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Why India must battle the shame of period stain
May 28, 2020
Discrimination against menstruating women is widespread in India, where periods have long been a taboo and are considered impure.
They are often excluded from social and religious events, denied entry into temples and shrines and even kept out of kitchens.
On the occasion of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, award winning photographer Niraj Gera attempts to de-stigmatise periods in this hard-hitting series called Sacred Stains.
Given the lack of conversation about periods, according to one study, 71% of adolescent girls in India are unaware of menstruation until they get it themselves.
Campaigners say it shows that parents rarely prepare their daughters for something they know is bound to happen. And this unpreparedness leads to so much avoidable fear and anxiety.
The difficulty of accessing sanitary pads is another major issue.
India scrapped a 12% tax on sanitary products in 2018 after months of campaigning by activists.
Campaigners had argued that menstrual hygiene products were not a luxury and periods were not a choice that a woman could simply opt out of.
However, tax exemption is only a small step towards a much longer journey of making menstrual health and hygiene an accessible reality for every woman in the country.
According to one study, only 36% of India's 355 million menstruating females use sanitary napkins , while the rest use old rags, husk, ash, leaves, mud and soil and such other life-threatening materials to manage their flow.
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