Casting menstruation as a taboo is dangerous
Casting menstruation as a taboo is dangerous
While India is making progress on period awareness, the US is sliding back, as states pass regressive legislation.
Megha Desai
President of the Desai Foundation
Published On 27 Jun 202327 Jun 2023
Menstrual Hygiene Day (May 28) is a day dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of menstrual hygiene for women, girls, and all people who menstruate worldwide and breaking the stigma and taboos surrounding the topic. (Graphic: Business Wire)
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The state legislature in Florida has passed a law restricting information about menstruation in schools to student in sixth grade and above [Graphic: Business Wire via AP]
Late last month, we marked Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Day, an important date around the world for advocates like myself who have spent years working to improve menstrual equity.
In India, where I have worked for the last 15 years, I have learned how essential it is for the lives and livelihoods of women and girls to have access not only to high-quality period products, but also to education about this basic biological function. It really can be a matter of life and death when they are not adequately equipped to manage their periods with knowledge and resources. In India, 70 percent of all reproductive issues are caused by poor menstrual hygiene; one in 10 girls below the age of 21 cannot afford sanitary products and resort to unhygienic substitutes; and 23 million girls drop out of school annually due to improper or lack of menstrual hygiene facilities. While challenges remain, we, at the Desai Foundation, are happy to see that efforts by our organisation and others are bearing fruit. India has witnessed at least some progress in this area over the last decade.
By contrast, in the US, we are quickly losing ground with lawmakers across the country passing more and more laws blocking access to free period products or menstrual education in schools. On March 23, the state legislature in Idaho blocked a bill that would provide free menstrual products to public school students, calling it “liberal” and “woke”.
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The thing is, we need to talk about menstruation more, not less. We need to normalise conversations surrounding periods and prioritise menstrual equity as an essential and attainable goal.The concept of “menstrual equity” is often misunderstood. Yet, all it means is that anyone with a uterus should have equal and comprehensive access to menstrual hygiene products and have the right to education about reproductive health. These efforts reduce the stigma surrounding menstruation and remove barriers to care that hold back entire nations. While we may not have the same cultural prejudices in the US that exist in India, the proliferation of misinformation – or no information at all – about basic biological functions are equally dangerous in both places. Serious, long-term, health problems like endometriosis, PCOS, and malnutrition, as just a few examples, can result if people are uncomfortable asking questions about irregularities in their cycles, excess bleeding, pain or more.
If young people are taught that their periods are taboo, rather than normal in every way and an important gauge of their overall health, then they will not know how or will be ashamed to seek help for often debilitating conditions affecting their entire lives. Knowledge is power, information is protection, and laws that deny children information about their bodies put them at serious risk, no matter where they live. We need to invest in menstrual health awareness and education for everyone and normalise the conversation surrounding periods and menstrual health. It is not about sex or politics. It is about saving lives.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/6/27/casting-menstruation-as-a-taboo-is-dangerous