Just the beginning of the challenge

Chanakya Grover

If you are reading this, chances are that you’re already familiar with the movie Padman. You may have even participated in the Padman challenge and if you are a man, you may have also felt good about yourself for supporting what many call a ‘ladies’ problem.

If you did, congratulations! Because, no matter what your beliefs are or your intentions were, you took your first step towards de-stigmatising menstruation — something that’s important for humankind, not just women.

However, it would be prudent for us to realise that it is but a small step towards menstrual awareness, not a movement or a revolution; and certainly not a pan India one because the women who need our support and who need sanitary pads or menstruation cups don’t know about them or can’t afford them. They are not online, not logged onto Twitter, Instagram, are unaware of the fancy Snapchat stories and don’t read newspapers. 

They would certainly benefit more from a one-on-one talk about the issue and a free sample of pads and menstrual cups than with our online posturing. Well-researched, result oriented campaigns educating women and men alike on menstrual hygiene would help more that the synthetic online campaigns.

Nevertheless, it can become a movement; just like the one Arunachalam Muruganantham kicked off almost two decades ago and which is still in motion and picking up steam because of its cost-effective and sustainable model. However, it is too early to predict when and how the mantle assumed by Muruganantham would be carried forward or replicated in this pseudo-revolutionary and increasingly capitalist era we live in. 

Because now that the movie has released and made crores, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that most of the promotions around menstrual health, masquerading as initiatives, will die down rapidly. And we, as individuals or organisations, will be left with the same and the very real problem of tackling the lack of knowledge, religious and cultural dogmas, and financial unaffordability, especially in India’s rural areas.

If we can learn anything from Padman, it is that positive change is possible, even if it takes years of conviction and hard work before one sees any real results. A selfie with a sanitary pad and watching the movie with our families is a good starting point, but it needs to translate into regular conversations and affirmative action on our part. And we don’t need to design a machine like Muruganantham or write, direct or act in a movie to be able to bring about such a change.

We can educate ourselves about menstruation by visiting a doctor or accessing books and online resources. We can initiate a conversation on periods with our mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends and wives and encourage them to share their experiences and concerns and help them wherever we can. We can ask our house-helps if they have access to sanitary pads and cups and educate them and maybe even sponsor their monthly sanitary requirements. We can step out of our homes and actively associate ourselves with organisations that are working in this area. We can normalise menstruation for our children (boys and girls) by educating them about it when they hit puberty. We can stop getting grossed out at the sight of menstrual blood. And we can certainly stop talking about periods in hushed tones and euphemisms.