Menstrual hygiene too and how it effects mental health

Menstrual hygiene too and how it effects mental health: 

Written by volunteer-coordinator Janyl Kenenbaeva 

First of all, let me introduce you what is “Menstrual Hygiene Taboo”

Menstrual hygiene taboos are social and cultural restrictions, beliefs, and practices that surround menstruation and affect the way menstruating individuals are treated and how they manage their menstrual hygiene. These taboos vary widely across different cultures and societies, and they can have significant negative consequences for the physical and emotional well-being of those who menstruate. Some common menstrual hygiene taboos and the reasons behind them include:

Menstruation as Impurity: In many cultures, menstruation is often viewed as impure or dirty. Menstruating individuals may be considered unclean and are sometimes excluded from participating in religious activities, entering certain places, or even cooking during their periods.

Silence and Secrecy: In some societies, menstruation is surrounded by a code of silence. Many individuals are discouraged from talking openly about menstruation, leading to a lack of information and misconceptions.

Restrictions on Activities: In some communities, menstruating individuals are restricted from engaging in certain activities, such as swimming, cooking, or participating in social events, due to the belief that their presence might contaminate these activities.

Isolation: In some cases, people who menstruate are isolated during their periods. They may be required to stay in separate huts or designated areas, away from their families, during their menstrual cycles.

Limited Access to Sanitary Products: In some areas, the lack of access to affordable and safe sanitary products can be a significant issue. This, in turn, can lead to unhygienic practices, such as using old rags or leaves, which can increase the risk of infections.

Stigma and Shame: The shame and stigma associated with menstruation can lead to negative psychological and emotional effects. Menstruating individuals may feel ashamed or embarrassed about their periods, which can affect their self-esteem and overall mental health.

Lack of Education: Due to taboos surrounding menstruation, many individuals receive little or no education about menstrual hygiene, proper sanitary product use, or menstrual health. This can lead to a lack of awareness and can result in harmful practices.

Addressing menstrual hygiene taboos is crucial for promoting gender equality, women's health, and well-being. Efforts are underway in many parts of the world to challenge these taboos and promote open discussions about menstruation. Organizations, activists, and governments are working to provide better education and access to sanitary products, as well as to challenge cultural norms that stigmatize menstruation. Breaking these taboos is essential for improving the lives and health of menstruating individuals and promoting gender equality.

So according to the text in has its own consequences.

The next thing that is going to be talked it is how does it effect on mental health

The societal menstrual hygiene taboos and the stigma surrounding menstruation can have a significant impact on the mental health of individuals who menstruate. Here's how these taboos can affect mental well-being:

Shame and Embarrassment: When menstruation is considered a taboo topic, individuals may feel ashamed or embarrassed about their periods. This can lead to feelings of self-consciousness and a desire to hide their menstrual cycle, even from close family and friends. This secrecy can contribute to a sense of isolation and emotional distress.

 

Low Self-Esteem: Menstrual stigma can erode self-esteem. When individuals are made to feel that a natural bodily function is dirty or impure, they may internalize these negative beliefs and perceive themselves as less valuable or worthy. This can have long-term effects on self-worth and self-confidence.

 

Anxiety and Stress: The fear of leakage or odor, especially in situations where individuals are discouraged from openly addressing menstruation, can lead to heightened anxiety and stress. Worrying about others discovering their period can be a constant source of anxiety, affecting mental health.

 

Social Isolation: In cultures where menstruating individuals are isolated or excluded during their periods, social isolation can be emotionally distressing. This separation from family and community can lead to feelings of loneliness, depression, and a lack of emotional support.

 

Limited Access to Education: Menstrual taboos often result in inadequate education about menstruation. This lack of knowledge can lead to confusion and fear regarding menstrual health and hygiene. Individuals may not know how to properly manage their periods or identify signs of potential health issues, which can lead to increased stress and anxiety.

 

Impact on Academic and Professional Life: For students and professionals, menstrual stigma can disrupt daily routines. The fear of leakage, the need to hide menstrual products, and dealing with pain and discomfort can impact one's ability to concentrate, participate, and excel in academic or workplace environments.

 

Reproductive Health Concerns: In some cases, the fear of discussing menstruation can prevent individuals from seeking medical advice when needed. Ignoring or neglecting reproductive health issues can lead to further mental distress and physical complications.

 

Addressing menstrual hygiene taboos and stigma is essential for promoting good mental health among individuals who menstruate. Education, open dialogue, and breaking the silence around menstruation can help reduce feelings of shame and isolation. Initiatives that provide access to affordable and safe sanitary products, promote menstrual hygiene education, and challenge harmful cultural norms are crucial for improving mental health outcomes and overall well-being for those who menstruate.

To sum up, we need to educate people and comfort girls to make them feel better and not embarrassed.

It will help them to go to school to ask for help they will not feel bad for just human-being .

As a volunteering organization we can say that our main mission is to make people happier and better , so we will do everything that we can do in order to complete our mission by helping and educating world about menstruation

We are “HEEALS” and we are always happy to offer our help to everyone. By donating you can help us make world different .

Email: communications@heeals.org

WhatsApp: +91-7982316660

 

 

Negative Impact of Taboos on Mental Health

Negative Impact of Taboos on Mental Health

By Saniya Islam 

Walking into your house at the ripe age of eight throwing the shiny new ball your friend had just bought you, enamored with how it bounced and tossed up in the air until - Crack! The mirror reflects back at you in its shattered pieces, your mother close behind yelling, “You better wish away the 7 years of bad luck you’ve doomed to yourself,” unleashing anxiety across your body for the next three weeks. 

This is the effect of baseless taboos and superstitions; the issue, however, extends beyond shattered mirrors and knocking on wood. Superstitions are most harmful in the space of periods, an area in which many women and impressionable girls are uneducated. But why? 

Despite their seemingly harmless intention, period taboos are often the only true advice or education that women in underdeveloped countries - like India - receive to guide them through menstrual cycles. This unproven folklore, however, creates fear mongering around periods. 

There are a myriad of superstitions passed around the world that create unnecessary rules for women. In India, for example, there is a superstition that whilst on your period one cannot enter a kitchen or cook for anyone else according to Hello Clue. The consequence of this rumor is that women are taught that they are dirty and disgusting for their period - furthering menstrual health into an unmentionable and disgraceful topic. 

Consequently, the confidence of women is tattered by period myths as is that of young girls. Period superstitions establish a stigma around periods and those who have them. When on one’s period, girls feel ashamed to be in their own bodies because societal taboos tell them to ‘wash your hair’ or ‘not pray’, as though it is an infectious disease rather than a normal bodily function. 

Once disgusted by periods, girls are thereby told to be disgusted with themselves and the body that contributes to such a process. Through low self-esteem comes low-confidence, growing into many mental health issues in the process. 

Women deserve to be reminded that their period is a normal process and one that should not be frowned upon or that they should be judged for. They deserve more than unsupported rumors and hostility toward their bodily functions. Girls deserve not to fear that if they are on their period without a matchbox in their pocket, evil will come to them. They deserve to be educated, to be heard, and to be met with information about their menstrual cycle that will help them manage it and continue with their lives rather than living in isolation and fear constantly. 

By educating women and abolishing these superstitions from their mind, they can live with knowledge and comfort whilst on their period. These are the standards that we should hold menstrual education toward. This is the standard that HEEALS NGO holds itself to when educating young girls on their periods in order to protect them from period anxiety and allow them to reestablish their confidence. By getting rid of period myths, we allow women to accept themselves and their womanhood. To contribute to the cause of revoking rumors and replacing them with facts, donate to HEEALS today. 

 

Sources: 

https://helloclue.com/articles/culture/36-superstitions-about-periods-from-around-world

Be A Part Of Our International Internship /Volunteering/Volunteer travel program At HEEALS Please Contact Us At : communications@heeals.org Please Come Join Us!

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/Heeals/ 

Twitter Page: http://www.twitter.com/heeals 

Instagram: @heealsindia

We Request To All The People To Help and Support Our Work .

Please Donate / Support Us In Anyway You Can. Spread Share Support #HEEALS Donation Details Are Below:

DONATORS LOCATED IN INDIA 

Account Number: 002101200566 Bank: ICICI Address: ICICI, Gurgaon Branch Sco-18 & 19 Sector -14, Huda Shopping Center. Gurgaon -122001 RTGS/NEFT IFSC CODE: ICIC0000021

INTERNATIONAL DONATORS Please email: communications@heeals.org Forward this message to your contacts to help this campaign reach its goal! 

Thank You!

Girls Dropout Because Of Menstrual Hygiene

Many Girls Dropout From Their School Just Because Of Periods .

Taboos related to menstrual hygiene is a major player in Girls dropout from schools. Together we can bring back the Girls in school. Join Our Menstrual Hygiene Project . Whats app : +91-- 7982316660

EDUCATION AMONG BOYS AND GIRLS IN RURAL VILLAGES IN INDIA

“The things that I learned from my grandfather and father, [are more] useful and practical than things which others learn from the school.” 

Those are the words of GunabandiyaUruwarige, Wanniyala-Aetto chief, a Sri Lanka tribe. We think that represent the general condition of rural areas all around India in fact of education.

Even if India is considered to be one of the fastest-growing economy, there is a large amount of extra-urban areas where the situation is much different. India is the second largest country in terms of population and the seventh largest in terms of area, so it is difficult to speak generally about the features and the issues of this country. Furthermore, when it comes to educationthere are many factors about traditional habits that should be seen.

Percent literates by level of education in India 2001

Source: censusindia.gov.in

First of all, there is a huge difference between boys and girls in relation to school attendance. For instance, according to the Literacy Rate 2011 census female literacy levels are 65.46% where the male literacy is over 80%.This is due to religion and cultural reasons and it is a matter of fact that in rural areas girls are not receiving equal access to primary education. But what are the real reasons

that involve children to this habit? We think the main ones are economic and cultural. The villages we are talking about have subsistence economies, often the only source of income and living, based on agriculture. Therefore, it is common for the children to help their parents in working and for girls to staying at home and help with housekeeping. In addition, menstrual period is a serious problem which involves girls attending school. Since it is considered a taboo, girls usually stay home to respect their traditional social customs. Indeed, their family would prefer to “protect” them in any situation, not only during their periods but also in their everyday life. For instance, the child marriage which is very common in rural areas is a form of “protection” by their parents: is the only way they have to protect family honour. Child marriage is also a fact of money of course. It is normal for the girl’s family to provide a dowry, but it the boy’s side of the family can raise the dowry if they suspects he has been in school with boys during puberty. 

What has HEEALS done for education among boys and girls in rural villages in India?

Since 2010 Heeals is strongly concerned in programmes with villages and rural communities about Wash; Menstrual Hygene and Health; Education. Our mission is to deal against taboos that involve fear and insecurity in people and in children above all. One of our major project is “pads for girls” and we strongly think that giving help and health care could change traditional habits about periods and let girls feel free. The Course of Self-defence we are planning is also an important opportunity for girls to reach a physically and mentally security. Furthermore, our workshops and projects are even made for boys, because it is fundamental to include everybody in order to change dangerous habits.

-Nancy

(wash intern)

REFERENCES

https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/ESAG-2018.pdf

http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/literacy_and_level_of_education.aspx

http://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/reports_and_publication/statistical_publication/social_statistics/Chapter_3.pdf

https://www.survivalinternational.org/about/schooling

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/india-to-be-the-fastest-growing-economy-this-year-despite-risks-of-global-slowdown-rbi-governor/articleshow/68867227.cms

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-largest-countries-in-the-world-the-biggest-nations-as-determined-by-total-land-area.html

https://jolkona.org/report-on-girls-education-in-india/

LET ME SAY “MENSTRUATION”. Hygiene education for facing cultural taboos.

Nowadays, our society still finds difficult to tackle the "menstruation" discourse. Although they are natural, cyclical and common in every woman, even today it is not easy to talk freely about this topic. All over the world, the female gender must face something that represents them negatively every month. In the United States, a research was carried out in the 1990s in which it was sought to understand what the opinion among students was about menstruation. As if they are something natural, they are at the same time annoying. Women during the period should lead their lives normally without having to show menstruation. Thus, instead of celebrating the cyclical nature of being a woman, they must ignore the phenomenon so as not to neglect husband, children and work. On the contrary, however, during the menstrual cycle a woman undergoes strong hormonal changes, the body consumes a lot of energy and the feeling of exhaustion is stronger than usual, the area of ​​the belly at the uterus swells and often hurts, indeed many women suffer from very intense pains in the lower abdomen (premenstrual syndrome).In short, for about six to eight days a month, woman undergoes a change in her body. She can lead her life normally but that does not mean she has to hide what she is going through. What we are talking about is recognized as a cultural taboo. This is also demonstrated by the use of different euphemisms such as "menses" or "period" or the prestige games that women make to go to the bathroom with a sanitary napkin to change, hoping to avoid to show it. The social exclusion of women during menstruation is rooted in many cultures but a particular cultural taboo is recognized in India. Menstruation, in addition to being an "off-limits" topic in education, also find a lack of facilities that together exacerbate the maintenance of intimate hygiene. Behind social exclusion and cultural taboos, religious and cultural practices play an important role.In fact, during menstruation many women cannot perform normal religious functions, Muslims cannot touch the Koran and many cannot enter places of worship where to pray. 

We are talking taboo because many women are not informed before the menarche to prepare themselves psychologically. In fact, many girls when they have the cycle for the first time remain traumatized by what happens to them. According to a purely cultural aspect, everything that expels our body is impure and dirty, which is why our body intends to eliminate it by making it come out. This means that menstruation is something dirty and impure that comes out of a woman's body and is itself impure and dirty. In India, many women when they have the cycle cannot enter the kitchen and cook because they can spread "diseases", touch the fruit or vegetables because they become rotten, or they poison the food; they cannot touch plants because they die, but not even sacred animals.

The first experience of the menstrual cycle is not pleasant: you lose for the first time a lot of blood from parts of your body little known; the pain can be mild but annoying and you do not know what you're feeling pain for; you do not know what to wear because your clothes are stained and you cannot walk without having something that can absorb the blood; It's embarrassing because you do not want anyone to know, otherwise you could be judged. Think about it without having ever heard about “Menstruation”. Many girls could think about an illness.

According to a purely cultural aspect, everything that expels our body is impure and dirty, which is why our body intends to eliminate it by making it come out. It’s true, our body is programmed to expel the impurities, but the fact that it is capable of it is a positive aspect.However, this means that menstruation is considered as something dirty and impure that comes out of a woman's body and is itself impure and dirty. In India, many women when they have the cycle cannot enter the kitchen and cook because they can spread "diseases", touch the fruit or vegetables because they become rotten, or they poison the food; they cannot touch plants because they die, also sacred animals.

However, the problem gets worse when girls in schools do not have separate baths and only about half of the schools in India own them. Without separate baths the girls have no privacy to wash or change their dirty clothes. Furthermore, in rural areas girls do not have sanitary towels, they use dirty fabrics, sand, sawdust, dust, leaves to tamp with menstrual flow and use water to contaminate to wash their private parts. All this causes vaginal infections or sexually transmitted diseases that, due to embarrassment, are not treated.

As a result, 113 million young girls leave school when they reach puberty. A recurring fact is that only 12%, out of a total of about 350 million women who have a menstrual cycle, use sanitary pads, above all for their high cost, unattainable for the lower caste. To counter this situation, campaigns are taking place in the country to make the sanitary towels accessible to all women and above all to spread education in schools. In fact, the idea of ​​HEEALS NGO is to start from the education of Menstrual Cycle Management in schools and distribute absorbers to girls in village and rural schools. Education is a fundamental element for the awareness of girls who often find themselves facing a traumatic and panic experience during their first menstrual cycle. In fact, according to the 2016 international weekly magazine Newsweek, 70% of girls in India have never heard of menstruation before their arrival. Keeping girls from the menstrual cycle in the dark is also due to the desire to prevent awareness of their sexuality and the possibility of becoming mothers. This attitude is adopted especially in rural areas where girls are given in brides at 13-14 years as soon as they have menstruated and consequently leave school. The achievement of puberty is seen as the right time to start taking care of the family and looking after the home professions.

Finally, although it is one of the most natural thing in the world, in India, as in several other countries and for several religions, the menstrual cycle remains a taboo. The woman "in those days" is isolated from society, or feels uncomfortable in the environment in which she lives. For this reason there are awareness campaigns such as that of Sushmita Dev, a politician and a member of the Indian National Congress, which intends to guarantee Indian women the possibility of having free sanitary towels. In addition, various humanitarian organizations, such as HEEALS, have begun to make available free or low-cost women's sanitary napkins and awareness campaigns to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal no 5 for gender equality, hoping to make women free to express themselves, guaranteeing them the right to feel the benefits from awareness by giving the correct education to face personal intimate hygiene as any other day.

Elisa Stucchi-