The Oscar-winning documentary ‘Period. End of sentence.’ made global headlines in 2019 for bringing the conversation around menstruation, which has been sitting on the back burner for far too long, to the forefront. Directed by an Iranian-American director, Rayka Zehtabchi, the documentary was lauded for ‘leading a sexual revolution’ and helping women in backward communities become self-sufficient. While the documentary opened up the conversation surrounding menstrual health and its taboos, it has been criticised for its approach towards dealing with the issue.
When I started watching the 26-minute documentary, I expected to see a story of hope, where a group of women work together to shatter stereotypes, educate each other and gain the medical as well as emotional help they need. Instead, the film looked like an extended ad for a brand of sanitary napkins. In the first half of the film, we are introduced to shy giggling young girls who know nothing about periods or pads. Towards the end, we see a group of women walking door to door pitching their new product by comparing it with pre-existing brands. Apparently now the women are aware of not just how pads work but also the existence of rival brands in the market.
The White Saviour Complex
Laced with contradictions and exaggerations, the documentary seems more like a fictional feel-good movie created to shine a positive light on the Oakwood High School that funded the pad machine and produced the documentary. It focuses exclusively on the effect of the pad-making machine that was donated by the school. The device helps the rural women become self-sufficient, but it does practically nothing when it comes to addressing the stigma and health issues surrounding menstruation. By refusing to dive into deeper problems plaguing these women, it is clear that this documentary was not created for the right reasons.
Period poverty is a significant issue in both developed countries like America and developing countries like India. People from low-income households forced to choose between food and necessary menstrual supplies tend to go for food. Developing countries like India battle social stigma, poverty and lack of toilets, even a world ‘superpower’ like America battles period poverty with nearly 1 in 5 girls are forced to miss school due to lack of access to period products. The conversation around menstruation needs to be a global one, not just one centred around the rural populace of developing countries to cater to the West’s superiority complex.
Something that is repeatedly pointed out by the makers, promotional ads and the documentary itself, is that young girls drop out of school due to periods and lack of access to sanitary products. This kind of emphasis establishes the notion that women require sanitary products just so that they can stay in school. Access to menstrual products must be a human right, not something that is contingent on access to education.
A simple solution to a complex problem
The problem with pushing sanitary napkins as the only solution to a complicated issue is that it ignores the pre-existing practices that the women in these communities engage in, with a new method that is neither environmentally friendly nor helpful in the long run. The age-old tradition of using cloth is not unhygienic as long as women have access to clean water, soap, sunlight and toilets.
An unfortunate side effect of the growing period industry is that traditional sustainable practices are uprooted to encourage the sale of their products. Most Indians are familiar with conventional Indian remedies to deal with period pains using spices, natural oils and herbal teas. They will swear by them, but since there is no real scientific backing to these traditional home remedies, the West dismisses them.
Instead of encouraging women to follow their traditional customs safely and hygienically, the makers of the documentary have only contributed to the growing ecological issues of disposable sanitary products. 121 million women in India are using eight pads a month according to this article by WaterAid. India alone generates 1,13,000 tonnes of menstrual waste every year. We need to look into the use of sustainable menstrual products and educating women on there use instead of pushing an agenda.
Do we need a popular mainstream documentary highlighting the issues of lack of awareness when it comes to menstruation? Of course! It is undeniable that the documentary has had a positive impact. It has started conversations. It has changed the lives of the women it featured, but not in the ways that it claims to. Such a sensitive topic needs to be explored with the sensitivity it deserves. Maybe if the documentary focused less on the pad-making machines and more on the stories of the women in the village of Khaikhera it could have successfully tackled the issue.
With all things said and done, the documentary does raise a question. Is period really the end of a sentence? Or is it the beginning of a discussion surrounding an issue that has been long overlooked?
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program