Kozhikode: A group of youngsters gathered on Kozhikode beach on Wednesday evening to speak out loud about the menstrual cycles and shed taboos.
Volunteers of Red Cycle and Stories Revolutionary shared stories on periods, cramps, premenstrual syndrome, premarital sex and sexuality spectrum along with the vibrant rhythm of music among 35 people.
'Red Cycle' is a collective which engages in menstruation awareness and 'Story Revolutionary' hosts storytelling and slams poetry programmes among youngsters.
"First, we need to unlearn the things we have learned so far in order to learn new things. We should not objectify individuals, as a woman is casually shamed as charakku", said Shibili Suhanah, a volunteer.
"Periods, in today's context, is not just a woman's concern rather a socio-political-economic-environmental issue."
"It even led to deaths, as in the case of Gaja cyclone", he pointed out.
A girl in Chennai who was forced to sleep outside during her first periods had flown away in the winds and died.
"People hesitate to use the word "periods" instead use other terms due to the stigma. The normal biological process is hyperbolically viewed as impurity", said Aparna S. Nair.
"I assumed that I had a vaginal injury during my first periods as I was not educated regarding it."
"Exchanging pads among girls during school days needed the dexterity of drug dealing,'' she said, adding that false information like getting pregnant from the gaze of a man ruled over her entire childhood.
"Woman normally hesitates to speak about or seek help during periods. We seldom know about it, and from peer pressure, we often get misled, wondering why women don't enter the temple during periods. We need to talk about and normalise it", said Mubarak Vazhkkad.
"Men rarely gains the right information as nobody tells them and advertisements propagate false information like the period blood is blue, using a pad would help one to sleep, swim or run properly during periods. Normally, menarche is taught to be a sign of motherhood, while not all women who bleed become a mother. Moreover, some of intersex people and transmen bleed" added Suhanah.
