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Ever been to the sanitary pad section at a store and felt weird gazes set on you along with sneers and snickering? Even male workers scanning the items at the checkout counter give your weird glances as if you are buying porn. Nobody does that when they see a man buying his underwear or roaming around shirtless because sharam is considered a female-only trait, I guess.

Frankly, it’s not even about being modest. It’s about the disgusting mentality of our society where a woman is unable to buy sanitary napkins which can contain or absorb the blood that is mercilessly flowing out of her private parts. It is a rather known fact that females have to go through a monthly bodily function which is not something we chose to opt for.

Even in the 21st century, menstruation is an awkward topic to discuss. Pads are still wrapped in a newspaper or black polythene bag when purchased, tampons are evil agents of satan invented to take away your virginity, also men in the house are prohibited to know that a female around them has hit puberty so that they continue being ill-informed and ignorant about her suffering. And God saves us from the time when we literally smuggle pads to the loo without anyone else noticing it, more like pulling off a heist.

So ridiculous that suffering from cramps or PMS is called a stomachache because of hush. Ever imagine the plight of working women getting no menstrual leave and may have to sit for unimaginable hours during work days? Imagine her having painful periods but still pretend that everything’s fine. It is obviously a recipe for disaster, but females go through this plight because they are told that talking about it is preposterous.

It’s puzzling that even women don’t talk about it with each other. Menstrual hygiene is not even considered important. Because women suffer in silence, people don’t pay much heed. Then comes the moral brigade chanting to hide it and stay low. They don’t even have any good reason except that it’s not decent or respectful to talk about it openly. Girls living in such households often clung on to the words of announcers on TV selling period products or browse internet trying to figure out how to hide it best.

My question to them is, why hide it? None of us love to bear a scarlet tsunami every month for like forty years or even more. Also, we don’t go by climbing mountains and dancing our way out to the streets as depicted in those unrealistic period advertisements. Saying that your time of the month is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. But what we witness is a total opposite. Even the companies have introduced quiet wrapping so that nobody can hear you open it and simple product designs to cover up the fact that you are using a sanitary item. From showing menstrual blood as a blue liquid in advertisements to the way menstruating women are treated, the stigma associated with periods is long-standing and deep.

Most striking are myths and superstitions concerning menstrual blood and menstrual hygiene. Fact is that in this age of the internet, men feel ashamed to educate themselves about it because of our patriarchal society and discussing menses in a mixed company is considered a shame already.

Having an open discussion about periods doesn’t mean that women would march around streets waving tampons, it means to actually remove the stigma associated with it and stop period shaming. Women should start embracing their bodies and feel comfortable with all their bodily functions. The same goes for men who should stop what they call ‘harmless teasing’ directed towards menstruating women. It would be great if we could catch up to menstrual liberation as a nation soon.