In her growing up years, a girl learns to mention ‘it’ in hushed tones. ‘It’ is perhaps a topic only a girls’ circle can decode and decipher. Blood gets attributed with the dirtiest of definitions as it oozes out of her vagina. She literally lives the life of an ostracised in ‘those days’. Many a time making girls wonder why so much hoopla over the reddish fluid that courses through everyone’s body! Things are in for a change. For the first time in Kerala, the stigmatised condition of womanhood is out in the open. Menstruation graduates from silence to celebration live on Manaveeyam Veedhi in Thiruvananthapuram on International Women’s Day. ‘Celebrate Menstruation’ is a first-of-its-kind community-level festival celebrated on a street.
The Red Cycle, the main host, is taking the lessons of menstrual health and awareness out of the precincts of four walls. Founder Arjun Unnikrishnan, a Malayali law-student in Mysore, talks about the health, environmental, societal and business aspects behind the initiative. “The target is two-pronged. Firstly, the fest provides alternative products on menstrual hygiene a platform. People are not to be blamed for their unawareness. The second aspect is to make them aware. The environmental issues are grown into larger proportions. Our waste management mechanisms are in doldrums. It is learnt that disposal of sanitary waste rests with the companies that manufacture those products, which really doesn’t happen,” explains Arjun. The event also marks fortifying Red Cycle’s community level interventions and fund-raising aspects.
He strongly feels women are misleadingly carried away by ads. “Cloth napkin is a highly recommended alternative that can be reused and recycled with no plastic content in it. There is a fear psychosis surrounding inserting foreign substances like tampons and menstrual cups. Red Cycle has a WhatsApp group with a dynamic mix of girls, boys, women and men where these matters are widely discussed. Also we have been carrying out college level awareness sessions for boys and girls,” he says. Under the collective called Sustainable Menstruation Kerala, organisations like Red Cycle, Haiku, Happy To Bleed campaign, Thanal Trust and other art collectives come under one roof. The day-long event has stalls with alternative menstrual hygiene products on display, interactive sessions with menstrual hygiene educators and activists, exhibition of art installations, live skit, documentary screening and panel discussion.
A still from the documentary Womenses
An out-of-the-box initiative is earning applause from society. “Since I marked myself ‘going’ for event on the Facebook page, I have been receiving immense support from my friends. They have started discussing the event. It is a wonderful feel to see the shhh.. shhh.. thing getting a title and celebrated in public. As an event-goer, I anticipate something concrete to emerge out of it like things that can be put into practice rather than sheer talk and show,” feels Aswani Dravid, research scholar and media person from Thiruvananthapuram. ‘Happy to Bleed’ campaigner Nikita Azad based in Jalandhar is coming down to the city to share a few insights into the state of affairs.
“The campaign is not to speak volumes about the menstrual taboo or the widely discussed entry of women into temples. The larger thought is menstrual health. We need to look at things like how it is associated with women’s health so that the government takes notice and acts. The intention is to make a statement. Back in Punjab, we are doing a school-to-school campaign,” says Nikita. She’ll be guest at a panel discussion on the day. Filmmaker Unnikrishnan Avala has just deployed his four-and-a-half years of research to wipe out the menstrual taboo. His documentary Womenses released in January delves into this aspect.
“Those years, we documented the erstwhile ‘Thulunadu’ stretching from Kozhikode to Mangalapuram where the Theyyam ritual has been dominant. The film examines how and why women got categorised as mere spectators in rituals, questions why she became untouchable and being shooed away from being active partakers of rituals and ceremonies. Man is free to tweak the codes of tradition to his convenience while women are being locked into its confines. Womenses checks how women fought to reclaim their rights to perform the ritualistic art form of Theyyam and participation in Kaliyattom,” the director says. The documentary is up for screening at the event.
