Indian families and Indian society might be reluctant to address the topic of menstruation, but everything—from mass-media advertisements to whispered conversations with your mother—seems to agree that menstruation is a matter for women. In some ways, menstruation demarcates the boundaries of womanhood: despite the menstruation stigma in India, many Indian cultures mark the onset of menarche with public celebration. It is important to incorporate gender inclusivity in period education in India, and we’ll address some of the issues surrounding the topic, as well as ways to make people of all genders feel respected and represented in period-ic conversations.
Why We Need to Broaden Our Horizons
Gender inclusivity in menstruation can be confusing for many people, because of how deeply we connect it with femininity. But the thing is, not all women menstruate and not everyone who menstruates is a woman. Transwomen do not menstruate, while transmen may continue to do so despite HRT until and unless they undergo metoidioplasty; intersex and nonbinary people assigned female at birth may menstruate as well. A significant minority of people who menstruate, therefore, are excluded from conversations about menstrual hygiene management in India when these conversations revolve solely around ideas of femininity and womanhood. In some cases, their menstrual cycles might be used to invalidate their gender identity. Spriha Society is dedicated to the cause of period education in India, and embracing gender equality in menstruation is an integral part of that.
Understanding Menstruators and Their Experiences
Menstruation is the biological process during which the uterine lining is shed through the vagina: it does not consider individual gender identity or even chromosomal or anatomic configurations other than the presence of a functioning uterus and ovaries. As such, people socially perceived and identifying as women may not menstruate—whether due to the absence of uterine/ovarian tissue or hormonal imbalances—while those who identify and are perceived as men, or as nonbinary may well do so. Most people with regular menstrual cycles undergo the process every month (some have longer cycles of five rather than three weeks) and many people with periods experience a great deal of pain and discomfort during their menses. Menstrual stigma in India combines disastrously with period poverty and regularly causes menstruators to turn to unhygienic methods of menstrual management. The harm caused by the use of inadequate menstrual products is beginning to be widely known, but cheap, sustainable, alternatives are yet to be found.
The experience of menstruation differs—often greatly—from individual to individual, as well as for individuals over the years from menarche to menopause. Diet, lifestyle, overall health, and several other factors play a significant role in the menstrual experience, as they variously affect the duration, intensity of periods and associated pain and exhaustion. The social norms surrounding menstruation often enforce secrecy, leaving menstruators with no choice but to grin and bear it.
Gender (In)Justice in Period Talk
For people who are not conventionally expected to menstruate, the veil of secrecy is far more impenetrable. Puberty and menarche are complex and often physically and emotionally taxing for adolescents, as menstruation continues to be even for many adults; one of the few sources of relief and camaraderie for cis-women is the company of others undergoing the same experiences. Spriha Society conducts workshops about period education in schools and colleges in India, and the students, even when initially nervous or hesitant in discussing such taboo topics, feel reassured because of the commonality of their exhaustion and exhilaration.
This sisterhood (or perhaps cis-terhood) of women is not extended to AFAB and intersex menstruators who do not identify and are not identified as women, except in cases when the incidence of menstruation is coercively essentialized as evidence of femininity. If we as a society assume that only women menstruate, marginalized individuals will be forced to invalidate their own gender identities in order to avail the scant resources for menstrual hygiene management in India. On an institutional level, trans, intersex, and nonbinary students and workers will be excluded from menstrual accommodations: whether free/subsidized supplies or leaves; they might find it very difficult to access gynecological diagnosis and treatment. On an administrative and systemic level, they will be excluded from menstrual health drives like the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS) initiated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Making conversations about menstrual hygiene management gender inclusive will not immediately cause changes on an individual, institutional, or administrative level, but it will prepare the ground for such changes. It will, however, allow trans, intersex, and nonbinary menstruators to partake in such conversations without having to either invalidate their own identities or continuously justify their presence.
Making Menstruation Gender-Inclusive
Menstruation is a taboo topic in India, and as with most taboo topics it is addressed through euphemisms. Menstrual cycles become womanly problems, menstrual health a matter of feminine hygiene, an adolescent who has attained menarche ‘becomes a woman’: these delicate deflections are socially ingrained. Social strictures and stereotypes accompany menstruation: impurity, instability, and weakness of body and mind are all attributed to menstruators, who are all assumed to be women. It is difficult to sidestep this conversational convention, but it is very important to try and try again to use gender-inclusive language when discussing menstruation.
The easiest way to do this is also the one that is most likely to cause embarrassment: we need to stop using woman as a metonym for menstruator, and instead address the process in its biological specificity. A good start is to discuss—as this post does—menstruators or people with periods, rather than women or girls; another is to stop using the terms ‘feminine hygiene products’ and instead name the specific product or use the umbrella term of menstrual products or period products. It is also important to differentiate between organs and identities: simply saying the vagina/uterus/ovaries instead of attributing these to feminine biology and identity can make a lot of difference.
Wombs are not Women
The veil of secrecy around menstruation is harmful: to menstruators and to society at large. In conflating menstruation with femininity, we also reduce femininity to menstruation and the reproductive ability it signifies. Gender equality and inclusivity in menstruation and social norms in India will benefit not simply menstruators who do not identify as women, but also women who do not menstruate and who are therefore often excluded from conversations about not just menstruation but femininity. Womanhood does not proceed from the womb, biologically or etymologically, and acknowledging that must be our way forward.
SUPPORT US in promoting gender inclusivity
Join us in promoting menstrual awareness and equity! At Spriha Society, we believe that access to menstrual products and education should be gender inclusive. Visit our website at www.sprihasociety.org to learn more about our mission and how you can get involved in creating a more equitable future. Together, we can break down barriers and ensure that everyone has access to the menstrual products and education they need. Join the Spriha Society community today!