. Heather was worried Ky was dying, and had no idea what was going on so she couldn't help.[[/spoiler]]

* In ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'', Shade's consciousness leaps into the body of a recently murdered woman. Unfortunately, he's unable to alter her body to resemble his old one until he solves her murder and puts her soul at rest. This leads to various comical scenes with Shade experiencing the MaleGaze, his first period and sex as a woman.

* ''Series/ReadyOrNot'': Busy gets her first period during band practice at school and anxiously runs out of the classroom. When Amanda learns about it, she screams in excitement over the phone and is a bit jealous that Busy has “reached womanhood” first. She helps Busy with pads and tampons despite not having begun menstruation herself because she's learned ''everything'' there is to know about periods.

Compare AllPeriodsArePMS. See MenstrualMenace for when a first period triggers supernatural powers.

* The appropriately titled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0K1T86ueg0 Period Drama]]'' has young girl Georgiana in the Victorian Era finding blood in her bed and fearing she's about to die, fearing the outcome in a plethora of references to GothicHorror. Her mom comes in and assures her otherwise, but [[spoiler: [[HereWeGoAgain unwittingly instills a new fear in Georgiana trying to tell her about pregnancy]].]]

* The appropriately titled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0K1T86ueg0 Period Drama]]'' has young girl Georgiana in the Victorian Era finding blood in her bed and fearing she's about to die, fearing the outcome in a plethora of references to GothicHorror. Her mom comes in and reassures her otherwise, but [[spoiler: [[HereWeGoAgain unwittingly instills a new fear in Georgiana trying to tell her about pregnancy]].]]

* ''Angel Tales Chu!'': The second episode has Momo becoming embarrassed after getting her first period.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'': Season 2's "A Period Piece" focuses on Libby going through the trials of getting her first period. Surprisingly, Andrea (who had had her first period three months ago) is quite supportive, even presenting Libby with a spare pair of pajamas. The main conflict of the episode features Molly feeling left out and struggling to be as mature as her friends.

* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' has one of the most infamous examples of this trope. The titular character is humiliated when her first period begins in the gym showers during her senior year of high school. She initially thinks that she is bleeding to death, and instead of helping her, her classmates start taunting her and pelting her with tampons while chanting, "Plug it up! Plug it up!" She causes a lightbulb to explode, signaling the growth of her telekinetic powers. Her mother is a religious fanatic with a pathological fear of sex and sexuality, such that Carrie wasn't informed about menstruation at all, much less that it's a natural process that every girl and woman goes through.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20144614/chapters/47725234 Master and Student]]'': Gender-swapped Mob gets her first period in a public bathroom in chapter 11.

* In Chapter 7 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12270178/7/Linka-and-her-brothers Linka and her Brothers]]'', Linka gets her first period and becomes rather moody while also being in pain--''not'' helping that she lives with ten brothers.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': At the start of season 2, Delenn, ambassador for the [[RubberForeheadAliens Minbari race]], emerges from a chrysalis as a HalfHumanHybrid. She consults Commander Ivanova for advice adjusting to her new human features, and mentions she's been having strange cramps.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': As in the books, Sansa is horrified when she wakes up to find the blood from her first period [[EmbarrassingDampSheets on her bedsheets]]. She notes that her mother had warned her in advance about what would happen and her panic is because this means she can now bear [[RoyalBrat Joffrey's]] children.

* "No Nuts November", by Creator/TheTransformistress, has a closeted transgender woman decide to "cheat" at a month-long sexual abstinence challenge by using magic to physically become a woman, with the flawed logic of "You can't nut if you don't HAVE nuts!" Near the end of the month, she experiences her first period, screaming and swearing about the pain and blood. When it's over, she decides to apologize to every woman she's ever known, in disbelief that they go though this monthly. Despite this, she ultimately decides to remain a woman in the end.

* A variation [[https://www.ocregister.com/2020/05/08/special-report-families-detail-maggie-haneys-abuse-of-young-gymnasts/ came up in the hearings]] against gymnastics coach Maggie Haney (former coach of US Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez). Among other instances of emotional abuse, Haney had told her gymnasts that getting their periods meant they were fat, so when one girl got her first period during a training session, she panicked for fear of Haney's reaction if she found out.

* In ''Literature/FearOfFlying'', adult Isadora recounts the story of getting her first period on a trans-Atlantic naval voyage with her family: going with her older sister to buy pads; hiding it from their younger sisters; unsure how often to change her pad, she changed it twelve times in one day, flushed them all, and stopped up the toilet in their cabin, and got yelled at by the steward who had to unclog it.

Menstruation is often seen as a symbol of adulthood and for girls, it's usually part of a ComingOfAgeStory. And if unprepared for this very real proof of puberty, it can signify how wrong the child's upbringing has gone. It may be related to MissConception if the girl is utterly clueless about its meaning.