While society has come a long way and is open to discussing several topics that could earlier make people cringe, some taboos remain in place and very firmly at that. Menstruation is one of them. Women have a hard time getting through their periods every month, won’t empathetic and supportive men in the household come in handy in such a situation? What must be done to make sure we have more such grown up men around us?
This Twitter thread started off by Genderlog India aimed to find out exactly this and has managed itself a few fairly useful responses. From how the onus to talk about periods lies on the father as much as on the mother, to how from a young age brothers and fathers should normalize such discussions the thread is a fresh change.
In a society where women are still very hush-hush about the fact that they are on their period, the fact that a Twitter page began such an open-ended dialogue with the hashtag ‘MardonWaliBaat’ on the issue is awesome. Here’s the thread on Twitter which is giving us much hope about how the stigma related to menstruation might soon be a thing of the past, not just in India but all over the world.
How do you explain menstruation to male children and teenagers so that they grow up to be empathetic, supportive men? #MardonWaaliBaat
— Genderlog (@genderlogindia) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia can I say that all yr dialogues on parenting involve so much explanation support talking listening that as a working parent
— kavitharao (@kavitharao) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia i mostly cant identify at all? :)and i mean that nicely
— kavitharao (@kavitharao) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia the same way you would ideally explain it to a cis-female child, something many parents still don’t do either.
— Ira (@irasanyal) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia It is important that fathers explain menstruation, so the onus is yet again not ONLY on the mother, reinforcing #genderroles
— Ira (@irasanyal) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia fathers performing feminized tasks + responsibilities helps prevent children from internalising the associated shame withem
— Ira (@irasanyal) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia fathers performing feminized tasks + responsibilities helps prevent children from internalising the associated shame withem
— Ira (@irasanyal) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia From a young age my dad has spoken to me about menstruation. When I was younger I used to be embarrassed. Not anymore.
— Amena (@Fashionopolis) March 22, 2017
@genderlogindia One of the most liberating things for me is, being able to freely speak to my father & brothers’ about menstruation.
— Amena (@Fashionopolis) March 22, 2017
Kudos to Genderlog India for kicking off this much needed discussion.
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