An overwhelming majority of Indian girls and women don’t have access to modern menstrual products such as sanitary napkins or tampons. The privileged few who do, often find that avuncular salespeople wrap these products up in dark polythene – as if this women’s business were like Medusa to the public gaze. This aversion of gaze and conspiracy of silence teaches girls from a young age that their bodily rhythm is a matter of shame, not only to be managed furtively but also to be punished in hush-hush ways.
Penalties are varied. It could mean missing school or a sports competition, being banned from the kitchen or the place of worship. Family itself teaches the stigma and other societal institutions perpetuate it. But the cost is high, painfully so. The shame has massive knock-on effects on how girls feel about their bodies as they grow. At best it may just mean a teenager missing swimming lessons, but at worst it stops that teenager from reaching her fullest adult potential. Especially given worryingly low employment levels for women, normalising menstruation as just another part of the healthful life cycle is imperative in India. Let’s raise our daughters to be self-assured, not shamefaced.
This is also fair and just. Unfortunately tradition continues to provide a massive alibi for gender discrimination in our society. Even in the ongoing legal battle over women of menstruating age being barred from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple, age-old practices are being cited. But in the 21st century women are no longer second-class citizens. Trying to squash them into that box, that really is the matter of shame.