PERIOD- END OF SENTENCE

‘Periods.’ After hearing this word the whole classroom erupted into a fit of silent giggles and uncomfortable shuffling.  With my laptop perched on my stomach I watched the young girls hiding with embarrassment on the screen.

Amidst this global pandemic I’ve resolved to movies as my solution to keep myself sane. As I was browsing through Netflix I found a documentary called ‘Period. End of sentence’ (Can you keep a secret? I didn’t pay for the account). Already bored out of my mind I clicked on play and the story began.

‘Period end of sentence’ is the first ever documentary on menstrual hygiene to win an Oscar.

Based on a village in Hapur district of India the documentary explores the social stigma revolving around menstruation. The first half of the movie portrays how people in the village are unaware about menstruation let alone menstrual hygiene. With the use of unhygienic rags many girls and women were prevented from attending school and performing their normal household chores. Many women live hating their bodies because they consider menstruation as a punishment for sin. What is their sin? Nobody can really answer that question.

With the help of a simple and inexpensive machine made by Arunachalam Muruganantham (the real Padman) the women learn about the procedures to manufacture sanitary napkins. Looking at the wondrous equipment before them, the women are nervous yet excited to learn more about pads. They pave their way towards independence as they earn their first ever salary by working in the factory.

We think that finally we have been able to mend the rift between men and women but every month women are treated as untouchable and why- because they are impure. They can’t enter temples as according to bald, old men that could make the gods very angry. To quote a line from the movie: “Why can’t we enter the temples? The goddess herself is a woman, wouldn’t she bleed too?” In one scene of the documentary some men were asked about periods and they replied, “It’s a disease women suffer from.” How can we succeed in improving the menstrual hygiene of women when half of the men population isn’t even aware about what menstruation is? We need the participation of both men and women if we want to omit the taboo regarding this matter.

I still remember the first time we were taught about periods in school. Our teacher had a red face while many were jeering at the back. While going to the grocery to buy sanitary napkins the shopkeeper covers the packet with newspapers and then a plastic. Obviously that is necessary, I’m buying something worse than marijuana.

I definitely recommend this documentary to everyone. Take my word for it; your 25 minutes will not go wasted. It is high time for everyone to be aware about this biological phenomenon. We need to eradicate this social stigma from its roots. It is disgraceful to even think that menstruation is a sin as you are born because of the blood that your mother bled out every month. So the next time you treat a menstruating woman as untouchable, think again!

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MY GUIDE TO GLIDE | Written by Suyasha Sharma | Offline Thinker

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