What is missing is a discourse on menstruation! Two-minute advertisements between your favourite shows, with blue bloodstains on an overpriced sanitary napkin, don’t count as ‘discourse’.
In many parts of the country, women are considered contaminated when they are on their periods. My Brahmin friend is not allowed in her own kitchen when she is on her periods. Is it our fault that patriarchy has assigned us this role of pure goddesses that must not be dirtied by blood?
A country that is run by males and for males, it is difficult to even get a word in, on topics such as subsidized rates for sanitary napkins. When Priyanka Chopra stands on the stage and sells you a sanitary napkin that costs a village girl more than her household’s monthly income, it is not a win for feminism. It is a slap on the face and a reminder that the world is filled with power-hungry men. These men have created a capitalistic system so powerful that we are forced to pay obscene amounts of money to ease a process that our body cannot possibly help. There is a long history of women not being allowed inside temples. The widely popular Sabarimala Temple case is one such example where women were refused entry because of the belief that a menstruating woman would somehow damage the purity of the temple. Women had to fight their way in, just to seek closeness with their God.
A recent case that happened in Kutch, Gujarat is where 68 girls of a college, run by a religious body, were allegedly stripped by the authorities who wanted to check their menstrual blood. To think that women have been treated worse than animals just because their body goes through a natural process. A process without which there would be no humankind.
What we need is widespread awareness and education, not only among men but women too. We must remove this taboo attached to menstruation. Women go through so much pain because of multiple hormonal and bodily changes, mostly on a monthly basis. Why should they bear the added pressure and anxiety of always hiding this from the world too? Is it because the men will be scared or it because we will somehow go against our designated roles that dictate purity? Bringing a lasting change in the way people think about these issues is hard. But the least we can do is start talking. Stop whispering and truly learn to stay free.