Holy Yet Tagged as Impure

“A contact with them can turn new wine sour, crops will go barren, seeds in the gardens would dry up, and the fruits of the trees would fall off……And the list would go on and on…”

Does that red stain on her cloth or bleeding vagina make her less of a human? Is it the blood that you are tagging as impure or is it the women because if it is the menstrual blood than its okay to tag each individual as impure every time they bleed due to cuts or bruise.

In the ancient Egyptian medical texts (Kahun Gynecological papyrus) has used the word hsmn for menstruation, in which some argued that menstruation is regarded as purification. Menstruation in this text is considered positive where the menstrual bloods were used as an ingredient for correcting saggy breasts. This contradictory argument or the debates surrounding menstruation create more confusion among individuals as how they must coin the process.

However, it’s also the fact that there are no evidences apart from theoretical statements and mythological believes that claims that menstruation is impure or matter of shame for women. The taboos surrounding menstruation significantly affects on the women’s and girl’s mentality, lifestyle, emotional status and mostly prominently their health. 9 out of every 10 girls in India are unaware about menstruation when they have their first periods. Menstrual hygiene is a very important risk factor for reproductive tract infection but sadly in Indian only 12% girls and women have an excess to hygienic ways of managing their periods. About 88% of the girls and women use unhygienic ways for managing their periods.

A natural biological process that every girl and women goes through every month for about half of her life, the phenomena that is so significant that the survival and propagation of many species depends on it; yet people considered it a taboo. Why?… They have no answers accept from some historical and religious records. For what reason, a girl and women are asked to keep their period a hidden secret from others? Why are they told that this particular biological process is dirty, shameful, and disgusting for other as well as for them? Aren’t these particular taboos teaching girls and women to actually feel shameful to talk about this topic, which in a way promoting them to be ashamed and unaware of their own body’s natural cycle?

P.S: Stay tuned for more insight….