India, a country having a literacy rate of 74.04% still considers any talk about a normal biological function in a women’s body a taboo. Mensuration is a monthly cycle where a women’s body goes through a number of changes. It is a natural process that first occurs to girls aged between 11 to 14 and is one of the indicators of the onset of puberty among them. Taking about something that occurs biologically to every woman in INDIA and in many countries is widely considered inappropriate and even women started using terms and new slang to define them. A study conducted by the International Women Health Coalition states that there are about 5000 different slang to denote menstruation in just 10 different languages. This euphemism shows the attitude of billions regarding Menstrual health around the globe. It all started when we were young, boys were abated from talking about these, and girls were taught how to be discrete about it. We have 1.5 million schools with 8.5 million teachers but not one to preach proper sexual education to 250 million students. If the changes are not made at the school level there is no way that these taboos will go away. No matter how much our economy develops and make impeccable achievement and make the news of the decade we are just gonna wrap sanitary pads in those newspapers.
The taboo around menstruation exists since ancient times, the menstruation is still considered as impure and dirty. In Hinduism, the woman who is going through her periods is excluded from any religious and social aspects that occur during her menstruation. Women are restricted from entering religious places or touching holy books or doing prayers. And in some parts of India still, women are excluded from their whole family for a week and only allowed to be with them for the rest of the days. They are allowed in the kitchen. Just because they are considered impure. How an actual case of bleeding from endometrial tissues after a cycle of ovulation is considered impure? There is no reason to persist in the idea of women being impure during menstruation. She just missed a chance of getting pregnant and her body is going to change to prepare her for the next ovulation next month. If a girl getting pregnant is considered happy news and functions are done to celebrate the occasion but why when she bleeds due to these changes she is considered impure and restricted even to praying. The view might have made sense in old times, cause there were no proper sanitary pads at that time, and have to sit separately for hygiene reasons. But there are no reasons now to exclude women from their chores and their family.
The impact of the myths and taboos around menstruation has created social impacts that affect the emotional state and lifestyle of women and most importantly Health. Over 23 percent of school children drop out of school when they start menstruating in remote underdeveloped areas. Even the teachers face these Barriers due to the improper and unclean sanitation facilities that are available in schools. This is a major violation of the right to privacy by not providing a gender-friendly school with clean and safe sanitary places. Not providing basic amenities to prevent the important aspect of lives -Health undermines the quality of government and the people that run them. 77 percent of menstruating girls are still using old cloth. That might lead to many infections that could be fatal. It is not a disease caused by improper sanitation it is a disease caused by redundant taboo.
It's important for people to understand that these myths and taboos revolving around menstruation have a social impact on every girl out there and cause a mental impact on the minds of young girls. Letting a family member get infected or affected due to improper sanitation habits needs to stop. Thus providing proper sexual education prior to the age of menstruation becomes necessary to inculcate self-care in young minds. 70%of women don’t even know about periods before they have their first one which makes them anxious confused and ashamed about it. Every family has women, maybe in form of the mother or a sister or a your wife. Knowledge about menstruation is not just for girls. Irrespective of the gender it should be taught equally and let boys and men know that it's nothing to be embarrassed about and restricted from discussing with their loved ones. Teaching men that menstruation does not make women unclean and unfit from religious activities and should be taught that providing a helping hand in need and being support is something to be proud of and let's break the taboo of considering menstruation impure and talking about is periods is nothing to be embarrassed about. Let's start from urban households and work up to rural households. Let's be an initiative to stop these old ancient taboos around us. And be an example that providing moral support in time of need is to be done with your chin up, do not allow these taboos to let your chin down.
Nearly 1.8 billion people across the world menstruate every month, that's nearly half the population of earth, and we still consider menstruation as impure dirty and are even feel embarrassed to say “menstruation”. Our eyes are socially instructed to just follow the taboo but look beyond and you will see that millions of girls, women, transgender men, and nonbinary people are unable to manage their menstrual cycle in a dignified way. Through increased education and promoting women's empowerment and construction of safe and clean sanitary places, expanding resources surrounding women’s Health, menstruation will not a be taboo one day and will be considered natural and normal which it is. Let's make INDIA TABOO FREE.
