Bleed Without Boundary

 

“When she bleeds the smells I know change color. There is iron in her soul on those days. She smells like a gun.”

While trying to decode Jeanette Winterson in the above mentioned excerpt from ‘Written over the Body’, it struck me out of nowhere how bleeding matters to the people who do not bleed or who do bleed, totally unaware of the facts they must be introduced to. This was the time when I decided to take this topic of concern as my first ever blog post.

Menstruation. Even talking about it openly is considered to be a taboo in our society. And if a grandma-next-door happens to read this blog by any means, I do hold a chance of being boycotted from her ‘cultured’ society. Menstruation is a biological phenomenon of periodic discharge of blood mixed with mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through vagina in females of humans and other primates. Technically speaking, the functional layer of the membrane that stores nutrition and healthy blood, providing an optimum environment for the implantation and growth of embryo, die. Hence, the dead tissue along with the blood is shed during menstruation. In plain terms, some kind of waste from the female body is expelled out through the vaginal opening. So basically, menstruating is no different than urinating, if we neglect the fact that it occurs periodically in a span of 28 days on an average.

The phenomenon although goes in parallel to certain physical and psychological changes in a woman, including cramps, weakness, mood swings, varied behavioral patterns etc. But the factor that kills (not literally, although) most of the women is the long list of taboos that still are prevalent in our modern society. These social stigmas cause a pain greater than the cramps, weakening women mentally, more than the weakness periods could ever give. Here, as you go through the article, you’ll get to see and find the logic behind a few superstitions which I faced or have ever heard of. Although the number of such practices, known or unknown, are a way too many around the globe to be presented and busted in a single post.

1. Women are exempted from places of worship or from performing any religious rituals as they are impure.

   This is the most common customary popularly practised by people, especially in Hinduism and Islam. While researching, I found out there is a huge possibility that this was never a custom, but simply a regular practice. The places of worships are meant to be place of sanctity and cleanliness, whereas during those days, there existed no sanitary napkins or other menstrual management products(MMP). Women were left with no option other than leaves, rags or animal skins, which never guaranteed complete absorption of blood or protection from the flow. Hence, avoiding visit to temples was an option better than cleaning stains every time. This turned out to become a compulsion with the passage of time and no doubt holds no any logic in the present era with a wide range of MMPs. So technically, a bleeding woman would be impure only if urine or stool do come under this category.

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2.  Women can be attacked by sharks if they go for swimming or use much of water. 

   The very initial stage of modern menstruation management involved using multiple layers of cloths (cotton or terrycloth) followed by the hygienic sanitary napkins. Since the cotton cloth or even sanitary napkin are not at all waterproof, women are prevented from swimming so as to keep water bodies clean from the expelled out menstrual blood. It is easier to frighten and make a person do as required by some illogical piece of belief than by making him/her understand the facts that may support our point. Though rationalism is conquering with the changing scenario. [Read also: Sl. No. 4]

3. Women are isolated, not allowed to enter kitchen, cook meals or do other regular household chores. 

   Nobody is novice to know that women undergo a lot of physical pain in form of cramps during their periods. So in order to give them proper rest they were told not to perform any household chores and male members cooked food. People back in past were smart enough to make them stay aloof from any kind of physical labour and hence were given a separate place to stay, which never meant seclusion. This concern has been wrongly interpreted in the present era and has been transformed into a social stigma.

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4. Washing hair during periods is prohibited.

   The blood circulation in our body tend to slow down due to constriction of blood vessels, which leads to an unfit body. This might be the reason for women not washing their hair and not touching water (as discussed in Sl. No. 2) in good old days, as not every home could have afforded running hot or luke warm water to bathe. No any medical research has proven any other health hazard due to washing hair in periods. In fact, many a times, women have found that bathing with luke warm water relieves cramps and let them experience a smooth periods. Hence, even this rule is found to be obsolete. Do as you feel to.

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5. Used pads should be washed and thrown else, ghosts will haunt the women.

   Would you ever throw the cotton you cleaned your wound with anywhere carelessly, or would you bother disposing it off safely? If this counts as the common sense for a blood from any random part of your body then why can’t an extra care be taken in case of the blood mixed with dead cells of your body? Just in order to prevent any chances of infection, pads are told to be washed  before disposal so that maximum blood may be drained. Also, this leaves back less chances for the ragpickers to get infected too. In the modern era, safe disposal methods have minimized the need of washing pads. Its all up to you.

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6. Having sexual intercourse during periods doesn’t lead to pregnancy/ may kill your partner.

   Chapter 2 of Quran-e-pak prohibits sexual relationship while menstruating. There is nothing like the partner dying due to intercourse, but it was prohibited then so as to reduce the risk of being infected by the blood carrying a lot of dead cells and the living bacteria. Although the latest MMPs allow you to have a safe sex since women do get a greater arousal while menstruating. Secondly one can get pregnant even one establishes relationship during periods. Sperm has a life of 3-5 days. Therefore an egg has the chance of being fertilized by the sperm even after the periods end.

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7. Intake or even touching pickles is forbidden.

   Intake of sodium is known to cause water retention in the body. Pickles contain a large amount of salt that generally increases bloating. Hence, it is advisable not to eat pickles during periods, when your body already is tired and drained, preventing further discomfort. By not letting them touch, they meant avoiding pickles. Therefore there is no logic in not touching them. If feeling healthy, you can obviously eat pickles too.

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Menstruation is just another biological process closest to excretion in a human body, to be specific, in a female body. There is nothing to be dogmatic or scared about it. On the contrary, if we really need to think on something, it is the safe and hygienic menstrual management.

Menstrual blood is the only source of blood that is not traumatically induced. Yet in the modern society, is the most hidden blood, the one rarely spoken of and almost never seen, except privately by the women. Not the pain but these societal norms and superstitions make a lot of women think, “Maybe if period pain burned calories, it’d be worth it.” Afterall, yes, weight loss is still the primary concern!