How bizarre it feels when, one day, you wake up and realize that you are no more a girl. You are a woman now. Yes, you start menstruating and the world seems buoyant of you becoming a woman. But, then, it also tells you to keep it a secret from others. They tell you to wrap your sanitary napkins in a newspaper or a black poly bag. But, a day before, they were paying you homage for the same thing. So, Why is there such confusion amongst people regarding our system of biology? Is it a bad thing? Isn’t it just a thing of natural living of a woman?
Well, the world never fails to mystify us in any way. The stereotype exists in every corner of the mankind. Even a thing like menstruation is committed to some kind of stereotypes. The orthodox intrusive view of this biology is that it is ‘impure’. This biology which succour a woman to implant a life inside her womb is considered dirty and profane. It seems that the world itself is pretty confused .It celebrates your onset of womanhood and then hides it. Dear would , can you not have one straight opinion ?
Saloni Chopra, the MTV ‘Girls on Top‘ fame actress has been in news from a while now for strong opinions and her feminist’s views. It is amazing how she has always been so vocal about her strongholds and never shy away from formulating it in front of her fans. In a post, Chopra writes :
“That’s right, it’s just blood. Y’know who gave it more importance than it needs? You. You who celebrated my very 1st menstrual cycle.. said it made me a woman. Then you told me to never discuss it publicly. First, you made me feel proud of becoming, then you made me feel there was something wrong with me. You told me I couldn’t visit holy places.
You conditioned me to love cooking, but you wouldn’t let me, that day. You yelled when I lit the Diya in the mandir that morning. The kids at school laughed at me & my friends didn’t sit next to me, bcos my blue skirt was red. I ate my lunch alone, crying in the washroom. I wasn’t very proud of being a girl that day. Then I grew older & I met boys.. boys that liked me. boys that knew nothing about periods but got disgusted every time a pad fell out of my bag. I couldn’t fathom that women raised such men. My girlfriends always whispered about it.. were they ashamed? My colleagues thought I was being a bitch bcos I was “PMSing” – my boss thought that was just my lame excuse to take a day off. I guess his penis never bled, he didn’t know what it felt like to have his hormones go on a rollercoaster ride every month, yet all they could grasp from it was that period were “yuck” & girls act “crazy” on them. I’m not mad at you cos I’m on my period, I’m mad at you for the ignorant moron you are. You think I’m overreacting when I speak about inequality, then you cringe at the idea of vaginal blood.
You think it’s impure. From you who gave birth to me, to you that wants to marry me, listen carefully – there is nothing about me that is “impure” every month. I’m not the creation of the devil. I’ll have as many conversations about my menstrual cycle as I please, I will cook as many meals as I like & enter as many places of worship as I want to. For those 5 days, maybe you should keep your impure selves out of my kitchen, my temple, my work place & come back when you’re ready to accept my body. I will never, ever accept my tampons wrapped in a newspaper again – there’s a lot more dirt printed in that than a woman’s body could ever produce. And if you try to hush-hush me, I’ll only scream louder. Sincerely, Every. Damn. Girl.”
Well done Saloni. You said everything we were always wanting to say from ever. Thank you for talking about this taboo so fiercely. Hope people get this vibe soon.