Battling the Shame of Periods Stain

Why cannot we just normalize a period stain? Why do girls have to be ashamed of something biological and completely natural?

Is there any menstruating girl who hasn’t got any bloodstain on their clothes ever? Or am I just a disparate one who has to face it most often? This is the question that ponders around my head during my periods.

Wearing light-colored pants is torment in periods because bloodstain can be visible anytime. Actually, the sight of stains is not the problem; the problem is with the shame and embarrassment that comes together with the spritz of blood. Just a drop of blood on clothing becomes the source of laughter for people around. Not just that, there are a lot of people asking you to cover the stain because for them the natural process of menstruation is a matter of shame.

Facing embarrassment due to the natural flow of blood! Isn’t it nerve-racking? Walking with a splash of blood on white jeans makes the person really nervous and terrified. On top of that, when someone pinpoints those splashes it adds a lot of awkwardness to the situation. It makes the girl so conscious that she anyhow wants to hide it.

I had faced a similar situation walking back home in the evening. While getting out of the public bus, I realized that I surely had leakage of blood and could feel the stain on my jeans. With a little nervousness, I thought I will walk faster than usual to reach home. With so many assumptions and perceptions in my head, I was heading toward my home and suddenly, I could feel a hand on my back. I turned around and could see a middle-aged woman standing behind me. She, in a surprising voice, asked me whether I was on my periods and I in a panicking mode said yes! With a perplexing face, she said that girls should be ashamed of the stains that are visible to the world. Therefore that needs to be hidden anyhow and since you are full of bloodstain on your pants you shouldn’t care about temperature or anything except for concealing it. She conveniently asked me to open the jacket I was wearing and to tie it around my waist just because for her and society hiding the stains was most important.

I was dumbstruck. My hand automatically went towards the zip of my jacket. When I started pulling my zip down a blow of cold air touched my body and suddenly I felt like I woke up. And in an anxious voice, I uttered ‘periods come every month’. Is there anything to be ashamed of about that? Saying this I started moving toward my home with lots of thoughts and questions in my head about that lady who had asked me to wrap my jacket around my waist and of course I who was ready to do that in a second without even thinking what is righteous.

Certainly, each girl at some point in their life has faced a similar situation and has tried to hide those stains either by tying up the sweater around the waist or washing the stain and then blotting the water or disguising the bloodstain with the drop of color or ink just to protect and defend oneself from embarrassment, mocking, shame and laughter.

Why cannot we just normalize a period stain? Why do girls have to be ashamed of something biological and completely natural? Yes! Of Course, it is common to make someone aware of it but why cannot we just help them instead of shaming or making fun of them? Why is there a sense of fear in it when there is a leakage?

Every month girls around the globe have to face the miserable pain of menstruation along with fear, shame, and discomfort of periods stain. Menstrual blood is nothing to feel ashamed of and it doesn’t make anyone dirty or impure. Periods are an inseparable part of females and stains I feel are the inseparable part of the periods so is there any wrong in expecting help rather than a laugh?

Girls learn to live with the pain and fear of periods from a very early stage of their life. There are so few girls who seek help when in physical and mental discomfort due to periods. Trying to conceal menstrual bloodstain due to hesitation lowers confidence and can also have a long-term effect on mental health. It's time to understand that mocking a girl just because she is bleeding is not cool. It’s time to realize that menstruation is just a biological process and the secrecy surrounding it must vanish. It’s a time to be open enough to hear the period stories without being questioned, threatened, and trolled. It’s time to give them the knowledge to deal with the pain they have to suffer due to the periods and the freedom to deal with the awkwardness that arises along with it, along with the courage to battle the shame of periods stain.