Rachita Swain
For the continuation of the human species itself menstruation is an essential as well as undeniable aspect of the female anatomy. This doesn’t need an extended introduction. But who in fact talks about it openly? Surprisingly, it has become a taboo topic. Taboos on menstruation, sexuality, and femaleness as a whole has engulfed our being in time. Look at Khajuraho and Konark architectures. We have had female sexuality glorified and archived in our temple architectures. And yet, menstruating women are prohibited within religious premises. It is pretty much apparent, from some records prior to Independence that the penetration of the British values of Victorian prudery from the nineteenth century in India, have made matter-of-fact issues go haywire – and pushed it out of the drawing-room conversation. States like Kerala have had breast taxes imposed on lower class women, or the mythology as we know it, has supplemented to the indiscrimination perpetuated on women. As lotus rising from swamp, a legendary figure, Nangeli, back in the nineteenth century, made her way out of the disparity by cutting off her breasts in protest against breast taxes – in a larger picture, to rebel against the then prevailing taboo on femaleness.
Figures like Nangeli ought to be a source of pride, but how far have we come since then? The British have been thrown out of our country since seventy-four years. But their prudery has been treasured by Indians, till today, though astonishingly by the older generation of women. Women have glorified the pain, the struggle that accompanies bleeding. One in ten women suffer from PCOS; dysmenorrhea and endometriosis, which are common in the reproductive age and are extremely painful – the older generation claim to have gone through the same since ages and thus decry the fuss made about it. This again, has been taken up, anew, by feminists, rather to term them as feminazis would be appropriate, for whom to stand at par with males, regardless of circumstances, is an arid solution: pop a pill and resume working. Are we, at this stage, still harping on the Dulce et Decorum est? The poem by Wilfred Owen roughly translates the condemnation of the glorification of war, making it an apt identification with women, in a similar stage.
We are so immersed in shrouding the pain that the resultant menstrual hygiene and the succeeding education on it, is apathetically lost. Teachers in schools are still skipping chapters on reproduction. Chemists are still selling sanitary napkins, wrapped up in newspapers, within black polythene bags. So it is hardly surprising that the brand ‘whisper’ endorses the secret that women are damned with! Right from the beginning, it has been drilled into young minds that this is a hushed-up topic.
Within such foggy atmosphere, our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has earned commendable applause for spilling the secrecy in his ninety-minute speech from the Red Fort. He is most probably the first Indian Prime Minister to have broached the taboo topic of menstruation. The historic Independence Day speech unfurled with the flag, issues of self-reliance among which sanitation and menstrual hygiene have come across as an arrow aimed at the eye of the revolving fish. Implemented measures by the government, aimed at the welfare of women cut across persisting orthodoxy at the cost of sanitation and affordability. Janausadhi Kendra has been providing sanitary napkins at the nominal rate of Re. 1. Touching upon the topic itself is meant to normalize the long standing, shallow and judgmental feelings on such a natural, biological process as menstruation, which needs to be taken utmost care of. Among the ninety-minute speech, this part has brought him to the limelight of the hoi polloi at the base, for whom affordability of sanitation has been the basic necessity.
Yes, as a developing nation, we have come two steps forward by addressing this. And, the debate, carrot and stick, centers on the acknowledgement of menstruation as an inseparable and vital part of women. But we still have quite a few miles to traverse and make the ‘period leave’ a norm, at workplaces for both women as well as trans-men, as part and parcel of the acceptance of the purity of the bleeding days. Apart from sanitation there are quite a handful of problems at hand that come along with the pre-requisites of menstruation, to be looked into. A majority of women experience debilitating pain from period cramps. Is it not, yet again, shameful to rule out ‘period leave’ as a compulsion at the workplace by compromising it with a sick-leave? But that again is not a sickness, it is just a temporary phase, which we seem to have missed out due to lack of inadequate sex education and a simultaneous ignorant psychology regarding openness about these topics. How are we, at all, to eschew the lowered productivity levels at workplaces when women are not in the pink of their health?
The legacy of bearing pain mutely as blended with womanhood that has trickled down the ages is the skeleton in the cupboard for many. However, we have been blind to recognize the tradition that has allowed rest, for seven days, to menstruating women. Look at the novel, The Crow Eater, by Bapsi Sidhwa. It presents a vivid account of the character Putli who is glad at the sense of freedom she gets to enjoy during her “unholy state” in the “other room”.
Dear women, your body demands a period from incessant labor. You don’t need to put up a brave face at work, during the ‘bloody days’ with a hot water bag on your stomach. Embrace your womanhood; it will definitely not send the ball rolling out of your court. India has gained independence from foreign rule, now it’s time to gain freedom from sexist stereotypes as well, which has made women a broken asset. Acknowledge the struggle as a pure life-giving essence, instead.
