The ‘anti-women’ remarks of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee acting president M.M. Hassan regarding the ‘impurity of menstruating women’ have attracted the wrath of activists fighting the taboos against menstruation.
“It is unfair that a man, and in this case, with no background in science, gets the privilege to give an opinion on a woman’s body function,” said Shradha Sreejaya of the Sustainable Menstruation Kerala Collective.
“Girls die due to menstrual taboos in our country. Such negative comments point to the sorry state of affairs,” she said.
Mr. Hassan’s comments during a recent seminar have invited the wrath of women rights activists. He later clarified that it was not his personal opinion, but he was making a reference to the religious customs prevalent in society.
Society’s attitude
Activists have come out strongly against not just Mr. Hassan but the general attitude of looking down upon menstrual blood as impure.
Documentary filmmaker Unnikrishnan Avala said that Mr. Hassan’s comment was an embarrassment not just for him but the whole Kerala society. “We all come from a woman’s womb. After we drink her milk and grow up, how does the same womb become impure?” he asked. In a democratic State, a person thinking on the lines was not fit to be in the presiding position of a political party.
Mr. Avala’s documentary Womenses discusses the absence of female Theyyam artistes and cites menstruation as a reason for it, though most Theyyams are female characters. He demanded that Mr. Hassan take back his words as a mark of respect to women.
“If you consider the blood from a womb impure, you have to agree that your body too is impure,” activist Divya Diwakaran responded.
She is in the forefront of the women’s groups who fight to gain entry into Agasthyarkoodam. The reason cited to deny permission to women is that the abode of saint Agasthya will be defiled if menstruating women entered the place.
Discussions
But some activists think Mr. Hassan’s comment will help keep discussions on menstruation alive and to spread awareness.
“It is for us to use the comment to create a stronger period-positive opinion,” said Arjun Unnikrishnan of Kozhikode-based Red Cycle.
