A taboo-free way to talk about periods

Periods.

Blood.

Menstruation.

Gross.

Secret.

Hidden.

Why?

A natural biological process

that every girl and woman
goes through every month

for about half of her life.

A phenomenon that is so significant

that the survival and propagation
of our species depends on it.

Yet we consider it a taboo.

We feel awkward
and shameful talking about it.

When I got my first period,

I was told to keep it
a secret from others --

even from my father and brother.

Later when this chapter
appeared in our textbooks,

our biology teacher skipped the subject.

(Laughter)

You know what I learned from that?

I learned that it is really
shameful to talk about it.

I learned to be ashamed of my body.

I learned to stay unaware about
periods in order to stay decent.

Research in various parts of India

show that three out of every 10 girls
are not aware about menstruation

at the time of her first period.

In in some parts of Rajistan

this number is as high as nine
out of 10 girls being unaware about it.

You'd be surprised to know
that I have spoken to,

who did not know about periods
at the time of their first menstruation,

thought that they had blood cancer

and that they would die soon.

Menstrual hygiene is a very important risk
factor for reproductive tract infections.

But in India only 12 percent
of girls and women

have access to hygenic ways
of managing their periods.

If you do the math,

88 percent of girls and women use
unhygenic ways to manage their periods.

I was one of them.

I grew up in a small town called []