Menstruation and its reception in culture: Emerging discourses with references to COVID 19 pandemic
Abstract :
Thinking about the issues of menstrual hygiene and women’ health in a crisis and pandemic situation like COVID-19 gives a goose bump, where there are scarcity or in fact, no discourses and guidelines to sustain the health issues out of menstruation, and the resulting infection that can aggregate the cause of any illness in a woman’s body. Moreover, the disposal of menstrual products , availability of bins or garbage cans at frequent and desired places, and its being a taboo in many a socio-cultural sphere are some of the serious aspects that shall be addressed to cater to the hazardous and serious infections that may be aggravating to the situation of any pandemic such as COVID-19. Skipped and unnoticed issues of menstrual health and the maintenance of hygiene may result in harmful implications to the growing concerns regarding cleanliness and hygiene issues that seems to be a precautionary and safety measures to stay away from the clutches of the infection of COVID-19 .The present paper offers a thorough analysis on the emerging discourses on the culture , process and reception of menstruation a propos to the required patterns of health in the times of COVID 19 pandemic.
Key Words : Culture, Literature, Menstruation ,COVID-19, Women’s Health , Personal Hygiene, Cultural Studies.
It was somewhere in November 2019, when the news and the information on novel corona virus,badly hitting the human condition and lives across the globe, started gaining people’s attention and concern, China being its place of origin. In a couple of month, the news on ground level started spreading in Italy, Brazil and America, and in another two months , World Health Organization declared the uncontrollable spread of Corona virus disease - COVID -19, as a life threatening pandemic .The death rates in China and Italy ,and then in America and later towards India and other parts of the world , soon came to be realized to be a serious and critical situation beyond the control of established health and medical institutions. It was around March 22,2020, when many countries went for complete lockdown out of the deadly Corona outbreak .It is here, people started reading and analyzing the future prospects , challenges and the avenues available towards hopes and survival out of COVID-19 situation. India in its early phase of COVID outbreak realized and imposed phase wise lockdown as safety measure to counter the spread of Novel Corona virus, and to an extent the resultant condition, in the initial phase was hopeful and inspiring to elevate the heart, mind and psyche of the people to follow up, recommended safety guidelines from the government offices and related systems and set ups in the country. However, to the people’s great disappointment Corona became larger in its size, and its infection and fever engulfed a large number of people in India and the other parts of the world letting the situation scary and fearsome with immense number of challenges before any individual , group , society and the government set ups and systems dealing in the sociology of technological advances and medical and health issues, and subsequently affecting the economy of the country and other parts of the world .
Consequently media and advertising agencies gripped the nations in the world on toes through working analysis of the worsening situation, grave and serious stories, that was hitting hard at people’s lives, the needs and requirements , and related basic amenities , food security etc.
In the second phase of the lockdown , India, particularly, realized the discouraging situation out of the problems faced by the migrants laboureres and the community workers who could become soft targets as serious contagious zones spreading the infection towards an uncontrollable situation devastation the human condition in entirety. A lot of health and safety measures are suggestive of people’s maintenance towards health and hygiene and immunity in the body which is needed to fight against deadly COVID-19, became a serious concern for the nation in particular and the world across. A significant part of the population in India and across the borders is constituted of women who hold the centre and power source to germinate the seeds of mankind , in other words women being the centre power responsible for the existence of mankind .This woman who carries in her blood the strain of humanity , and the physiology of human being, has been left to find her own understanding equation and analysis of health and hygiene during her menstrual period where many a concern related to her health issues becomes all the more a relevant talk and important discussion specifically during any crisis situation as of COVID-19 pandemic .It is important to understand the discourses rooted in our culture, history and mythology before an awareness , sensitivity and understanding on the health and hygiene out of menstruation is concerned. Mythological morphology of menstruation is etymologically related to moon. The commonly known two words- ‘menstruation’ and ‘menses’ originate from Latin term menses which means month, and the Greek term mene indicates the understanding of moon which finally culminate towards the roots of the English word month and moon. A cross cultural studies and anthropological researches, menstruation related concern of health and hygiene may be observed to be a tabooed subject , and that is nearly universal in nature .
The history of menstrual understanding, across the globe, finds a space surrounded in mythology and culture. Many Scholars have taken up cultural and anthropological studies of different societies, and have shown the belief on it as a taboo subject, with evidences and theories rooted in patriarchy. However, social conditioning of an individual regarding this subject, across the globe, observes certain taboos a propos to female psychology and autonomy, along the time line contributing to the enhancement of the historical roots associated with menstrual stigma. Researches through 20th century persisted with the views that menstrual blood is toxic and fatal to an extent that a menstruating female can infect or contaminate the food products. Menstrual blood’s toxicity found no ground in the late 1950’s proving Harvard researchers Olive and George Smith(related to the disciplines of gynecology and estrogen/hormonal treatment) wrong. This also hints at the thought processes associated with menstrual stigma.
In India, as far as the reception of this subject is concerned, it seems to originate out of the reception and perception existing with Hindus where the notion of purity and pollution are believed to be the part of bodily excretions during menstruation and childbirth. Some Indian researches trace cultural and religious taboos on menstruation emanating from traditional structural set ups in society that associate the variables of curse and impurity that a woman during her periods bears. It is also scaled along certain references of evil spirits, shame and embarrassment towards sexual reproduction .The taboos are rooted to such an extent that menstruating women do not find themselves fit to visit the places of religious worship during menstruation. Many a research findings have observed a number of beliefs that are still practiced, creating uncomfortable emotional and mental states, life styles and health issues of women when it comes to discourses on menstruation.
Much has been said and done to give women a space of their own out of the universal taboos associated with menstruation stigma. Cultures across the globe reflect that menstruation taboos are nearly universal. However, it is interesting to find that in some traditional societies, a number of menstrual rituals are created as protective of women, women empowerment and a kind of women’s space that set them apart from the male gaze and from unwanted sexual or domestic pressures and demands during the menstrual period .The twenty first century India, that sees a revolution in technology, health and hygiene, automatically inspires and elevates the spirit and soul of a common woman to expect the basic requirements towards the maintenance of her health and hygiene where discourses on menstrual hygiene are certainly relevant. Many government and non government organizations are working towards low cost sanitary napkins, one such initiative from the Government of India being “Suvidha” sanitary napkin , and the installation of vending machines, yet it seems unreachable for any common woman with moderate economic standards. It is very surprising to find no defined women corners for the availability of sanitary napkins and related requirements at public places, educational institutions and work places.
Cultural values, beliefs, shared assumptions, customs and traditions in a family, society and a nation regulate the facilitation and expectations in our behavior. It may be rewarding and also discouraging towards independent thinking and propensity to grow and develop. Embedded in human history, culture, social and political institutions, it is significant to understand the behavioural researches and approaches towards encouragement of entrepreneurial activities in a nation’s culture. A momentum, in the recent times may be seen to understand women’s health issues where the discussion, or in fact, open discussion and discourses on menstruation becomes relevant. A required discussion on menstruation, towards health and hygiene issues is hinted at by R P Singh as part of his introduction in one of his researches on the subject in question, as:
although men and women in the present times are getting sensitized on this issue by different awareness programmes and media, yet a lot is to be done for making it a matter of general discussion, and considering it as a general routine process in human body. Due to shyness and inadequate knowledge on the subject and issue concerned, and psychological problems in some cases, sometimes it creates many health hazards and the psychological and physical issues. Every culture talks on this subject but behind the curtain.”(Singh 9)
As part of cultural take on menstrual studies, it may be observed that in certain traditional societies, rituals related to menstruation are defined as women being protected and empowered, giving them a space of their own from the patriarchal set ups . It is not surprising to find that menstruation has been substituted with a lot of euphemisms that speaks of its history via mythology and culture that often culminates into its being a culturally tabooed subject .
In a Latin Encyclopedia published in 73A.D.,it is mentioned that , “contact with menstrual blood turns new wine sour , crops touched by it become barren , grafts die , seed in gardens are dried up , the fruit of trees fall off , the edge of steel and the glean of ivory are dulled , hives of bees die , even bronze and iron are at one seized by rust and a horrible smell fills the air ; to taste it drives dogs mad and infects their bites with an incurable poison .”( Murphy TM qtd. in Anna Druet 3). It may be seen as something throwing significant challenges towards menstrual stigma , health outcomes and need for the recognition of the needs of patriarchal behavioral stands towards a society of women holding centres of biological functionaries, reproduction and human growth .It is perhaps the fact that’s why the subject in question has attracted a number of anthropologists and sociologists to find apt spaces of researches paved through menstrual tabooed intersections of evolution , human behavior and biology that allowed an understanding of the binaries that exist as part of male and female narratives , for example the Mbendjele tribe in Central Africa popularly use a phrase , “My biggest husband is the moon.” (Knight C, Lewis J qtd. in Druet 3 ). Further “the biggest grass hut of the Mbuti tribe in Zaire is the menstrual hut where women go when they have their first period.” (Lewis J. Ekila qtd. in p3)
References in History and Culture that have stigmatized the notion of menstruation as a tabooed subject, may also be inferred to evaluate and understand men’s social domination over women as a compensation for what they could not do biologically .A number of theories related to menstrual taboos may be observed to have negative impact on health and hygiene issues desired and needed specifically during women’s periods. A number of studies that persisted through the sciences in twentieth century have also talked about the toxicity and the disease causing effects of the menstrual blood. In the series, there is a significant study by Delaney and Lupton etal , who in their work tilted as The Curse : A Cultural History of Menstruation , have elaborately tried to analyse the toxic nature of menstrual blood, and such studies , which later, contributed to help one understand that menstrual blood is non toxic. This signals that there have been the appearance of taboos tied to the different times , places and the presumptions related to the environment and factors that tried studying the menstrual phases in a female’s body under given circumstances .
It is also important to investigate and find the number of proportionate males in any society involved in procreative and household activities like child bearing and child birth, to infer a comparatively clear picture towards the causes of several prevalent taboos associated with menstruation- stigma .How can a menstruating woman be unhygienic and unclean, and hence, can contaminate a food product by handling or preparing it? No scientific test has proved menstruation as the reason for any food being spoiled .They are often considered impure towards visiting places of worship, and offering prayers .Many religious taboos on menstruation are culturally rooted that hint at required maintenance of health and hygiene , for instance , in some cultures women bury the clothes, which they use during menstruation as pads, to prevent them from being used by evil spirit . It is an indication towards the use of clean and uncontaminated clothes that is required to prevent the genital part from being caught with any kind of infection .Another example can be cited from Sunila Garg and Tanu Anand’s article regarding another instance speaking of recommendations and suggestions widely prevalent in India , as far as the notion of purity and pollution during menstrual perception are concerned . It says that, “bodily excretions are believed to be polluting as are the bodies when producing them. All women, regardless of their class , incur pollution to the bodily processes of menstruation and child birth . Water is considered to be the most common medium of purification The protection of water sources from such sources which is the physical manifestation of Hindu deities, is, therefore, the key concern. This highlights the possible reason why menstruating women are not allowed to take a bath especially for first few days of their menstrual period.” (p2).Going by a number of researches on cultural , mythological and historical discourses on menstruation, it is to be pitied, and disappointing to find that how a normal and natural process of growing a girl into adolescent –menstruation, being an important and significant onset indicator towards healthy growing body of any female have been surrounded by the secrecies, hidden motivations and harmful implications that have long awaited a serious concern towards women’s health and maintenance of hygiene to sustain with life. It is a fact that every educated individual knows that the actual cause of menstruation is the rupture of the endometrial cells in the form of the blood flow towards the menstruation of the ovaries .In other words , menstruation is ovulation where the maturing eggs , when they are unfertilized, flow through the vagina in the form of blood vessels .The same matured egg ,when they are fertilized ,gives birth to a child ,that’s why any gynecologist or a doctor first refers to the history of menstruation or menstrual phases or menstrual cycle when it comes to find out the cause of any health related problem in a woman’s body , and becomes all the more significant to be analysed when a child is to take birth .It is this fertilized egg which becomes the foetus , the life in the form of human being .So ,on a simplistic note , there seems to be no reason for not catering to the requirements of menstrual products , for instance availability of clean clothes , sanitary napkins ointment towards intimate and internal hygiene and other related regular patterns of behavioral stands from the family or society that is expected to work and contribute to the health related concerns of a woman’s body. There have been statistics and data analysis that reflect upon a large number of females suffering from the problem of anemia , sensitive genital problems , vaginal cancer and other serious health issues resulting in mental illness and depression out of hesitation, and no required awareness on the importance of normal and regular menstrual cycle. It is discouraging to find public places, offices, institutions of higher academics, schools and other relevant and formal places with no defined spaces for the disposal of menstrual product such as sanitary napkins , the clothes and other related items. There have been initiatives from some national and international agencies towards the installation of vending machines, low cost sanitary pads and other related menstrual products but only to be accommodated as part of plans, projects , guidelines that still await serious implementation concerns regarding health and hygiene issues out of menstruation.
In one of the pilot projects of the University of Chicago’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health , it was surprising to read Gillium who shared with the ‘Education Times’ of The Times of India that ,“ we interacted with over 700 people to understand the problems that youngsters face .This included eve teasing, girls dropping out of school due to unhygienic condition ,lack of awareness about menstrual health and hygiene … where Roshni Kushwaha, a twenty years old(says) ,the programme helped me to talk about menstrual health and hygiene with my parents and friends. (Chandandeep p3) (emphasis added) .
Many leading references and statements associated with menstrual hygiene and women’ health in a crisis and pandemic situation like COVID-19 give a goose bump where there is scarcity or ,in fact, no discourses, no guidelines to sustain the criticism of health issues out of menstruation, and the resulting infection that can aggregate the cause of any illness in a woman’s body. A woman, on an average, changes three to four regular sanitary napkins, and approximately twelve to fifteen sanitary napkins or pads to counter to the maintenance of menstrual hygiene every month ,for three to four to five days, and finally comes to her her normal health routine where her body gets prepared through required nutritional intake towards next menstrual cycle. It speaks of the relevant health concerns to sustain a happy life away from worries, negativity and depressions that are often be the cause of emerging issues out of any normal healthy being.
COVID -19 pandemic has certainly shaken our faith in our understanding of optimum and required immunity to fight against such deadly virus as of Novel Corona virus. Flowing of endometrial vessels every month in the form of blood for every three to four to five days in a woman’s body, and the required maintenance of hygiene in a family, society and culture, with required hygienic spaces and washrooms are the serious concerns ,when it comes to understand the discourses on isolation or being quarantined in case a woman gets caught up with the infection of COVID-19. Moreover, the disposal of menstrual products , availability of bins or garbage cans at frequent and desired places are also some of the serious aspects that shall be addressed to cater to the hazardous and serious infections that may be aggravating to the situation of any pandemic such as COVID-19. Skipped, unnoticed or condoned menstrual health or the maintenance of hygiene may result in harmful implications to the growing concerns regarding cleanliness and hygiene issues that seems to be a precautionary and safety measure to stay away from the clutches of the infection of COVID-19 .This certainly requires researches and expected behavioral stands towards human entrepreneurial activities that shall contribute to work, and counter the issues related with menstrual health , maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene and the psychological impact that it has on any woman’s body, to become pro active and to analyze and understand serious health issues , hazardous in nature and contributing to the aggravated behavior of the pandemic COVID-19.
Works cited and consulted
*****
Dr Alka Singh, Assistant Professor of English, Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow