From Sustainable Menstruator To Menstrual Educator: What I Learnt Beyond Just ‘Hygiene’

When we discuss menstruation, we talk of ‘managing’ it or the need for menstrual hygiene. While these are important, we need to understand menstruation in a more inclusive manner. 

In 2015, I underwent a laparoscopic surgery for an enlarged ovarian cyst. While I recovered from the surgery, I frequently contracted rashes and urinary tract infections.

Initially, my doctor chalked it up to my low levels of immunity as an after effect of surgery. Over time, I recovered from the surgery but had to frequently deal with infections and rashes. Medically, female bodies are more susceptible to contracting UTIs and I have known female friends who contracted infections from time to time. Mine however were more recurrent and frequent than the normal.

The need to switch to more sustainable options

My ordeal continued for three years. In the meanwhile, I started reading about the need to make a switch to more sustainable consumption and living, and finally in 2018, I made the switch to a menstrual cup. The switch to a menstrual cup meant easy, hassle-free periods and something else – my stubborn rashes, itchiness and UTIs were suddenly a thing of the past. I am happy to report that I haven’t seen them since.

So, this was my story.  There are millions like me who get these rashes, infections or irritations but are unaware of the reasons causing them. Disposable sanitary napkins! Yes! the excess amount of carcinogenic, acetonic chemicals was the reason why my vagina and urethra were always angry. I decided that no one else should suffer like I did. This is how I initiated my journey into the domain of sexual and reproductive health.

Initially I started creating social media videos to explain the process of using the cup. I experimented with washable cloth pads and decided to raise awareness about these products among my peers and colleagues.  Soon, Boondh (an organization based out of Bangalore working towards menstrual health and producing menstrual cups) and Ecofemme (a social enterprise working out of Auroville towards menstruation and production of cloth pads) lent their support in my quest for spreading awareness about sustainable menstruation.

Over time, I reached out to other non-profit organizations in Kolkata to take forward this awareness building through sessions and workshops with young girls, women and organization staff as well.

Never miss real stories from India's women.

Register Now

Talking of menstruation – beyond hygiene

In the process, I have had a few realisations:

Most narratives around menstruation are restricted to ‘managing’ it and/or the need to maintain hygiene around the time of menstruation. While these are important narrative points, they are narrow in outlook. We need to broaden the narrative and ask more inclusive and introspecting questions like – How can we understand menstruation in its totality? Acknowledging nature’s creativity, we need to move beyond and talk about the mental effects of the menstrual cycle.

And then there is the other conversation – that of gender inclusivity. We need to acknowledge that not all menstruators are women and their struggle to deal with menstruation in an already taboo-ridden society creates a double burden.

Our conversations on sustainable menstruation have to be woven around narratives of intersectionality of gender, sexuality, mental health, feminism, queer movements

Fortunately, these conversations are slowly gaining prominence. Recently I got to be part of a fellowship under the Gender and Sexuality Lab offered by Orikalankini and Nazariya. Here I am continuously being exposed to conversations and narratives that addressed questions on sustainable menstruation in the most inclusive manner. These conversations are in no way mainstream and remain limited to these few organizations. Sustainability in our lives, bodies and environment cannot be ever complete without considering the narratives around all of them.

I have discovered that sustainable menstruation brings people one closer to their own bodies. For e.g. the use of a menstrual cup or cloth pads help one establish a more synergetic relationship with their menstrual blood (which they are otherwise taught as being impure of dirty) and enables to connect back to the bodies which has been a common part of many ancient cultures. Sustainable menstruation teaches us the importance of reading the patterns in our physiologies and mental state (psychologies?) which then enables a menstruator to connect back to the environment as well.

With the advent of commercially produced disposable sanitary napkins (DSNs), we have been continuously bombarded with ideas/beliefs like menstrual fluid is dirty, vaginas and menstrual fluid should always be smelling flowery, we cover up the natural fragrance of blood with scented DSNs, the only hygienic way to handling menstruation is to use a chemical ridden DSN.

One way for me to understand why DSN became so popular, may have been because it is a product that absorbs the ‘dirty’ or ‘unwanted’ blood but also can be immediately ‘thrown away’ so that one does not have to see, feel, smell or touch the blood – the same blood and mucus which is necessary in creating another life in the womb.

It is a symbolic expression of consumerism in the guise of ‘hygiene management’ and/or ‘waste management’ where anything that does not please the patriarchal perception or standards of aesthetics, can be and should be immediately thrown away discreetly and fresh pack of products can be consumed/used to continue the cycle. I often find it similar to how we treat out daily waste.

Hence, menstruation has to be understood in all its entirety.  I am trying to incorporate this inclusivity in my workshops for menstruators. The change has to start somewhere, the questions needs to be raised at some point, the perception has to move beyond the realm of just hygiene management.  Otherwise menstruation and sustainability continue to remain alien to one’s body, continuing to feed taboos, shame, guilt, myths and stigma around it.

So, start the conversation and, happy periods!

Comments