Blood On Our Skirts

This column discusses the personal experiences of one Indian woman around shame and menstruation. She recounts her first period, society’s attitudes towards menstruating women, and her anger towards these attitudes.

‘‘This otherwise very warm Aunt, upon learning that I was bleeding, demanded why I hadn’t informed her about this before roaming about freely in the house…Incidents such as these abound in a woman’s life and some give in to believing that their own bodies are impure. It is violence on the integrity of women when you convince them into believing their bodies to be impure and sinful.’

Read more from Tarshi.