Is Stranger Things Really About Eleven Getting Her Period?

There's no doubt that Netflix's Stranger Things is a coming-of-age story. There's high school heartbreak, failed friendships, overbearing mothers, underage drinking, and terrifying monsters. Didn't we all experience that when we were confused teenagers? But just when you think you've heard all the Stranger Things fan theories, we find another one that shakes things up. This one comes from two writers at HitFix, Donna Dickens and Jill Pantozzi. Their theory is a bit of a stretch, but after listening to them talk about it, it makes sense. The relationship between Eleven and the monster is a metaphor for a teenage girl and her period. Yep. By the two writers' logic, the monster could totally represent a girl's menstrual cycle. In Dickens' own words, "It does feel like a vagina-monster-face," is eating her body when she gets her period. The Duffer brothers seem pretty woke, but I don't think this is necessarily what they had in mind when they dreamt up their nightmarish monster. From one girl to another, is anything more nightmarish than dealing with a period? Nope. Here are some arguments for Dickens and Pantozzi's menstrual-monster theory: 1. Eleven and the monster are connected somehow. 2. She finds the monster inside of her own psyche, meaning it's a part of her. 3. She tries to escape it, but she can't. (Wouldn't we all like to escape our cycle?) 4. The monster is attracted to blood. 5. Eleven has no female influence and doesn't understand what is happening to her body. 6. The changes that come with puberty can feel monstrously overwhelming. 7. She is fascinated by Nancy and figuring out how to become a woman. 8. Your body feels alien when it's going through "the change." 10. Its face kind of looks like a vagina.