MENSTRUATION

Periods are a natural and vital part of a woman’s life.
It is normal vaginal bleeding that occurs as part of a woman’s
monthly cycle. Every month millions of adolescent girls
around the world face a miserable cycle of pain, discomfort ,
shame , anxiety and isolation when their menstrual period
arrives. Menstruation is a phenomenon unique to girls. But it
has been always surrounded by myths and taboos that
exclude women from many aspects of socio-cultural life.
These taboos, myths of societies impact women’s emotional
and mental health. The cultural and social influence appears
to be a hurdle for advancement in this subject till date. In
many parts of India, culturally, menstruation is still
considered as impure and dirty. The origin of myths and
taboos dates back to the Vedic times and has often been
linked to Indra’s slaying of vritras. Not entering the “puja”
room is the major restriction among urban girls and whereas
not entering the kitchen is the main restriction among rural
girls during periods. Menstruating girls and women’s are also
restricted from touching holy books. One of the paradoxes of
menstrual taboo in India is that pickles turn sour and rot if a
menstruating woman touches it. In some cultures, women
bury the clothes they used during menstruation to preventthem from being used by evil spirits; whereas in some
religion a menstruating woman can’t sleep with her husband
on the same bed. In some regions menstruating women are
not allowed to take bath specially for first few days of their
cycle to protect water from pollution. It is also believed in
some places that if a menstruating girl or women touches a
cow, it will become infertile. Apart from all the myths and
taboos the fact says that 23% of girls in India drop out every
year from school when they begin menstruating. Also there
are lot of health and hygiene issues related to girls and
menstruation. Over 77% of menstruating girls and women in
India use old cloth , which is often reused. Further , 88% of
women in India sometimes resort to using ashes, newspaper,
dried leaves and husk sand. Lack of protection and washing
facilities increases chances of infection, putting girls at a risk
of being stigmatized. Based on available evidences, it is
pertinent to follow a strategic approach for combating the
myths and social taboos associated with menstruation in
order to improve the reproductive health of adolescent girls
and women. First and foremost, strategy regarding this is
spreading awareness among women related to menstrual
health and hygiene. Community based health education
campaigns could prove worthwhile in achieving this task.
Men and boys typically know less but it is important for them
to understand and support their wives, daughters, mothers,
students, employees and peers, hence they need to be
educated regarding it. Low-cost sanitary napkins can be
locally made and distributed particularly in rural and slum
areas where access to them is difficult. Thus, it is becomingclear that multi-sectoral approaches are needed. We need to
link physical infrastructure, sanitation and water projects to
health education and reproductive health programs and
address the issue in a more holistic way. Menstruation is
nothing but a very natural biological phenomena, and
adolescent girls and women should understand that they
have the power of procreation only because of this virtue.
“When she bleeds the smells I know change colour.
There is iron in her soul on those days. She smells like iron”
 -Jeanette Winterson
Nikita Rai
Ray Foundation

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