Periods Being ‘Impure’ In India and the Stigma Behind It

In India, there are many social taboos about the menstruation cycle a woman goes through. It affects all areas of her life: where she sleeps, her rituals of worship, and other restrictions. The Bollywood film Pad Man does a great job highlighting just how much this topic is tiptoed around and has much shame around it. 

Fortunately, times have changed and what used to be a place with scarce sanitary options for a woman’s cycle has now become abundant with it. This is not to say that places with extreme poverty are thriving because there is still a shortage or lack of access to these options in such places. There are also older parts of India that still live by the outdated ways of life that consist of the woman sleeping and eating outside the house while on her menstrual cycle and not stepping into places of worship because she is considered ‘impure’ during this time.

India as a country has come so far as to try not to live by these outlandish ways of life. As a 17-year-old, I was only exposed to these social taboos about a month ago. Because society has become more open to talking about these sorts of topics, I have never felt ashamed of having my period or felt like I couldn’t say anything about it. 

I encourage all to stay curious about our history as women, Indians, both, or just a curious person who belongs to none of those categories. Being knowledgeable about the ways of life and how it has evolved is vital to knowing how we can continue to better our society and make naturally occurring instances have less stigma around it worldwide.

Written by Aayna Bhatheja