Year: 2020 | Month: March | Volume 9 | Issue 1
Understanding the Outlook on Menstruation in India “Let’s talk PERIOD!”
Nupur Agrawal
DOI:10.30954/2249-6637.01.2020.2
Abstract:
The connotations of impurity that surround menstruation gave rise to the phrase and concept of ‘polluted women’ which is one of the few things that almost all the religions (be it Hinduism, Christianity or Islam) seems to be agreeing upon but in actuality it is a game of interpretation at its core. The word ‘menstruation’ that has now been normalized far enough for it to be considered offensive today, finds its roots in religious fanaticism. The elucidation of religious texts in the majority of the religions was left to men so it is not a breach to say that their understandings and explanations might be biased to further their ‘females are inferior’ agenda and can be easily debunked and stripped of their credibility as baseless myths. But women around the world are still suffering under the yoke of these misconstrued interpretations and have been condemned to an eternity of inhumane treatment during those 5-7 days every month. It doesn’t just affect their physical health but the seclusion and alienation cost them their mental equilibrium too. In a time when comfort and care is needed the most, they are subjected to irrational practices that aggravates their trauma and which is so hard to comprehend that society dismisses it as histrionic behaviour. The demotion of menstruation as a tabooed topic is not just a desirable ideal now, but it has become an imperative necessity so in an attempt to keep up with the changing times there is a wave of change being felt in the environment. It is time that this patriarchal society gets rid of its conservative mindset. Everything boils down to pose this question – in a world where a woman’s ability to bear children is her only strength celebrated by this male-dominated society then why, menstruation, a process which aids that is shunned down as a topic which is not worthy or ‘normal’ enough to be discussed in a civil conversation?
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