Toxic Attitude of our Society towards Menstruation

-Priyanka Bharali

Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

Menstruation is a biological process, a normal body function which is unique to girls. But in our society, menstruation is popularly associated with misconception and taboo practices. According to Shalini Shah, menstrual taboos can be considered as ‘those customs that are found in a society that publicly restrict the behavior of a woman at the time of menstruation, and apply throughout most of a woman’s life’. Menstruation is viewed as taboo and society applies many rules to a woman during her menstruation. It has excluded the women from many socio-cultural aspects of life. Even in some places, talking about menstruation is strictly restricted, in these places, women do not feel comfortable to speak about menstruation to others. The topic of menstruation has been that of avoidance, and that is why this menstrual experience is considered to be something that is needed to be carefully tucked away under the clothes of dignity, shame, fear and honour. In Assam, though there is an Assamese word “Ritusrab” for menstruation, women still use some codes to indicate menstruation as they do not feel comfortable to directly talk about this; for example, they use the words ‘Asubidha’ (problem), ‘Chuwa’ (not sacred or something that should not be touched), Nuara Hoa (unable to do anything), etc. Words are important to concretize the conceptions, ideologies, discourses, but lacking of a proper word for menstruation makes it a subject of avoidance.

Anthropologist Mary Chadwick describes in her book “The Psychological Effects in Menstruation” that the ideas and feeling of immense fear, embarrassment and a sense of sin in relation to menstruation has been observed in almost every society. Women face a great deal of complexity surrounding them during the time of menstruation. They are subjected to restrictions in their daily lives when they menstruate. They are strictly restricted not to touch anything, prohibited from entering the kitchen and the temple, etc. It shows how in society menstruation is considered a problem, how a menstruating woman is viewed as an impure, untouchable person. However, menstrual blood is not a taboo topic in and of itself. It is taboo because society has determined it to be so. Due to lack of proper information about menstrual hygiene and consequent menstrual taboo, many girls are forced to drop out of schools, they are unable to join the workforce and become very conscious, leading them to despise their bodies. A group of UN human rights experts on International Women’s day, 2019, reports that “menstruating women and girls can even be banished to outside sheds according to custom, where they suffer in cold and isolation, often at risk of life-threatening illness and attack…The patriarchal control exerted to constraint women’s behavior and mobility during menstruation undermines their agency and equality…When combined with the stigma and shame that women and girls are made to feel during that time, it is truly disempowering.” Such taboos about menstruation have been continuing in society till today which can cause terrible impact on girls’ and women's emotional state, mentality and lifestyle and most importantly, health. The persistent harmful social rules, stigma and misconceptions regarding menstruation causes the discrimination of women and girls in the society.

To combat the misconceptions related to menstruation, some strategic approaches need to be taken. It is very important to spread awareness among people, especially among young girls regarding menstruation. Younger girls grow up with limited knowledge of menstruation; therefore, adults should make them aware about this. They should teach them how to maintain hygiene during the time of menstruation. Our society should stop treating woman in a different way during the time of menstruation. They should also understand that menstruation is just a biological phenomenon of a girl and it is not a thing for which a girl or a woman should be ashamed of.

References:

1. The Psychological Effects of Menstruation (1932) by Mary Chadwick.

2. The making of womanhood: Gender relations in the Mahabharata (1995) by Shalini Shah.

3. www.ipsnews.net/2019/03/break-menstrual-taboo.