Sunday 29 January 2012

Yahi Soch to Badlni hai… Really?



By now we all are well aware of the Stayfree ad campaign that says ‘yahi soch to badalni hai’. The campaign through its varied theme ads is not only highlighting women empowerment but also a social, economic and cultural change.

But this also made me think about how periods is one topic that we rarely share with males present in our life. Ofcourse, considering the scenario I spare the role of a father and a brother but I am still unclear why my sub-conscious mind is making me do so. ‘Me’ using the word ‘sub-conscious’ for barrier is another example of how girls in our society are conditioned to grow up. 

As a child I could not ask my mother why I should keep periods as a secret part of my life. Even when I am in severe pain I should not reveal the reason behind to my brother or father even if they are the only ones who are available for help. Why?

‘Help’ this takes me back me to the days when my mother was going through her menopause. During the initial stages of this process my mother was in dire need of my father’s support emotionally, mentally and physically. But unfortunately he was not there. Why? May be because he never took it as a big problem or even a problem at the first place.
Reason behind this is simple when women will never make males realize how this is not a problem but a natural process. How are we going to see the change?

As a child when I had to keep this as a secret it gave me a sense of shame and shame is often associated with dirtiness or badness, which is simply not the case. How in the world a natural process that occurs in the body of half the human population can be bad or dirty?

Interestingly when I asked my mother about why we should not talk about this in front of father, brother or boyfriends few days ago. My mother replied, ‘I don’t know sweety, it’s the way we were taught’.

She realized it after living 30years with the process where her secret life resulted in her loneliness at the time when she needed her partner the most.

This brings me to the grave concern of how we are deliberately creating a society where we are adding to our sufferings and axing our support system. 

Besides this how men grow shamelessly insensitive towards females just because they can connect blood loss physical pains but not emotional imbalances that we suffer. 

Now the question is are we doing our bit when even media is fulfilling its responsibility of creating change? Are we teaching our daughters, younger sisters or friends to talk and share? 

May be calling for a bigger change begins by sharing the truth about your monthly pains. So, all the Lovely Ladies out there no need to hesitate ‘Its Natural, Not A Sin’.

3 comments:

  1. The line "men are insensitive towards women" isn't completely true.

    You see its a matter of choices, where no matter in which state of the globe you live, women have been bestowed with the natural power of choosing their partners.

    But, just like with other things around, tastes and preferences have changed for women too. At present, the fairer sex is confidently aware of what she wants from her partner.

    But, to my observations and research in the Indian context, both the genders have created an unpleasant relationship scenario where they are apeing the West to satisfy their desires but want the emotional security since they still have that indispensable Indian-ess left with them. As such, nothing more than a typical ghee-khichdi relationship is observed these days!

    I think its not the problem with any gender in particular.

    BTW, the text was good!

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  2. Hey Priy,
    First of all thanks for appreciating my effort.
    I completely agree with you as I believe that perfection doesn't exist. But I think you should precisely look at the concern with which this sentence"men are insensitive towards women" has been used.
    I have written this after talking to people of different age groups coming from different walks of life and that includes our so called educated and wide horizon generation.

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  3. A very distinct thought and a 'must'-ponder-over stuff. And aptly, yahi soch to badalni hai.. As you rightly pointed out, if men don't know, how are they going to realize that there is a need of emotional understanding and support for each other. The thoughts that you've put might not be very applicable in the past 20th century, but is definitely worth expressing and getting both the genders understand in today's world.
    Yes, you lit the candle!

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