There is an organization called Dignity Period that is working to address similar issues in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, there is poor education about menstruation among many of the citizens, especially in rural areas. Dignity Period is an organization that is providing booklets/pamphlets that help educate children and parents about menstruation, and they also distribute reusable menstrual pads. The outcome is that more girls are continuing to attend school, even after they begin menstruating.
46
Please let's not confuse discretion with taboos and persecution.
Yes, menstruation is a natural function, but like other natural body excretions, not a pleasant or clean one.
Before the invention of our modern products, dealing with it was a lot messier, just as dealing with our other body functions were. Outhouses were outside for a good reason, but excretion is a lot more short-term than menstruation. We don't go around celebrating the fact we have to go to the bathroom or blow our noses or clean our ears, either.
As a woman, I guess I was lucky not to have been taught to be ashamed of it, on the contrary, but I was embarrassed and wanted to keep the fact hidden, particularly at the beginning when just learning how to cope with it, and particularly from my father, although he was most certainly not encouraging this.
Today, while not embarrassed (and past menopause anyway), I still would prefer that we be discreet about it, simply because I appreciate discretion about messy body functions. Part of what is so awful about situations like Nepal is precisely that discretion is not an option, everyone knows your menstrual status and makes a big deal out of what should be a private matter. Learning how to deal with them discreetly rather than making a big deal out of them is what makes for a more pleasant society imo.
2
My mother was born in this country, but when my first period appeared, she slapped my face. This,she told me, was to keep the roses in my cheeks! Additionally, l was not to touch any plants or flowers during my period—my touch would kill them. Moreover, at this time I was referred to as “unwell.” These are things that happened in living memory in the US. It makes lt more difficult to point the finger at other cultures.
24
@Lee Hover, D. Med. Hum.
It's a shame your mother adhered to silly superstitions, but that's not the norm in western countries and should in no way hinder us from pointing out other culture's harmful primitive customs.
7
@Lee Hover, D. Med. Hum.
O dear. I am sorry.
@Lee Hover, D. Med. Hum.
Shudder. Sounds like a horror movie. I hope you received the therapy you needed once your escaped your mother's clutches.
2
Fortunately "cultural practices" can and do change. Women all over the world are slowly moving out of the cave and many men are afraid so cling to status quo. The patriarchal system has hindered women--and men--for ages. Time for a change.
5
It is little wonder that women of the world are rising to the task of remaking the way they have been treated since the dawn of man. Simply because we live in the United States, while many of the cultures in the world treat women almost as dirt, we have our own houses to look within and not only fulfill women's destiny but maintain a sharp eye on the rest of the world. Any one breathing should realize we have yet to achieve the idea that women are men's equals and should be respected as such. Ask yourself a few questions. Knowing what you know of women today, was it right to deny them the vote for over 140 years? Is it morally right to pay them less than a man for the same work? How many women are accused of sexual harassment and rape? How many women were sent to prison or found guilty in Watergate? Is there a women living in this country, who, if elected president, would act like our current president?
The irony in all of this, first as related to our country and after that the rest of the planet, is that it will be up to men of the world to insure that women are respected as our equals.and we know that portends a long period of self examination. It is important to keep in mind that the optimum word in the struggle is "respect."
7
I just read a very interesting book about blood, in its many aspects, "Nine Pints", by Rose George, which includes an excellent long chapter on menstruation and cultural practices of, mainly, India--and about an interesting man who has invented affordable napkins there.
3
It's not one world.
Superstitions surrounding menstruation are common around the world, though not all of them are enforced in ways that are physically dangerous. In the 1920s and 1930s, my mother's Italian immigrant parents forbade their teenage daughters from going into the vegetable garden during their periods; they considered it harmful to the plants. (How a tomato plant was supposed to know that the 14-year-old daughter of its attending gardener was menstruating was never addressed.)
8
It was in a university anthropology class that I first officially heard how the menstrual cycle "cycles." I and my classmates were surprised to hear from our male professor that a girl's first period follows the release of the first unfertilized egg. The visible cycle signals that fertility has started - past tense. Often when a girl is known to be fertile, she finds herself surrounded with moralizing and shaming. In my 1960's era Catholic culture, most girls learned about menstruation from books published by sanitary pad manufacturers. These books addressed tracking periods, hooking up napkins and disposing of used napkins discreetly so others would not have to see them. I have only recently been coming to terms with the aftermath of my being impregnated via predation prior to the age of 11 and prior to my first visible cycle. When I provide both my medical and emotional history, therapists, health care professionals an others ALWAYS comment that I must have started menstruating very early. I always mention my anthropology class because my experience is that credentialed women don't always believe women seeking help. Menstruation and the system's perpetration of bad information is still taboo. Period. No joke intended.
6
In this day and age!!! What education needs to be spread to the world. Normal sexual developement male or female should be explained and exposed (" taught" might be a better word choice.)It is time to get over this stigma. You don't want the women in your life to die. After all, they are your mothers, sisters, girl-friends, and wives. The mothers of your own children...
For some reason I always carried a few tampax in my old car. I'm not sure why exactly, but they were there. A girl-friend started her period on a long drive we were taking. She was so uncomfortable and miserable until I asked her why. When I found out, I stopped the car, gave her a few tampax and she replied, " Craig you have to be the most incredible man I have ever met."
Then again, I was a medical student and my father had been a physician. Also, thank the gods, I was raised with two (count em) two amazing sisters.
It seems like a little bit of sterilized cotton would go a long long way in settling this matter. Ignorance of your own bodily functions; this has to stop. Period!!
11
Gotta love the readers' reverence for the "cultural practices" of others--as if calling something a "cultural practice" makes it above criticism. Well, gun violence is an American "cultural practice," as are alcohol abuse, trashing the environment and domestic violence. One can contrive a religious or social explanation for any practice. No belief or action, regardless of its historic roots or veneer of sanctity, should be protected from scrutiny. That's how societies improve themselves!
15
I am Indian American; I have experienced this practice in my own home while growing up in Mumbai. We were a family with parents having school education and father doing a decent white collar job. Still my mother followed the practice of sitting in a corner of the house during menstruation, refraining from her normal work and isolated and 'untouchable'. We boys cooked and served her food in plate only for her. She did not bathe or touch anything at home for three days. Her own educated sister had given up that practice long ago. Though my younger sister was never forced to follow that practice.
6
For goodness sake, I would think not shaming women for menstruating would be one thing all literate people could agree on! Yet commenters here go through elaborate contortions to defend this misogyny. Either by the holier-than-thou "How dare you judge the practices of another culture!" or by claiming the attention is unwarranted because "not every family practices this," many readers are not ready to admit that the oppression of women and girls is wrong, regardless of culture or tradition. No wonder we still haven't passed the ERA.
10
@ARNP I believe it was Barbra Streisand who said that when women have symptoms of heart attack particular to women, once they're in the ER, the women should always report their own symptoms and the symptoms common to men as well, because it is the male symptoms that many nurses and doctors are likely to pay attention to. Passing the ERA solves nothing if women do not know about natural physiological differences between males and females. In terms of parity, women are still dancing backwards in high heels. We are still measured against male medical and psychological models. We are not mini-men.
7
These women are NOT being "stigmatized and isolated for a natural process." They are complying with a practice required by their god. Thus, the article's assertion that "the menstrual taboo in Nepal is rooted in long-held beliefs about the intrinsic inferiority of girls" is false and culturally ignorant and arrogant.
3
@No Well, the men who rule the society make these rules in the name of GOD. Same story in India.
24
@No I commented elsewhere about my own experience in the NE USA. I learned the most about fertility cycles from an anthropology professor who did his field work in India. He suggested that menstrual taboos and birth taboos likely carried forth from eons ago when males started to fear females who bled but didn't die and bought forth babies amid much blood and, for the most part, didn't die. Males might have been afraid of females. What one fears, one often seeks to conquer. Today, females often seek to conquer and distance themselves from their own reproductive physiology. We create our gods an goddesses as answers to what we do not know.
10
@No
Wrong. The fact that many in their society believe that their god favors males and demands that women be treated as unclean or inferior does not change the fact that females are indeed being "stigmatized and isolated for a natural process." You are simply too eager to defend this. These women are forced or coerced to comply with a practice required by PEOPLE who may believe that they have their god's backing. Labeling another perspective "culturally ignorant and arrogant" is lazy and self-righteous. And wrong.
13
Another male-driven, religious-based repression of women.
11
https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/05/28/410074105/the-very-strange-life-of-nepals-child-goddess
The child goddess ends when she reaches puberty.
2
Who was it who wrote, “If men had their periods, there would be a competition of how long, how much and who had theirs the earliest?” Men have created these crazy, irrational beliefs and I’m assuming they were born of ignorance and fear. Who ever said that women are too emotional to be in positions of leadership? SMH!
11
Flood Nepal with Kotex and donated copies of Ms. Magazine and Redbook. Airdrop if necessary.
2
I was raised in Catholicism which, to my knowledge, does not have formal practices surrounding menstruation. Nevertheless, 60 years ago my friends and I were taught to be ashamed by our mothers. Many girls got their periods before knowing what menstruation was. We were not to let our fathers and brothers see the pads and if a boy ever found out, the humiliation would have been unbearable. This occurred when our country was launching satellites and manned space missions so we shouldn't be too smug about the Nepalis. The Nepalis probably have cell phones.
99
It is unfortunate that the authors of the article use this as an opportunity to attack that culture by simply attributing this to inferiority of girls. Most educated families don't engage in this practice any more. Decades and decades ago, when women's role was that of a home maker and baby machine, living in joint family setting, this time of the month was seen as an opportunity for rest. Everything she needed was brought to her (change of clothes after bath, food, etc.). As a woman, I have heard stories from my mother who pretty much banished the practice over time when we were growing up. t least it was partly because it was too much work for the rest, because the daughters did not like the practice, and because she was a pragmatic individual who had my father's blessing to handle things the way she saw fit. I can already hear the question 'why would she need your father's blessing?' Well, please ask the same about June Cleaver first! We just stayed away from the prayer alcove and did not go to temples during that time - call it superstition. While I am vehemently opposed to how these girls are treated and wish the practice would completely go away, it is irritating to see some of these clueless westerners glossing over such issues using it as an opportunity to denigrate certain foreign religions and cultures, without any effort to dig deeper to provide context. Western culture and religions never get painted with such a broad brush!
4
Ms. Strayed and Mr. Lindstrom,
Please consult some anthropologists before writing about other society's "superstitions". Unthinkingly imposing our ("our" because I believe I share many of your views) values on other peoples is not a service. If you cannot demonstrate a genuine understanding of why a group of people take some action, then you should examine whether you are in a position to discuss it in a venue such as this--and you demonstrated no such understanding in this piece. Unfortunately, it will likely perpetuate ethnocentrism and a false sense of superiority among American readers.
There is a genuine dilemma here which is not so much as named: How do we in Western societies engage respectfully with other societies when our values are in conflict? We believe we are enlightened (they have "superstitions," we have "beliefs") and have power, and may feel an obligation to share our insights. To my way of thinking that is entirely appropriate. However, failing to recognize that our own values and beliefs and judgements are contingent, historically and culturally specific, and often inculcated more than chosen is hubristic and unlikely to achieve positive results. We should do the opposite by always locating ourselves and our positions in our contexts. Rigorous reflexivity is the antidote to many (though not all) of our ills. The Buddha, who hailed from what is modern day Nepal, provides an example. Who are we to say his descendants aren't enlightened?
3
How could the term ‘enlightenment’ ever be applied or even considered when the result of the behavior marginalizes half of a society because of a fundamental and unavoidable biological process. The equation is simply this: ignorance leads to oppression. Some premodern cultures believed that the birth of twins was a curse and hence killed the babies.
Not too ‘enlightened.’
With regards to the consequences of the menstrual taboos that result In denying the humanity of half of the human race there is one remedy —education about human—particularly female biology.
14
@Hmmm
"Unfortunately, it will likely perpetuate ethnocentrism and a false sense of superiority among American readers."
Forcing menstruating girls to sleep in a barn is most certainly inferior to our customs. Cultural relativism is just as dangerous as prejudice.
10
Yawn.
Most primitive cultures had taboos about menstruating women. What else is new?
My Greek-Orthodox grandmother forbade her daughters from taking Communion when they had their periods.
So today there are still primitive cultures on earth. Deny that to your peril.
6
Read Leviticus 15: 19-33 in the Bible: even there it states that menstruating women are unclean and must not be touched for 7 days. So this is not unique to Hinduism. It is an ancient superstition. Our orthodox Hindu family followed this periodic untouchability, pardon the pun. But that was fifty years ago. That is gone now. No one, in our community anyhow, follows this anymore. Not after the use of tampons and pads. Those devices have transformed the lives the women.
4
Of course there is no shame, nothing wrong discussing a function to the human body, and the restrictions and impositions mentioned here are discriminatory and wrong.
The terms here used are apt to the situation and will increase understanding. However, yesterday on television a woman described her menstruating in such elaborate detail as to be repugnant and bound to increase the prejudice of men so inclined.
Even in modern day yoga classes unenlightened female Yoga teachers will tell you not to do a headstand if you have your period. Who made up that rule? Male yogis. How can it be harmful to stand on your head or do any inversion for a very short time? Even in the beginning of my yoga training I ignored the teacher. It just seemed absurd.
14
Reading about women in other countries getting persecuted like this is horrifying. But the worst part is hearing so many entitled women in our own country claim they have "no rights", or can't use the bathroom they want or can't believe they get gawked at when they are dressed in scantily clad clothing. We have so much freedom in this country, we are not forced to sleep outside when we have our periods. Keep things in perspective women.
6
I have seen several articles about this issue in Nepal and certain other countries lately. There have been a few over the years, but the discussion has never gained traction and I'm hopeful that's changing.
That said, I don't understand why the situation here at home and in other English-speaking countries is not receiving the same kind of attention. We don't send women and girls into exile in the back yard, but there are serious problems with affordability of products like sanitary pads and tampons. There's the occasional discussion about this, but it never seems to progress and I think it remains a major problem that has a serious impacts on lives.
We still don't see these products as a necessity. The tax system backs this up in many areas. Toilet paper is provided in public spaces, but tampons and pads are not.
If you're squeamish, please look away. My parents refused to buy products. We were poor because of my father's alcoholism, but even if he had been able to hold down a job, products are expensive and my parents probably still would not have bought me any. Please think about how a kid deals with this type of situation.
I'm now 42 and it's only within the last eight years or so that purchasing products has not been a financial burden. During college and grad school and the unpaid internships and entry-level jobs that followed (and I'm an engineer--one of the people who is usually reputed to be financially comfortable), I just could not afford products.
24
@Ant
There is still shame in the U.S. about menstruation. My teenage daughter and her friends hide their pads and tampons when they go to the school bathroom to change them. For a time, she would carry them in the open. It was the girls, not the boys who would do the teasing. It's still so ingrained that menstruation is "dirty".
8
And wouldn’t it be nice also if we could one day get to the point of being able to talk about “menstruation” in a non-judgemental, and hopefully matter of fact way? Without wanting to play the role of “language police” I wish some of the more derogatory expressions ( there are some truly weird ones in French) used for menstruation could die a natural death with more enlightened thinking. I still remember when I was 15, a boy I knew telling me what “being on a losing streak” meant in the song “Satisfaction.” - I felt deeply embarrassed, while he sniggered for all he was worth.
7
This does not reflect on Nepal as a country. There are well educated people in Nepal who do not support this kind of behavior. Only time will bring changes. There is no doubt ignorance exists everywhere including United States. At least, they do not have mass killings as we witness in this country day in and day out.
2
@Kodali I'm sorry, but your attitude is the opposite of what is helpful in this situation. This actually DOES reflect on Nepal as a country. It IS a problem. That is the reality.
Something I find incredibly damaging to progress is that whenever issues related to women's rights in particular cultures/areas are raised, there are certain people who immediately focus on getting defensive and whaddabouting (like your "whaddabout the USA?").
The reality is that your solution, time, has not brought changes for many women. More attention on this issue is needed.
I have dual citizenship and spend a lot of time in England, where the authorities tend to avoid getting involved as soon as someone like you from a particular community bleats that the community is being discriminated against somehow. Because of this, issued like domestic violence, child sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, and forced marriage were ignored for decades in particular immigrant communities. The point is, defensive attitudes like yours hurt women.
Are there problems in the USA? Yes there are. I just wrote a comment about not being able to afford sanitary products when I was a teen, not that long ago. I now do volunteer work with kids in the same situation. But the fact there are problems here too doesn't mean we shouldn't be thinking about other women and their challenges.
10
We must remember that once upon a time, when humankind was a rare species, procreation was seen quite differently than today. Women, with their mystical powers, joined forces with the gods to bring forth new life. This was frightening to men, who had nothing about themselves to compare. And so throughout time we have seen men constantly validating themselves by earthly, man-made constructs--by religious belief. Natural competitors, men have need to topple woman from her godly elevation, to take away her rank and her dignity and menstrural shaming is but one small part of this.
32
As a Nepali-American who has first hand (albeit subdued) experience with this, I hope to shed some light into how this practice started.
1) Access to sanitary products (including underwear) were, and in many areas still are, rare. Hence, isolation of menstruating women to one area meant restricting their movement.
2) Women are homemakers - I have rarely seen an exception to this even now insofar as working women often get up before dawn to prepare/serve food to the entire family before going to work. 'Family' often includes your in-laws as it is still typical in Nepal to live in extended families. Barring women from the kitchen was a way to provide them a break. I still hear women talking about their period days as their "free" days.
Overtime, menstruation has turned into a religious taboo. While in Kathmandu, for each cycle I had to stay away from certain areas, sleep on the floor even within my own room, and had to sit in a designated area while in common rooms. These restrictions were imposed by my grandmother. My mom is a lot less stringent.
When talking about this practice with my Nepali friends, we echo each other in how this tradition will end with us. When I go back to Nepal, I see my cousins rebelling as well - they also echo that the tradition will end with them. Of course my experience is limited - this practice is much more extreme in the rural areas. But, change is a progression and sometimes it takes generation. But no doubt it has started.
33
@AA Being made to stay outdoors in a cow shed during the cold nights, or stay in the forest out of sight during the day, hardly seems like a 'break' from kitchen duty -- it seems like shunning and shaming. Some of the commenters in the video were also made to go without food! I am glad these young Nepali women are pushing back against misogyny.
16
It occurs here. I’ve had more than one woman express surprise that I had no problem with sex during her “time of the month”. Apparently a lot of American men have a problem with it. Americans are hardly more enlightened than other cultures, we just like to believe we are.
21
As with so many things in this world, eradicating this sad practice will boil down to cold hard cash and WIIFM—What’s in it for me? If you provide a carrot to stop this practice rather than trying to shame them into stopping it, success might be achieved more quickly.
Reward those families who show proof that they embrace and protect their daughters during their periods by providing things they need: a new roof, rodent-proof food bins, a well... This would reinforce the idea that something good can happen because of a girl’s period.
Perhaps this is a simplistic way of looking at it, but I think it is better than shaking our fingers at these people.
15
As a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal in the 1970's I offended the family I lived with after being there a few months by continuing to eat with them & not self-isolating myself. Unfortunately the Peace Corps trainers skipped the session on what to do if you get your period. It was a hard cultural lesson for me to learn. I went back last year to the village and thankfully women and girls were fully integrated with men at the meal times. Things change. Just so very slowly.
25
In the 1950's my father had a grocery store in a small farming community in central California. It was my uncle's job to wrap the Kotex boxes in plain brown paper so as not to offend shoppers. This practice no longer takes place as sanitary items are openly displayed in stores, but as this article and the documentary PERIOD. END of SENTENCE point out the taboos about women's natural functions remain in many cultures, and continue to cast women as second class citizens.
48
Is it possible that during menstruation girls and women are more susceptible to infections of various sorts, so that originally these customs and beliefs were a form of protection for the woman, that got turned around to be taboos?
2
@Annie
Menstruation does not make one “more susceptible to infections of various sorts.
There is absolutely no biology behind that idea and frankly, in my seventy years this is the first time I have heard it.
91
@Annie Nope. Menstruation is shedding excess tissue, not causing open wounds.
This is very different from post-partum bleeding where detachment of the placenta causes a wound in the uterus about the size of a dinner plate. Perhaps this is what you were thinking of?
6
You cant stop these myth based practices by making them illegal. You can try, but it just drives the practitioners underground and creates a more risky situation for the victims.
There is but one way to stop this nonsense. EDUCATION that includes real science. Extreme education that does not pander to mythologies. Education that is broad and inclusive for both sexes.
The males in this culture and dozens of others need to be re-programmed out of their religious, folk-lore based myths regarding women. About themselves as well.
We have got to stop pandering to these myth, folk-lore based belief systems. Its gone too far, in how we coddle these ancient beliefs...in the misguided notion of preserving important primitive beliefs.
We gain nothing by coddling these myth based cultures. That are hurt more by the beliefs that we should leave them alone, because by doing so we (the larger world) benefits by having this (broken) link to our ancient pasts. Its a first world myth, and indulgence - that we must leave these cultures wholly untouched...even if they subjugate and in these cases purposely put their females at risk.
Women in these stunted cultures - which is what happens when we coddle them, they become more stunted - can only be released from bearing the excess burden of these ignorant practices - by educating not only them out of their myths, but the whole of the cultures!
29
And this goes as well for myth, folklore based belief systems of Christians (so called)
2
Just more evidence of how religion harms people. Time we stopped believing in old books, old men's rules, & the boogeyman.
I just watched "Mrs Mazel" where she was banned from the stage for discussing pregnancy (1940's) & then watched "Period. End of Sentence" win the 2019 Academy Award. We've come a long way baby!!! Keep on truckin ladies, our time has come...
46
Lucille Ball was among, if not the, first woman to be obviously pregnant on TV. It was a major cultural turning point, although poor Rob and Laura were still confined to their twin beds.
@BeTheChange
Interesting how these men find the woman's body impure when they are conceived and born through the woman's vagina. A woman's body should be seen as sacred as it brings in new life.
If they find menstruation so appalling they can offer woman birth control and they can skip the placebo week and never have to have menstrual bleeding.
My Jewish friend from school who wasn't Orthodox (maybe she was) told me that when she was menstruating her father couldn't know about it and she couldn't throw sanitary napkins in the general garbage, but pads had to be thrown out some special kind of way. I couldn't believe all of the rules she had to follow just because she had her period. She lived in Brooklyn and the year was 1989.
35
@McGuan
And another thing, my 23-year old always thanks me for having bought her the American Girl book about puberty. The book explained what her period would be like and the various things she might experience as well as how to use sanitary napkins and tampons.
My daughter got her period the day after I bought her that book. She was 12 years old.
18
@McGuan And for another aspect of how Jewish parents handle menstruating girls, my sort-of-traditional NY Jewish parents opened a bottle of Champagne and celebrated the moment when I first had my period at age 11. I've always felt positive about "being a woman," as the saying went, back then. Some people are crazy good, others are crazy bad?
3
She probably had to go to a mikveh (purifying ritual bath) afterward.
1
"And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.
Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.
And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even."
Leviticus 15:19-27
https://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/leviticus/passage/?q=leviticus+15:19-33
39
@Howard G
and the implications of these verses from Leviticus?
Are you arguing they have practical import today?
What form of import?
8
@Howard G
Just one more reason I'm not religious....
8
@Howard G. Yes, a barbaric time it was ...
11
I cannot help but think of Camille Paglia’s Sexual Personae. It addressed a poignant reality when describing the birth of men as a coming to life between the legs of a woman, a gagging for air and screaming, a bundle of meat drenched in blood and albumen, covered in pieces of torn placenta, amniotic fluids, and baby poop, and often accompanied by the mother’s farts and other discharges. This was the “chthonic” world in which all men are born...the natural way! If that wasn’t pleasant enough, and did not help men’s confidence and their psyche to develop naturally, in what is now called “secure attachments,” men proceeded to twist nature's way and write their own Apologia in myriad forms and, of course, invent all kind of idiotic rituals. Men - always men - are responsible for such abhorrent customs!
30
We are so lucky to be women in the enlightened western world. When I got my first period, my mother celebrated me becoming a woman! We need to educate all children around the world, boys and girls, about the natural process of puberty. This will turn our changing bodies from something that msy seenm scary and unknown into wonderful scientific facts.
70
@Elizabeth Gibson, good for your mother. But I'd like to point out that actually, YOU are lucky. "We" still have a long way to go.
I'm delighted to see this article and I've seen similar ones elsewhere over the past few months that make me hopeful that this issue is finally receiving enough attention to result in real change. On the other hand, I am disappointed and frustrated that every one of these articles I've seen is about women overseas.
I now do volunteer work in my free time with troubled young people (mostly from low-income backgrounds) and they are dealing with the same problem I had when I was their age--being unable to afford products. I will spare you the detail about the consequences of this. I'm sure that any women out there can imagine the humiliation and stress of not having access to products and having to rig up other solutions in a world where women can't take a week off.
Another problem is that many women deal with severe pain or other problems during menstruation and yet we don't discuss this. Most employers make no allowances. Women's careers can be seriously hindered by bosses who don't understand. Most women wouldn't even feel comfortable sharing with a supervisor the need to take time off because of period issues.
We have major work to do at home.
23
@Elizabeth Gibson
Kudos to your wonderful, enlightened mother! Mine, alas, made me feel ashamed and dirty (as she did about sex as well, not surprisingly); my brothers were told only that I was "unwell"--thereby perpetuating the stigma. I also had debilitating cramps, so I was not only ashamed and isolated from my family but alone and in pain. She even--and this I still don't understand--forbade me to tell my girlfriends that my period had started (fortunately, I had the gumption to defy her in that).
I don't have a daughter, but I always thought that if I did, we would celebrate her first period and make her feel proud and excited to have reached this new stage in her life and to become part of a new community--her sisterhood of women.
The video made me cry.
8
Everyone should watch "Period. End of Sentence" -- winner of this year's Oscar for best short doc -- a 26-minute film that profiles women in an Indian village who band together to manufacture affordable menstrual pads. Truly enlightening and inspirational. Available on Netflix. It will touch your heart.
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@Clare Thank you so much for sharing the information about the documentary!
I wish every good fortune for these bright, young women who have a heavy load to lift for the good of women in their country and everywhere.
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I feel I have to apologize to men in advance, because I know this belief about menstruation does not apply to all men everywhere... but really, when I hear something like this I think men must be the stupidest creatures alive. Even in my own life, my Aunt and mother had me hide my sanitary napkins in a paper bag in my closet, because the men in the family shouldn't have to know I was menstruating. At least I got to stay in the house....
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@Joodlebugs: It depends on how you put it. When growing up, the men in my house were not allowed to know. It was something special, just between Mom & me. She lucked out big time. Finally gave me the ‘talk’ within a week I had my first period (as if it had been waiting). I ran into my folks bedroom (it was early morning) screaming, ‘Mommy, mommy I got my period!’. So much for teaching me to hide it. I was so proud. However I was never taught at home or school about males’ anatomy & how all that fit together. Hopefully that has been added by now. Even the film shown in school to both girls & boys was only about girls’ anatomy. One girl fainted during the opening credits. Oh it was all line drawings. It was 1962,
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Incredible, but are not some Jewish women treated in the same way?
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@Lancearmpong Not even close. Everyone goes to school, sleeps indoors, eats together, and so on all month long. The prohibitions are related to having sex during specific times of the woman's cycle.
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@Heather Please add that the Jewish prohibition relates solely to the small number of ultra-Orthodox. This is not an American Jewish thing. I'm jumping on your comment mainly because these days, looking for cultural differnces (and often exaggerating them for political advantage) seems to be in vogue, especially when it involves casting Jewish people as "other." Again.
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@Lancearmpong
It depends. I used to practice psychiatry at a clinic serving primarily Orthodox and Ultra-Orthadox Jews in Chicago. No males would shake my hand, just in case I might be menstruating! I was tempted to assure them I used tampons and pads, rather than trying to catch my menstrual blood in my cupped hands! This was only about 15 years ago.
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Where are the Nepalese religious leaders? They are the ones who need to educate the populace.
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Hahahah - good luck with that. Where do you think these beliefs start?
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Immense social pressure to remain constantly pregnant. With a human population soon to be 11 billion, it's just what the planet needs.
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These taboos existed in the overwhelming majority of so-called "primitive" societies as chronicled by Boaz near the year 1900.
From a psycho-social point of view they are easy to understand.
No one understood what was going on. It was believed to be a curse that women had to endure alone and segregated. Of course when women were in esturus (that's quite a while by mammalian creatures). The fact is that no other mammal on the planet that has females who are so constantly receptive to sexual intercourse.
Therefore, one might say that menses duration of two tp seven days was a time when odor and desposition may have dispeled male contact. Moreover, when women live close together they tend to menstruate at the same time.
I really don't think that back then there was an underlying attitude against female inferiority moved this practice or custom. It simply had to do with fear of blood, odor, and the unreceptive time of a women's cycle.
Today we are coming out of the ignorance we were oppressed by before, but still both men and women often refrain from intercourse during menstruation.
Do not confuse today's political notions with our 200,000+ year old accomodation of a misunderstood female condition. This will all come about in due time.
These girls know that it feels terrible to have one's period where they are shut out from society and abused in their ostracization. We sympathize and support them. Losing a viable egg to-be-human embryo is not necessarily a sad thing.
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Menstrual shaming happens more than we realize. Judaism, Shintoism, and beyond.
It’s not as drastic as in Nepal, but the notion of impurity and mensuration is unfortunately widespread in society’s that are filled with educated people.
It’s time to change this way of thinking as this just makes women submissive. Being that men usually have control in religious groups, I wonder if a change in thinking is ever possible. Women need to speak up about this and rock the boat in their societies.
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This practice is enshrined in the Bible as well, so it isn't just girls and women in third world countries.
Orthodox Jews practice this as well; the ones who are really strict don't allow women and men to touch during her menstrual cycle, she is required to undergo a purification bath (mikvah) after the end of her menstrual cycle each month. There are some other restrictions that I can't think of off the top of my head.
Menstruation is a normal, natural bodily function for girls and women. There would be no possibility of babies without it! It should be looked at as a good thing, not something to be hated and feared, nor for girls and women to be punished and shamed for having a normal bodily function.
How very sad. Maybe when there are no more girls and women in the world we will be appreciated.
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@marybeth
“Maybe when there are no more girls and women in the world we will be appreciated.”
Here, here! And maybe when there are no more organized religions promoting the idea that women are inherently bad, impure, wayward, sinful, weak-minded etc. unless “taken in hand” by strong and righteous men (and not just during their periods) we will be appreciated.
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@marybeth Orthodox Jews do not practice isolating girls, keeping them out of school, and making them sleep outdoors during their periods. The restriction is on husbands and wives having sex during the woman's period. Husbands and wives don't touch during that time, not because the woman is "unclean" but because of temptation that touching will lead to sex, which isn't allowed. Orthodox Jewish women who are having their periods sleep in their own beds, eat meals with their families, go to work, and go to school. There are no restrictions at all on girls. Going to the mikvah is a ritual specifically for married women before resuming sex with their husbands - it has nothing to do with "purifying" women or girls. This has absolutely nothing in common with what these Nepalese girls and women are subjected to.
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Interesting article, but I wish it had gone further. What are these girls doing to end the stigma? Have they been successful, or are they getting pushback? I want to know more.
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I don't know how it would work in Nepal. Some time ago, I read of an intervention to decrease poor health behavior in a part of Africa (it was either about HIV prevention or sexual assault). The healthcare workers had tried all types of interventions. What finally worked was talking with the religious leaders in the area, who, thankfully, were rational people who cared about their community. The leaders came up with a decree compatible with their religious practices and materials. Within a year of so, rates of the behavior dropped drastically. Because people believed their leaders. I'm sure you can find this example if you ask around -- it might even have been written about in the NY Times. Fixes column? Sorry my brain doesn't remember the details.
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@ms
Sorry, but did you say "rational religious leaders"? Have you met any of these unicorns?
Thank you all for this piece on menstruation and young women around the world. Thank you for your effort to change these girls lives.
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Thank you for the brave article.
Today is International Women's Day -- which I find sad (reason below)
When is International angry white male day? Oh, they don't need one, because every day is their day.
When women are truly respected, compensated and heard as equals, we don't need to carve out a calendar day to celebrate
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Right—but until then, we do need this day!
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Perfect post.
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Days for Girls is an international organization devoted to providing health education and reusable menstrual hygiene products to girls and women who have no means of managing their periods. Nepal is one of the countries they are working in, and making some strides in ending the practice discussed in this article.
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These are brave girls, to speak out like this. Such bravery is what changes the world.
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It's in the Bible too, but everyone conveniently forgets those parts.
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@Chris Hinricher thanks for the reminder.
Also in the category of "severely outdated rules," check out Leviticus 15:16. Or, for that matter, Ephesians 6:5.
It's time for modern humans to drop religious rules that actively harm both children and adults of all genders.
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Lots of things are in the Bible that are no longer practiced.
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@Chris Hinricher ... it's not "convenience" that causes us to forget those parts. It's education, common sense, and throwing off absurd superstitions of the long-ago past.
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