A seemingly manic and overdone video is circulating on social media platforms on the issue of menstrual hygiene. Given the level of stigma we have associated with the issue over time, the video, prepared by an India-based entertainment content platform, forces us to confront it quite brashly. It is possible that the producers would have thought that, given the times we live in, we’d respond only to brashness. It would be worrying if people don’t react even now or react in a negative manner. It would mean that we are indeed beyond the ability to be humanised and educated so that we could better understand the basis of our very existence. After all, menstrual health is simply about the basics of female anatomy.
The video featuring a fictional family tries to impress upon the viewers the importance of educating even their male children about menstruation — encouraging the latter to ask questions about it instead of forming their views on it based on incorrect information. This will positively impact how these male children treat their mothers and sisters as they grow older.
The video even shows the father of the male child in its attempt to break stereotypes surrounding sanitary napkins. It’s a good thing that the producers have included a male parent to show that the child’s male role model also respects health needs of female members of the family. The male parent is shown comfortably using a sanitary napkin to cover his eyes. This is meant to send out a message that the sanitary napkins are clean and normal objects of use — and that they are not to be feared.
Further, another important aspect highlighted by the video is that women should not be infantilised by wrongly equating sanitary pads with diapers — making the former seem dirty as it will be associated with excrement. There is absolutely nothing dirty about the pure blood that a female body stores to nourish and build life inside the womb every single month.
The video tries to teach us a lot by shocking us, and it achieves this in a very simple way by normalising sanitary napkins (a proxy for menstrual hygiene)
The video tries to teach us a lot by shocking us and it achieves that in a very simple way, by normalising sanitary napkins (a proxy for menstrual hygiene) and making us realise it’s important to remove the stigma from our lives. It encourages us to raise children in a healthy manner — by encouraging them to ask questions. Additionally, we should answer their questions in a manner which will lead to constructive understanding and respect for a female body that carries and nourishes life before it is delivered into the world.
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Demystifying menstrual cycle for everyone and, thus, de-stigmatising menstrual health is essential for the success of public health measures. It is equally important to achieve this task simply, honestly and effectively. It makes no sense to make periods/menstruation and clothing accessories associated with it a ‘bad’, ‘dirty’, or ‘mysterious’ thing — such a behaviour will only lead to misunderstanding and fear of the very miraculous (read: scientifically awesome) bodily process which brings life into this world. After all, the preparation that a woman’s body undergoes on a monthly basis for begetting and nourishing life at its own expense takes a lot out of women, mind you.
So please let us watch the video and circulate it widely in our social circles — if only for the men in our lives to understand us better.
The writer is a research fellow with Médecins Sans Frontières