The Red Week

As a kid, Dhana used to go to the temple every morning until puberty hit her. Since then she was prohibited to enter the temple each month for 5 consecutive days. She was taught that misfortune shall follow her if she entered any holy place, participated in any of the religious ceremonies or prepare food during that week and that she wasn’t clean and pure enough. These tittle-tattles made her curious.Then one day, during one of the 5 days, she went to the temple and touched the idol of god and prayed for her well being to look over the veracity behind these sayings. Nothing terrible, which could fall under the category of misfortune happened.

Menstruation is not a taboo. Accordingly, a taboo is a social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing. Neither is menstruation a custom followed by any particular society, place or time, nor is it a practice which is performed by choice or on demand. Biologically, the process in a woman of discharging blood and other material from the lining of the uterus at intervals of about one lunar month from puberty until the menopause, except during pregnancy is called menstruation.

It is interesting to see, how periods, which is nothing but a natural bodily function, tends to bring embarrassment and awkwardness along with it. Sanitary products like toilet paper are not hidden away, however when it comes to sanitary pads, women tend to get vexatious and flustered if even a part of it peeps out of their handbag. Accordingly, during school days, the worst nightmare of any girl would be waking up from their seats with a large red stain on the back of their pants or skirts. They tend to do everything possible to hide it, specially from the male population as if it was the result of some sin. It is miserable to see how periods being the most natural process, has always been treated stilted.

Moreover, the prejudices based on sanitary napkins are quite dismaying. Government of India treats it as a luxury item rather than an essential item and thus taxed it at 12% under Goods and Services Tax in July 2017. Poor menstrual hygiene can cause fungal infections, reproductive tract infections, urinary infections (which apparently can lead to uterus cancer as well) and can even make you vulnerable to infertility. Even after this, it is melancholic to know that only 6 out of 10 women have access to the disposable sanitary pads. Majority of women in rural areas use reusable clothes to absorb their menstrual blood. In fact, many of them even use dry leaves, newspapers, same cloth (washed) for the next month and even ash.

It is indeed woeful to know that only 13% of the girls are aware about menstruation before their first cycle, because their mothers are too bashful away to discuss this topic with them. In fact around 28% of girls don’t even attend their school during this week due to lack of facilities, materials and knowledge. However, there is a lack of education with regard to the this subject. Menstrual health, sanitary pads, measures to be taken during the week are a few topics which are yet disclosed to many of the girls around the nation as a result of which 60% of girls in India only change their menstrual cloth once a day.

Dolorously, we are all in this world due to menstrual blood, yet it is considered impure. Let’s help each other understand that everyone deserves to talk about their biological self and start a healthy conversation. Let’s make a world where every girl can discuss their emotional and mental fluctuation disregarding the shame that follows during The Red Week.