Culture & Lifestyle / #HappyToBleed Goes Viral To Protest The Demand For Scanners To Detect Menstruating Women At Temples

#HappyToBleed Goes Viral To Protest The Demand For Scanners To Detect Menstruating Women At Temples

Culture & Lifestyle Nov 24, 2015

by Rumnique Nannar

#HappyToBleed is trending on social media to protest comments from the president of the Sabarimala Temple, Prayar Gopalakrishnan, who demanded that there be scanners installed in temples across India to prevent menstruating women from entering.

Gopalakrishnan went even further with his ridiculous statement, saying, "A time will come when people will ask if all women should be disallowed from entering the temple throughout the year. These days there are machines that can scan bodies and check for weapons. There will be a day when a machine is invented to scan if it is the 'right time' for a woman to enter the temple. When that machine is invented, we will talk about letting women inside."

^{Photo Credit: Facebook}

Then, on November 21, Nikita Anand launched the #HappyToBleed campaign on Facebook to speak out against Gopalakrishnan's comments and the stigmatization of periods in general. It's a smart and courageous movement through which Anand encouraged women to share the hashtag along with photos of sanitary pads or tampons.

_{Nikita Anand: Facebook}

"Yes, we bleed, once in a month, and feel no shame absolutely in stating it openly. No god will decide whether we are pure, or impure, because we are rational humans who exercise control over their bodies and minds. #Periods are natural activities that we have in our bodies; nobody has the right to comment on it. Nobody will decide what we do with our blood, where we carry it, or how we like it to be represented," said Anand on Facebook about why she started the campaign.

Since then, the campaign really took off over the weekend with lots of women sharing their photos, including Aditi Gupta, the founder of Menstrupedia.com. This site informs women about menstruation and healthy periods. Gupta is also a TEDxGatewayWomen speaker.

_{Photo Credit: Facebook}

"I have a uterus and I bleed once every month. God does not get angry if I pray during my #periods. Mr. Prayar Gopalakrishnan and everyone who thinks women are impure during their periods, don't forget it's the same 'Impurity' you survived on, for 9 months inside your mother's womb," said Gupta.

The hashtag also started trending on Twitter and Facebook, with many women sharing photos, some poking at the patriarchal double standards.

_{Photo Credit: Twitter}

Some supporters highlighted the feminist message within the campaign.

^{Photo Credit: Facebook

Photo Credit: www.facebook.com}

Men also got involved to support women in the campaign.

_{Photo Credit:}_Facebook

It's unbelievable that in 2015, we have men like Gopalakrishnan criticizing women from entering temples if they're menstruating. It's nobody's business whether they are in the first place! Comments like these further stigmatize and police women's bodies and the spaces they're allowed to occupy.

Kudos to the many women and men sharing their stories and experiences with the hashtag. Talking about these issues is the first step to destigmatizing the fact that many women go through this very natural process. We've seen a proliferation in period awareness campaigns led by South Asian women like Kiran Gandhi free-bleeding through the London marathon and Rupi Kaur making poetry and photography with this subject, and now there is this great campaign as well.

There is nothing to be ashamed of with periods. It's patriarchal society that wants women to keep quiet about their bodily processes out of fear that they're "impure" and "dirty" and that it's wrong to talk about them. The #HappyToBleed campaign is smashing those patriarchal norms and empowering women to love their bodies and their periods.

^{Main Image Photo Credit: www.catchnews.com}

Rumnique Nannar

Author

Rumnique Nannar is a new journalist with a passion for all things pop culture, film, and art. Rumnique was born in London, with a predilection for devouring English chocolate with her Vogue, ANOKHI, and Glamour magazines in tow. She is currently in her Journalism Masters at UBC. Connect ...

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#HappyToBleed Goes Viral To Protest The Demand For Scanners To Detect Menstruating Women At Temples

by Rumnique Nannar

#HappyToBleed is trending on social media to protest comments from the president of the Sabarimala Temple, Prayar Gopalakrishnan, who demanded that there be scanners installed in temples across India to prevent menstruating women from entering.

Rumnique Nannar

COMMENTS

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