How Does My Menstruation Make Me So Impure That I Can’t Even Go Close To God?

If creating a life is the ultimate power that a female has, why am I made to feel dirty every month? Why am I made to hide my menstruation?

Dear diary,

I don’t get it – how do we become so impure to even go close to any of God’s belongings? Aren’t we all the children of God? What kind of people stop their own child from going near their own parents? Especially, in this case, the ultimate parent – God!

Why would God make me impure?

Now I have a simple yet innocent question that I guess every 14-15-year old girl has once she’s reached menarche. Why would the Almighty God create anything impure at all? And why would any parent make their child impure even for a second? Why would God restrain us from praying?

What does it really mean to be pure? Should a person who begs on the streets, who has no facilities at all, be allowed to pray because he’s too dirty to worship the Almighty? Now, many of you will say that praying to God has no relevance to the state or appearance of a body. That is the soul that needs to be clean, not the body. Then, why am I, as a girl, told to stay out of temples or forbidden from going near the Quran?

Okay, for the sake of arguments, let’s believe, for a moment, that a girl is impure during her periods. The blood is what makes the girl impure, right?

If it is the source of strength, can it really be dirty?

Now, if I am right, there’s no denying the fact that every child born, irrespective of gender comes into the world swathed in blood. Then why are men free to worship whenever they want but the one responsible for their mere existence has to think twice?

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I am not questioning the existence of God, I am just questioning the relevance of the norms we’ve set in the name of God. Let’s talk specifics – in some cultures, a menstruating woman is considered sacred and powerful. They believe, she has increased psychic abilities and is strong enough to heal the sick.

According to the Cherokee beliefs, menstrual blood was the source of feminine strength and had the power to destroy enemies. Menstrual blood is also viewed as dangerous to men’s power. So, is restraining women from performing certain chores, a way to let men stay powerful?

How can anything holding the ultimate power be impure?

All of you will agree on worshipping Goddesses, right? And that a Goddess is a female deity, right? Now if we think logically, a goddess too has to go through the menstruation cycle. So this should mean that she also becomes impure every month. Then, why don’t we have a fixed number of days every month when we are forbidden from worshipping the Goddess?

At the same time, we consider our daughters an image of the Goddess but there’s a limit to that too! Girls are considered and worshipped as Goddesses only till her first menarche. Because once she has the ability to create a life, she becomes impure, doesn’t she?

If creating a life is the ultimate power that a female has, then why am I forced to feel dirty every month? Why am I told that menstruation should be kept hidden? And why am I made to believe that menstruation is embarrassing?

Picture credits: YouTube

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