Many periods ago, I woke up to my first periods, and try as one might, one cannot be fully prepared for them. The first few periods were excruciatingly difficult, not just for the pain that accompanied them but also for the discomfort that hampered my life and hindered my mobility. The more terrifying aspect was indeed the Thursdays in the Convent School where the white skirt had to be protected against the free flow of periods. I also vividly remember the trip we took to visit my Nani (maternal grandmother) a few weeks later. My maternal great grandmother was also present and my mother was talking about how she had taught me about personal hygiene during periods. Suddenly my great grandmother spoke something that ushered in pin-drop silence, a statement more powerful than a teacher’s rebuke it seemed then. For her, menstrual hygiene was about having a separate set of utensils and bedding, with precise instructions on how the utensils have to be passed through fire at the end of the menstrual cycle to purify them, and the bedding, to be washed. The instructions followed unabated, and my mother silently changed the topic. My grandmother, who straddled both worlds of extremely conservative in her maternal home to majorly liberal in her marital home, also kept quiet, for she knew her daughter, and more so her grand-daughter would never subscribe to such notions. I, for all my concerns about the white skirt, could hardly fathom as a teenager what the discussion really meant, and we called it a day.
The discussion returned, albeit in different forms. Some friends in college observed strict rules of dissociation during periods, or talked of how the hostel was a liberating change from such rules at their home. I slowly observed some extended family members observing their type of menstrual hygiene, which meant using non-hygienic methods of protection during periods due to the hesitation of purchasing sanitary products, abstaining from family and being relegated to specific corners of their homes (or outside) during their periods. The instances were everywhere, and my island of liberty could not make me oblivious to what I was observing.
I grew up to appreciate that menstruation is a matter that concerns us all, even those who do not menstruate. It is necessary to also understand that not all menstruators identify as women, and not all women menstruate. If we look at the statistics for India, as per a study conducted by Swati Singh, Rajesh Kunwar, Mili Sengar and Abhishek Gupta, India has 355 million menstruators of which 12 per cent cannot afford menstrual products, 23 million girls drop out of school annually due to a lack of proper menstrual health and hygiene facilities, and more than 30 per cent of menstruators between the ages of 15 and 24 do not use hygienic methods of protection during their menstrual period. Associated with Menstrual Hygiene and Health is also the concept of Period Poverty. According to the UN Women, Period Poverty refers to the inability to afford and access menstrual products, sanitation and hygiene facilities and education and awareness to manage menstrual health. It is in this context that May 28 every year is observed as Menstrual Hygiene Day. Interestingly, the theme for this year is #PeriodFriendlyWorld. Along with a period friendly world, if I may take the liberty of saying so, I hope this year on, the world becomes ‘friends’ with periods, for periods are more hidden than exposed, and trust me, periods as a biological function are as normal as a headache, though for some of us, they might be physically debilitating.
So, let me introduce this friend of mine to the world. As an engineer, the first computer program we are taught is ‘Hello World!’. So, Hello World!, we can ensure that all menstruators are able to talk about menstruation like we all talk about headaches. We can ensure that the the world acknowledges and accepts menstruation as a powerful human bodily function and not an aspect that needs to be hushed. We can ensure that the black polythene syndrome goes away and there is no hesitation in talking about periods. We can ensure that every menstruator has equal access to menstrual hygiene products, as a matter of right. We can ensure that menstruators work towards menstrual hygiene practices and worry less about societal stigmas during menstruation. We can ensure that our menstruators, especially the young ones, worry less about how periods stain or scar, for they do not – be it a coffee stain or a blood stain, own it up unless it is borne out of violence. We can ensure that we do not define an individual’s gender over whether they menstruate or not, for we are all built differently. I use spectacles, you might not, but our inalienable rights are the same. But for this, we need to redefine ‘we’ again, for it is menstruation that brought us — you, me and everyone in this world.
The writer is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax). Views expressed are personal