NEW DELHI— Faheem Rahman clutched her stomach and winced in pain. After a few minutes, he couldn’t take it anymore, he yelled, turning his head.
Rahman, a 26-year-old restaurateur in the southern Indian state of Kerala, didn’t quite understand what he signed up for when he agreed to have the ropes clamped under his navel. But now he knows, at least a little, the pain his mother and sisters face every month when they get their period.
“It was a horrible experience,” Mr. Rahman said. “I can’t focus on anything around me as long as the cramps persist.”
The simulation is part of a new campaign to tackle longstanding taboos on menstruation in India and raise awareness about more effective hygiene products that can better protect women’s health.
In many Indian homes, women, young and old, are forbidden from entering the kitchen while menstruating, or in some communities it is forbidden.”menstrual hut“With a leaky roof and no toilet. At a temple in Kerala, tradition forbade all women of childbearing age from entering, which resulted in the intervention of the country’s highest court and against violence from right-wing groups.
Such stigmas have left Indians, especially men, less educated about menstruation.
And in a country with the world’s largest young population, more than half of women and girls aged 15 to 24 are still use cloth for protection in their timepotentially predisposing them to infection, a 2015-16 government report found.
The campaign in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, called Cup of Life, encourages women to use menstrual cups instead of cloths or tampons. The small devices, made of latex or silicone, are cost-effective and reusable, solving the disposal problem that other products create.
Its organizers also hope the campaign will help start a conversation. About how menstruation doesn’t make a woman “dirty”. On how not to feel embarrassed about monthly cramps and hide them from family members. And – speaking of shame – about how chastity is a damaging social construct.
Dr Akhil Manuel, an official with the doctors’ association in the coastal city of Kochi, said he came up with the idea of advertising menstrual cups a few years ago as hygienic and environmentally friendly. But just pointing out their advantages is not enough.
“You also have to break the taboos of society,” he said, “how to normalize social conversations around virginity and menstruation in a conservative society like ours.” so girls aren’t seen as ‘untouchable’ when they’re menstruating.”
In a joint effort by the Indian Medical Association and local members of Parliament, 1,000 men and women were trained to spread the message about menstrual cups. A group of women, from the very young to the very old, spread out on subway trains through Ernakulam to talk to people about menstruation.
To bring the conversation to men, Sandra Sunny, an aspiring lawyer in Kochi, designed the #feelthepain concept for the campaign. She said a doctor friend suggested using physical therapy tools to simulate male cramps. An electric current passes through the simulator, which initially feels like a vibration. As the intensity is increased on the machine, the intensity of the “cramp” also increases.
She said: “I have seen many videos on YouTube where men abroad use the same method. “I thought to myself, why can’t we do it here?”
As the campaign spread from luxury shopping malls to universities, videos on social media showed men crying in pain as they were strapped to the simulator. Women laugh.
To raise awareness, Ms. Sunny also helped set up an art installation, with Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” in which one hand holds a menstrual cup.
On a single day this week, 100,000 cups were distributed for free in Ernakulam. In a county of 900,000 to 1.2 million menstruating women, that’s a start, says Dr. Manuel.
The campaign intends to carry out follow-up work over the next four months to ensure the success of the trophies. In addition to helping to prevent infection, menstrual cups are more eco-friendly than tampons, with a lifespan of up to 10 years.
Dr Manuel said he saw promise when a young man picked up some cups to take home, calling it “the best gift he could give his mother”.
Mr. Rahman, the restaurant owner, said he changed after a single session with the simulator.
“I have a lot of respect for my mother, my sisters,” he said. “It’s hard for them, I know that much.”
