While women have been menstruating since the dawn of time, we rarely see any on-screen mention of it in pop-culture. Media and pop culture have been seen creating and nurturing the old ideas in society and driving new conversations, though not much attention has been given to menstruation. While talking to people, I observed that a lot of them have never seen a reference to periods in films and TV and believe that periods are unnecessarily absent from pop culture.
New Normalcy
From referring to periods as ‘those days of the month’ to showing period blood as blue, the mindset that the media has propagated needs to be changed. We need to build up the same normalcy that the pop culture has made around the on-screen portrayal of men peeing into the urinal. We need to have more on-screen characters discussing periods, which could break the social stigma, providing a sense of liberation and come out as another icon of female friendships representing the care and bond of standing for each other.
It is always in the name of ideal motherhood that women are expected to sacrifice their wishes, and tolerate all the pain. While motherhood and pregnancy are celebrated in pop culture as ‘the only thing that women look unto pursuing‘-periods; the baseline of it hardly comes into the picture.
The Everyday Thing
We know that there is a long way to go, but we can see that the change has already begun. We see Bollywood and other TV shows, openly talking about it in their own ways and reaching out to a lot of the population. Even the TV commercials of sanitary napkins are picking on to the silence and misinformation around it, in their own ways.
A commercial released by ‘Whisper‘ compared the buying of the sanitary napkin to the transportation of bombs, pointing out to the hesitation one feels while buying a pad. Another advertisement by ‘Stayfree‘ emphasized the emotional distress one goes through and self-imposed restrictions put on themselves due to lack of conversation around the topic.
The Oscar-winning documentary ‘Period. End of Sentence‘ is inspired by the life of social activist Arunachalam Muruganantham, who revolutionized the concept of menstrual hygiene in rural India by creating low-cost sanitary pads. This documentary highlighted the importance of men to become a part of menstrual conversations and help in eradicating the societal stigmas around it.
Another movie Phullu is inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham. The movie is filled with rural details which emphasized on the orthodox attitude and the plight of women during menstruation. From considering period as a disease to outright disgust over the money earned from selling pads, every aspect has been covered in this movie. While the movies and pop culture can only shape the views and help in propagating an idea, the change has to start from within. Phullu allegedly received an ‘A’ certification for having mature content.
It may be a subject that needs to be addressed to younger audiences. But in our society, we still do not talk about ‘that time of the month’ with our daughters. Mothers keep their discomfort during ‘that’ time a secret from the family and a daughter, when going through ‘that time of the month’ is not allowed to go to school during those difficult 3-4 days.
-Pahalaj Nihalani, CBFC ex-chief
Ironically, he forgot in his statement that the movie tends to tackle the same social issue and lack of information that his statement lured.
A Revolution
This fight is a big one, while the movies can reach out to a large crowd and drive conversations, we still have to fight the years of subjugation and self-hatred women have faced because of this orthodox narrative. To change this, we need to have a movement of the same extent that made ‘Fair & Lovely’ change its name, which more than anything sold insecurity and bias for fair skin colour.