Hands off the pickle jar!

  • Sunrita Sen
  • India
  • Sep 19, 2014

 

 

When Savita Sharma turned 12 her mother told her that soon all the dirt in her body would come out in the blood once a month. She was told that she would have to bear it and never mention the event (or the word, periods) in front of the men in the family. There were also many rules Savita was told to follow, as she would be considered ‘impure’ during that period: she was not to touch the household deities, participate in religious ceremonies or enter temples; she should not touch the sacred basil plant, because it would shrivel and die; or touch any pickles, because they would spoil. Savita, now 24, says that she was mortified, feeling that she was about to enter some awful period in her life. It was only much later, when she started reading about menstruation on the Internet and talked to some knowledgeable friends, that she realised that it was part of a normal (though long) phase of a woman's life. She now works at an information technology firm in a New Delhi suburb and no longer follows many of the strictures dictated by her mother and grandmother. But many of her (female) co-workers do not have the courage to change. Aditi Gupta, creator (along with her husband Tuhin Paul) of information website menstrupedia.com, believes that attitudes have changed very little since she was a teenager. Aditi, 29, lived in a small town in eastern India and had her first periods at 12. She used and re-used cloth rags to stem the flows, until she went to college. "The chapter on reproductive health is still taught when children are about 14-15 years old, while many girls get their first period when they are 11-12," Aditi says. In parts of rural India, women are still kept isolated during their menstruation. They are not allowed to enter the kitchen, or to go out and play, and married women do not share the bed with their husbands - as it is believed that a man could become impotent after intercourse with a menstruating woman! Aditi says that she started the website simply because people still refuse to talk about menstruation. "The fact that many of these taboos are associated with the practice of religious rituals makes them more difficult to shed," says TG Geetha, a member of the Chennai-based Gender Awareness Promoters. Many young women follow the practice as a way of respecting their elders, rather than because they believe in the reasoning behind the old customs, says Geetha. "Unfortunately, the way mothers and teachers inform young girls about menstruation, it comes across as something negative and embarrassing, In fact, even today you will find notices outside many Indian temples, saying: No camera, no shoes, no menstruating women,” laments Aditi. She adds, “Girls can end up with infections when they don't wash and dry their rags properly. Stress arising from trying to hide menstruation can affect performance in studies, sports and other activities. It is time for these taboos to go.” 

A survey carried out in June by a global market research organisation, IPSOS, indicated that old superstitions die hard in modern India. Fifty-nine per cent of the 1,105 female respondents, aged 13 to 49 and living in Indian cities, did not touch pickles during their periods. About 65 per cent washed their hair on the fourth day of their periods, and 52 per cent did not venture out of their homes during this period. Most women were not aware of menstruation until they got their first period. "Some harmless myths can perhaps be ignored, but there is an urgent need to lift this shroud of ‘secrecy’ on periods, so that harmful practices are brought to an end and more hygienic facilities are provided to girls and women," says Suneela Garg, head of the Department of Community Medicine at New Delhi's Maulana Azad Medical College. Changing attitudes towards menstruation could have a big impact on girls' education, research suggests, which would benefit Indian society as a whole. Twenty-three per cent of girls in India drop out of school soon after reaching puberty, according to a government-backed 2013 report. "Schools are not equipped with the basic amenities for menstrual management: menstruation materials are not available, there is anyway no place for changing them, there is no running water in the toilets, and there is no place to dispose the materilal – all this impacts the education of girls," the report said. A 2005 study in southern India found that half of the girls were withdrawn from school by their parents once they began to have periods, partly because menstruation is regarded as a sign of readiness for marriage. Some 52 per cent of female students drop out of school by the time they are 16-years-old, according to government data for 2009-10. "Adolescents have to be told there is nothing to hide, it is not a problem," Suneela says. "Only then would important matters like hygiene - associated with menstruation - be discussed openly."

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