MENSTRUATION TABOO
Jan 20, 2022
By Meilin Zhou
The Unspeakable Taboo
Menstruation taboo is a long-standing problem, but through years of discussion, it is still not even close to being solved. It is undeniable that this culture has already been deeply rooted in every woman's life, insidiously consuming their mental health —- the whispers between the girls, the quickly hiding of the pad when taking it out from your bag, the countless nicknames of the menstruation itself —- all reflected a fact that period is an unspeakable topic. This clearly implies the importance of addressing this problem, as you can witness these scenes happen in the most developed metropolitans around the world every single day, not to mention those underdeveloped areas suffering from poverty. An average of 600 million women in the world lack understanding of menstruation and access to the information¹, and countless girls and women are being oppressed by the patriarchal and conservative ideologies surrounding menstruation: the need to feel ashamed of it; the weird looks and unpleasant comments that they have to endure; certain old-fashioned, toxic customs that they are expected to follow, which can eventually lead to serious hygiene problems and gynecological diseases that threaten their lives.
Menstruation is considered taboo in almost all cultures. In some rural areas of India, women are not allowed to cook, water plants or visit temples during their period due to the “uncleanliness” regarded in them, which, to their belief, will spoil the food or tarnish the sacred place[2]. Similar practices are predominant in Chinese culture and chaupadi tradition. Moreover, even in the bible, it is stated that a woman undergoing menstruation is perceived as unclean for seven days and whoever touches her shall be contaminated and thus unclean[3]. Looking into the radical reason for these phenomena, the feudal patriarchal ideology definitely plays a significant role.
Break Through the Barriers
So how should we change the current situation? First of all, it is essential to stimulate public recognition and enlightenment of the fact that menstruation is a normal physiological phenomenon, objective to any out-of-date culture, tradition or belief. It is not something you, as a woman, should be ashamed of.
The salience of correcting the basic cognition to menstruation and disseminating knowledge of hygiene issues as well as measures to cope with them cannot be reinforced enough; the general discomforts, dysmenorrhea, breast pain and other irritations during menstruation may lead to low immunity, and thus likely to result in other diseases and risks. Furthermore, encouraging young girls in puberty to not hesitate when they need help is essential to their mental well-being and attendance in school. After conducting investigations in Nepal[4], researchers found that if a girl missed four days of school every four weeks, she would miss 10-20% of her school time (world bank 2005). This is one of the reasons why we are committed to finding solutions and really making changes.
Course of Action
Simply emphasizing and discussing this problem will not be of substantial help in solving the problem. sHe 4 she is an organization that aims to aid women, promote feminism and increase public awareness of equality around the world. Recently, the international community is working on a project planning to help women in Zimbabwe, a developing country where women are suffering from a lack of menstrual understanding and exorbitant sanitary napkin prices, through a variety of ways. Online courses from 10 to 20 minutes on average have been recorded by the members and are planned to be presented to girls in Zimbabwe for free. These courses contain a wide range of topics including human physiological structure, menstrual process, correct use of menstrual products, period protection and psychological changes, etc. Moreover, we have arranged to donate free menstrual pads from Be Girl that are reusable and designed to fit comfortably onto underwear, to schools in Zimbabwe at the current stage. We have now contacted Be Girl’s official and have successfully gained their support. Together with all the members in sHE 4 she and everyone who supported this project, we are on track to make the world a better place.
References:
[1]Be Girl. (n.d.). Be Girl's Global Impact. Be Girl. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://www.begirl.org/impact
[2]Dutta, T. (2015, February 16). Women on period will 'rot pickle and poison food', Indian myths claim. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2952950/Women-period-rot-pickle-poison-food-Indian-myths-claim.html
[3]Oster, E., & Thornton, R. (2009, April). Menstruation and Education in Nepal. National Bureau of Economic Research. 10.3386/w14853
[4]Wenham, G. J. (1979). Mosaic Law. In The Book of Leviticus (Revised ed., Leviticus 11:1-15:33). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.