Periods are not taboo!
Health is the state of being free from illness or injury. Hygiene is the condition or practice conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease, especially through cleanliness.
We know how important it is to maintain both of these for everyone. No caste, gender or religion is an exception! We also know that everyone around the world is not privileged enough to have a proper supply of resources to maintain hygiene. I feel like in these conditions women are the worst affected.
Menstruation is also known as periods still remain a taboo in many parts of the world. Menstruation is actually the basic and most important part of a female's life. The beginning of menstruation marks the beginning of a new phase in a women’s life. It is an important part of the reproductive cycle of the female. Then why is it considered taboo?What is the significance of technological advancements in today’s world if there are still many myths about the basic biological need of a female’s body that is periods. To be honest, periods are just a part of life where you could suffer from pain but it is surely not that you are impure.“Don’t go to the temple,*whispering* you have your periods”, “Don’t go into the kitchen*whispering again*your periods are going on”. Now thinking of the kitchen myth above in a positive way it can be that the family members don’t want the female to work for these 5 days as she might get tired. But when it comes to the temple or not entering the house, why not? Isn’t god supposed to help everyone in any situation; isn’t the house supposed to be hers as well?There have been many myths about periods that people still think are true and follow them. I read some of them and they sure were shocking but were funny too-
- You get slapped on the face when you get your first period so you have “beautiful” red cheeks all your life. (Really?)
- You can’t touch flowers because they’ll die quicker. (Flowers?)
- Don’t paint your nails, wash your hair, or drink lemonade. (Ok, won’t!)
- You can’t make mayonnaise, it will curdle. (Don’t make mayo girls!)
I don’t know how to react to these myths, are they supposed to make you laugh or are they supposed to make you sad and show you reality?To be honest these just feel like harsh restrictions to me! Women out in different rural parts of the world still use dirty cloth or hay when they have their periods which is not at all safe and healthy. Using hay or dirty cloth may lead to infections which may also restrict the girl from reproduction! Getting the first period is surely amusing and it does make us females feel that we are growing up. I got my first period on 8th March, yes it was women’s day! It still is pretty cool for me. I don’t want to elongate this write up anymore. I just wanted to convey how period is not a taboo but is a basic biological process that every female has to face in her lifetime.
Well penned. Of Course periods are not taboo! In response to your question- there is nothing to be scared of :)
ReplyDeleteThank you ma'am for reading through and telling me to rewrite it before posting it!
DeleteVery well written..we need to spread this awareness majorly amongst rular parts of country..but yes in towns like us also female do hesitate asking for sanitary help which they absolutely should not since it's a very natural phenomenon..
ReplyDeleteI am happy you feel this way :)
DeleteVery well written Masoom. I just felt that you should not end it like I don't want to elongate my write up...make sure what you want to convey and just write.
ReplyDeleteOh, Thank you for the feedback! I surely will see to it that I write everything necessary!
DeleteA lot of our traditions are based on practicality, like you have said, women needed rest during those 5 days. However, just saying i need rest would not have given women a pass from household chores, so the tradition. However, the reasons behind our traditions are never passed down and we think they are sacred. Humans need to change how they live with time. We need updates to our traditions just like all our apps 😀
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for such a thoughtful feedback. I am happy that you invested your precious time to write this amazing feedback.🙂
DeleteI must say thanks to you for writing your blog on this important topic. Pleases remember you are the change agent keep spreading awareness on all these created issues and act wherever it is possible. I think you have rightly put up, apparently this seems more like part of the conspiracy of the men dominated society to treat women as secondary citizen may be out of fear.... hence taboo. The days are not yet over for the women including in the developed world!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a thoughtful feedback! I will surely act wherever required.
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