“I got my first period at the age of 12 and I was told to keep it a secret from everyone - my father and brothers included. From there on, during those 7 days I was considered impure - I couldn’t enter the kitchen, or sit on the sofas and of course…no entry into a place of religion. My teachers in school would blow over this part of biology and ask us to go through it on our own. I used a cloth (which I washed and rewashed and hid in a damp corner when I wasn’t menstruating),because it was considered ‘shameful’ to ask a chemist for sanitary napkins in a small town like mine. Ironically, most of the time- these restrictions are imposed by the older women in our families. I grew up being ashamed of my body, considering it impure and dirty during periods.
It was only after I went to boarding school and met my husband that I could discuss my period in the open. He was shocked to know about the restrictions imposed upon girls when they are on their periods. That's when we started Menstrupedia - a comic strip that teaches young girls about menstruation and any problems they might have, because there are so many girls today who are still kept in the dark about menstruation. My question is…why are made to hide what shouldn’t be hidden and why isn’t enough respect given to the fact that it is because of a woman’s period that life itself exists?
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