Yet it's been largely overlooked onscreen.
Menstruation is a subject that society hasn't been comfortable talking about.
However it's a fact of life that needs to be acknowledged.
When you think of how menstruation has been depicted in films or on TV, you tend to think of Brian de Palma's 'Carrie' or Randal Kleiser's 'The Blue Lagoon'.
You might even think of 'The IT Crowd's' tongue in cheek episode about it or a scene in Netflix's drama 'The Queen's Gambit'.
Much has been made, though, of Pixar's bold but welcome decision to address the issue in its latest Disney+ feature 'Turning Red'.
Chinese Canadian animator Domee Shi's debut dives into the subject with imagination and wit.
However its genius lies in the accessible way it tackles the issue.
Menstruation isn't the only theme, though, that Shi's film taps into.
Rosalie Chiang provides the voice for 13 year old Meilin "Mei" Lee, a smart, dorky kid in Toronto who is a good student and very respectful of her parents' wishes - often too respectful.
Mei has a multicultural crew she likes to hang out with - Ava Morse's Miriam Mendelsohn, Maitreyi Ramakrishna's Priya Mangal and Hyein Park's Abby Park - inside and outside school.
She also helps her overprotective mum, Sandra Oh's Ming Lee look after the family temple.
Like most young girls, though, Mei is beginning to develop crushes on boys.
She is particularly obsessed with a boyband called Four Town - a five piece who are an hilarious amalgam of Boyz II Men, Take That, New Kids On The Block, Boyzone, The Backstreet Boys, Westlife, One Direction, BTS and every other carefully crafted hearthrob act that has cashed in on teenage adulation.
In addition to her having a favourite French speaking member of Four Town, Mei and her friends have a crush on Addie Chandler's convenience store clerk Devon.
While doing homework, Mei starts to doodle and then fantasise about Devon, drawing passionate images of him in her notebook - only for her mum to discover them.
Much to her embarrassment, Ming jumps to conclusions and storms off with her daughter to the convenience store to warn a dumbfounded Devon not to go anywhere near her daughter.
Unfortunately the bully in her school year, Tristan Allerick Chen's Tyler Nguyen-Baker witnesses the scene and stores it up as material to ridicule Mei.
The Lees have a family secret, however, about an ancestor who turned into a red panda to protect her family - a power that has been passed down the generations.
When Mei returns home ashamed of her mother's actions heading straight for bed, she starts to have a nightmare about the pandas.
The following morning to her horror, Mei wakes up and goes to the bathroom to discover that she has turned into one.
Sensing something is up when Mei locks the bathroom door, Ming assumes she is having her first period.
She orders her husband, Orion Lee's quiet but supportive Jin to quickly grab all the tampon products they have been storing.
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Mei is able to transform back into herself and go to school.
Baited by Tyler about Devon, though, she rushes into the bathroom in a rage as she transforms into the red panda again.
Miriam, Priya and Abby detect something is not quite right with Mei.
When Ming further embarrasses her daughter at school by checking on her in case she is having her period, she bolts out of school after transforming into the red panda and runs amok through the streets of Toronto.
Returning home, she is told of the family secret by Ming and Jin and how the red panda can be brought under control by a ritual that must occur on the night of a red moon.
But with Mei's friends curious about her behaviour and Four Town scheduled to play Toronto on the night of the next red moon, can she keep her red panda secret and under control and still see her favourite boyband?
With a story co-written with Julia Cho and Sarah Streicher, Shi does a terrific job crafting a clever, amusing coming of age feature that can appeal all to ages.
On one level, it's clearly about teenage girls coming to terms with their emotions and their changing bodies.
On another, it's a story of adolescents learning how to grow more independent of their families as they head towards adulthood.
It also tackles the tension in second generation immigrant families between upholding cultural tradition and integrating into wider society.
There's the issue of intergenerational trauma in there too.
All of these are big, big issues but Shi and her fellow writers Cho and Stretcher wrap them up in an entertaining package that is capable of supporting the weight of its ideas.
In many ways, 'Turning Red' feels like the cousin of Pete Doctor's 2015 Oscar winner 'Inside Out' - tapping into many of the same themes.
And like Docter's film, its cast are on top of their game.
Chiang is hugely appealing as Mei and gels well with Morse, Ramakrishna and Park.
Oh is perfect as her overprotective mother and Lee as her more subdued dad.
Wai Ching Ho is good value as Mei's grandmother Wu and Allerick Chen is effective as Mei's school nemesis.
Billie Eilish brother Finneas O'Connell joins Jordan Fisher, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo and Grayson Villenueva as the voices of Four Town.
Fresh from their Oscars triumph for 'No Time to Die' in the Best Original Song category, Eilish and O'Connell provide the songs.
The animation is also wonderfully vibrant, with 'Turning Red' drawing inspiration from teenage girls' pop magazines and from East Asian culture.
Ultimately, though, it is Shi's deft handling of her story that most impresses.
There are many laugh out loud gags in the movie which never disappoints or flags.
'Turning Red' is a clever animated feature that cements Pixar's reputation as the home of thoughtful, instructive and amusing family entertainment.
It will hopefully trigger more open and honest conversations about what is a key milestone in every girl's life.
If 'Turning Red' doesn't end up competing on the shortlist for the Best Animated Feature Oscar next year, it will feel wrong.
It's so good that the Academy is really going to have to find five excellent films to trump it.
That's a very high bar to clear.
('Turning Red' received its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on LA on March 1, 2022 before beingade available for streaming on Disney+ on March 11, 2022)
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