"I don’t know where I learned to be ashamed. I just knew, like how we know what hunger is before we learn the word to describe it.
Periods have a lot of taboos and I believe they should be removed. Periods are simply a normal occurrence that every girl faces in her lifetime, so why do we attach so many myths to it just to make it an uncomfortable topic?
Personally, I was so passionate to write about this topic because since childhood I have been exposed to these myths to the point that I felt too uncomfortable to even talk to my mother about it. But after realizing it’s normal and all the myths lead to wrong information to our young teens, I saw the importance to talk about this issue and believe we should raise our voice and take a stand for this in our community.
About Author
Anju Kumari is a high school student from India who did the photo essay No Shame. Period!. She is the founder of the Sahita club in her community, which fights against gender disparities and has worked to raise awareness on girls’ education and gender discrimination. Anju chooses to use her voice to take a stand against various myths in our society by volunteering, meetings, clubs and would love to work for women in the future by opening a non-profit organization that provides women with health and education-related help. Her hobbies include reading books and listening to music.