Why girls should not dread the red

HYDERABAD: Can you believe that 42% respondents in a survey on periods felt they should not have spend so much on the products. ‘The Red Report’ - A Stree Search on Periods is a paper based on the findings from a survey Vitamin Stree did on periods, with 5,986 women to understand their relationship with periods - the good, the bad and the ugly.

The idea of releasing the survey is to normalise conversations around periods, menstrual hygiene and access to menstrual hygiene products, complications linked to periods and most importantly period positivity. Majority of the respondents were between 18 to 24 years of age. They hail mainly from tier one cities in India, speak English and are watching and sharing content online. They are mostly studying college or have just started their professional careers.

The question, we realised is not just about the taboo and lack of menstrual hygiene management, there is a larger question surrounding women’s reproductive health. The stigma blindly associated with periods leads to not just lack of information but also misinformation. If women don’t have access to the right information, they will not have the power to make an informed choice about their own bodies. A simple example is the pain and cramps associated with periods.

For centuries women have been told pain is normal, and one must just bear it and carry on. But as we see in our survey, the average intensity of pain experienced by women is on the higher side of the scale, and often could be indicative of more serious health problems. The pain and other period related complications, are also leading causes why women are often left behind in the education and economic systems, the other big reason being lack of access to menstrual hygiene management,” said that 10-member team that conducted the survey.  

96.6% of our respondents agreed that a safe space for open talk about periods is essential -  there’s no need to dread the red!  Among the contributors for the survey are Padmini Vaidyanathan, Anuj Hakked, Puneet Raheja, Advait Gupt, Akshat Gupt, Mohit Bhasin, Anisha Sharma, Akshat Gupta, Pankhuri Ranjan and Navya Anand.