Why should I not enter the temple? Will God punish me? Am I really impious? Why should I not touch pickles or sit or sleep on the same bed as you? Why should I not eat in the same utensils as you? Just because I am on my period!?
Periods! Why such a taboo? Don’t you realise you wouldn’t exist if I didn’t have periods? Young girls today go through so much torment in schools if they stain their clothes. To add salt to injury, there are more sexist customs that girls follow under duress. When asked what purpose do these rules serve, there is nothing legitimate said. All one hears is, “This is how its always been, so we ought to carry it forward.” Women in the past were bound to household chores, that was the division of labour for women. Worshipping, watering the plants, cooking was their daily routine. They were instructed not to enter the temple, kitchen or water plants while on their period because they deserved to rest.
Today women are reaching out to the skies of every possible occupation. Such baseless rules are not only imposed by society but even by ourselves sometimes. And we can’t blame girls for that, as their minds are clogged with superstitions which act as deterrents to their progress. But women today need to rise above all orthodox edifices and question the baseless rules with logic. Periods don’t make you impious, it is quite harrowing when you don’t get them, isn’t it? People have rejected and brushed aside these topics with smirks. It is high time now we break such taboos, speak about them, question each baseless rule.
Here is a note to girls who are suppressed by the burden of such rules: You no more need to succumb to such archaic trends. God has made you beautiful and pure, he will never impose such restrictions on you. And no one has the right to treat women as untouchables while on their period.