Menstrual Health Stigma
“You are acting like it's a big issue”. Women across the world have been taught about the taboos and stigma surrounding periods before they experience what it is like. In regions across the world, women are treated with malice when they are menstruating.
The Menstrual Hut
Have you ever had to be confined in a menstrual hut? In Nepal, 77% of adolescent girls and women practice Chhaupadi, where they are isolated in a menstrual hut during their period. The purpose of this was purely to keep the impurity out of the house. Just because of such impurity, women across the world are confined in these small, dark sheds.
“The women and girls we spoke to were terrified of snakes and animals coming in at night, or of being attacked by strangers,” noted Dr Jennifer Thomson, a researcher from the Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies. “In addition, if they did not have access to a chhau hut, or if it had been damaged or destroyed, we heard anecdotal evidence that women were often forced to sleep outside, open to the elements, or with animals.”
Now, this has been banned by the government, but that tradition was only deemed a crime 8 years ago. A practice that has existed for over hundreds to thousands of years was only criminalized in one country 8 years ago. There are still many regions of girls and women who have to face mistreatment due to a natural, uncontrollable cycle.
The Stigma
In many religions, menstruation is often seen as bad luck, a curse brought by women. It can be understandable, given the nature of uncontrollable bleeding for a couple of days on an irregular schedule, but it is actively impacting the human rights and health of women. So, when the new generation is passed down these beliefs, the stigma deepens.
The fact that we still live in a world with so many people who are afraid to do something so simple as to like or share a post on menstrual health is a big issue. In a world that is so passionate about free speech, freedom, human rights, and more, we should also break down the stigma surrounding something so simple: menstruation.
“Menstruation stigma is a form of misogyny. Negative taboos condition us to understand menstrual function as something to be hidden, something shameful. And by not naming a thing, we reinforce the idea that the thing should not be named”(HelloClue).
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Druet, Anna. “How Did Menstruation Become Taboo?” Clue, 22 May 2024, https://helloclue.com/articles/culture/how-did-menstruation-become-taboo
Guterman, Mark A., et al. “Menstrual Taboos Among Major Religions.” The Internet Journal of World Health and Societal Politics, vol. 5, no. 2, 31 Dec. 2007, https://ispub.com/ijwh/5/2/8213
Syed Abdullah, Sharifah Zahhura, 36574445. “Menstrual Food Restrictions and Taboos: A Qualitative Study on Rural, Resettlement and Urban Indigenous Temiar of Malaysia.” PloS One, 27 Dec. 2022, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36574445/
“Women in Nepal Still Forced to Sleep Outside in ‘Menstruation Huts’ despite Practice Being Banned.” Uniofbath, 2019, https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/women-in-nepal-still-forced-to-sleep-outside-in-menstruation-huts-despite-practice-being-banned/
This was so well written and wow I cannot believe people are so ashamed of the woman body that they would force them out of the house!! Genuinely breaks my heart!!