It was unbelievable that girls in a college hostel in Gujarat’s Bhuj were made to line up in a toilet and remove their undergarments to prove that they were not menstruating.
The ‘discovery’ of a used sanitary pad and the possible entry of the menstruating woman into the temple and the kitchen on the premises are said to have warranted the strip search. It was assumed that one of the hostel inmates threw the pad to escape being ‘quarantined’ in a dark, filthy basement, a prescription for menstruating students. The unspeakable ‘exercise’ was obviously aimed at identifying the ‘culprit’ who dared to hide her period in violation of the institute’s rules.
Nothing could have been more humiliating than the naked invasion of their privacy to the victims. It will now take time for the deep psychological wound inflicted by the ordeal to heal.
It is most lamentable that menstruation is treated as something ‘impure’ and ‘polluting’ in this day and age. There is no reason why menstruating women should be confined to a dark room or barred from entering a kitchen or a place of worship. God’s abode is not defiled or desecrated by the presence of a menstruating woman.
It is basic science that menstruation is a biological phenomenon linked to procreation. Vaginal bleeding is a presage and preparation for pregnancy. It is a sign of readiness for pregnancy. It is crude and primitive ‘to punish’ women for having monthly periods ordained by nature. It is time as a society we normalise menstruation and empower girls.
G. David Milton
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu