Be Period Positive!

They ended their speech with this line: Be period positive. They spoke about an initiative that is not talked about easily because it’s a taboo. You are not supposed to discuss the subject in the open. Especially in the presence of men, be it anybody—father, brother or any other person.

Aditi Gupta and Tuhin Paul were introduced by the Emcee in the second session of #TedxBangalore on August 3, 2014 as the couple who is working as a team on a delicate subject. It’s about that difficult time of the month that a girl cannot explain easily to anyone and her mother is known to tell her, every girl has to go through this phase. You are not alone in this case!

Maybe we girls are not alone. Maybe the girl sitting next to you is going through the same problem, but why is it so difficult to discuss it in the open? Everyone knows about it. It is not that secretive a matter like an invention of a rocket. Aditi, in her speech, spoke about the problems that she had to go through in her early days of menstruation wherein she was not allowed to talk about it with her father and brother, not speak with the relatives or worship Gods and follow many such instructions. Almost all of us are asked to follow the same rules, except in a few cases where the men in the family are supportive enough to understand your problem. I never had a problem talking about this with my Dad because he was simply my father who needed to hear out his daughter. My Mom never told me don’t let people know about it but yes, it is a subject that you should not discuss too often. It’s something that happens to girls and boys know about it too. They don’t come and tell you if something related to their health happens. You definitely have a lot many interesting things to talk about other than this. Oh yes, we do!

However, the idea generates a sense of embarrassment when you even step out to buy the packet in the presence of men in a pharmacy shop, but not that much when you pick it up from the local supermarket. Men generally do not linger around that area, so it’s easier to pick it up from there. But in the pharmacy shop, it's not that easy. Initially, when I had started shopping for myself, asking for the packet used to be difficult. I was shy because the pharmacists were men and the people around were too. But, when the realisation dawned upon me that it’s a necessity and there is absolutely nothing to be shy about, walking up to the pharmacy and asking for my preferred choice of sanitary napkins was much easier.

It is nothing new or innovative that is happening with us girls, but it is exclusive to us. Making it sound like a dirty thing doesn’t really help because it is an integral part of being a woman. I would personally like to applaud the idea and efforts of Menstrupedia couple for bringing it in the public in such a creative manner and I hope, their efforts help in transforming the shyness into a positive confidence in the young girls and feel good about themselves.

Learn more about the concept here.