Full transcript
0:04[music]
0:09[music]
0:16>> Good morning everyone. I welcome you
0:18once again to my course introduction to
0:20medical humanities. This is going to be
0:22week four lecture 16 and my lecture is
0:25titled menstruation culture and stigma
0:28in Indian society.
0:30Before I begin, I'll quickly brief you
0:32about what I'm going to include in this
0:34particular unit.
0:36Basically, all the four themes that I
0:38discussed in my earlier unit about
0:42reproductive justice, about mental
0:44health, about trauma narratives, about
0:46care,
0:47uh all these will be read through close
0:50reading of select literary and cinematic
0:53text.
0:54So, uh
0:55in this lecture today, uh when I am
0:58discussing uh menstruation, which is
1:00concern of at least half of the
1:03population, I'm going to
1:06analyze two films, Padman and The Great
1:08Indian Kitchen as a focus point.
1:12Let me begin.
1:14This is a quick overview of what I am
1:16going to talk about. Let me straight
1:19away come to what I
1:21basically mean in this particular
1:23lecture.
1:25Let me come to basically the focus of
1:27what I'm going to say.
1:29Uh before I talk about, in fact, uh in
1:32this particular lecture, I take up three
1:36or four concepts uh related to
1:38menstruation. Of course, beginning with
1:40stigma, talking about shame, talking
1:43about mobility and a little bit on the
1:46culture side, but before that, I think
1:48these three concepts are quite seminal
1:51to the understanding of how we can go
1:53about reading uh menstruation in
1:56contemporary times. The first one on
1:59your screen is body politics. Now, when
2:02we think of body politics, what I
2:04primarily mean to say is that
2:07the body, specially a woman's body,
2:10becomes the site where most of the
2:12social control is being played out. So,
2:16body in that sense becomes site of power
2:19and control, and most of the social
2:22rules are executed
2:25on or through her body. So, that is one
2:28concept that is essential because when
2:30we talk about menstruation, despite it
2:33being a natural process, it becomes a
2:37biological process, rather. It becomes
2:39so much culturally attached that bodies
2:43have to bear the burden of it.
2:45The second is that of epistemological
2:48violence. What do you mean by
2:50epistemology?
2:51Primarily, the term was introduced uh by
2:55Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, but I think
2:58later on it developed much where you
3:01think of epistemology as the way in
3:05which knowledge is created. Now, when we
3:08talk about violence, what does that add
3:11to epistemology? It means that the
3:14institutions or society creates
3:17rules and regulations in such a way, a
3:20knowledge system in such a way that it
3:24becomes biased towards some, in this
3:27case, menstrual bias, menstrual stigma.
3:30You talk about that as an epistemology,
3:33where knowledge becomes a source of
3:36violence on some people. We have talked
3:38about this in great detail when we were
3:41theorizing, but epistemological violence
3:43is something which is important to note
3:46in the context of reading the text that
3:49I have chosen closely in this regard.
3:51The third is around stigma.
3:54Now, what is a stigma? Stigma is a
3:55social mark of shame attached to a
3:59person or group. Now,
4:02this particular aspect of
4:05theory,
4:06it turns a natural condition into
4:09something seen as impure, inferior, or
4:12unacceptable. In our case, in the case
4:15of our study, uh menstruation is a
4:17biological process, but the way society
4:21and culture assigns meaning to it, it is
4:23problematic, and it becomes a source of
4:25shame and stigma for women. Now, let us
4:29locate menstruation. So, what is
4:31menstruation? It is primarily a
4:33biological process, but gets a social
4:37and cultural meaning,
4:39and that is the source of a lot of
4:42stigma and shame.
4:43There are many
4:46taboos associated with
4:49menstruation.
4:51UNICEF, in fact, has identified some
4:53seven, and I list out a few here. I will
4:56note
4:58on your screen. A girl should not talk
5:01about periods in public.
5:03Any form of physical activity can
5:05disrupt the menstrual flow.
5:08Foods like curd, tamarind, and pickle
5:11disturb the menstrual flow. During their
5:14periods, girls are impure, and more. So,
5:17around this thought, I also weave the
5:20theoretical framework that I am going to
5:24address, but primarily, if you look at
5:27these four myths that UNICEF has
5:31identified, they don't have any
5:33scientific purpose, and that is why they
5:35are myths. But, UNICEF listed it out
5:37because they had absolutely zero base in
5:40which menstruation as a biological
5:43process was affecting. So,
5:46this particular myth the debunking of
5:50the myth can happen also through media
5:52is what has been identified. If media
5:55portrays the same kind of uh uh
5:58stereotypes,
6:00the same kind of traditional views, then
6:03probably it is stereotyping. And if it
6:06alters the narrative, it is it
6:09definitely has the potential to change.
6:11The two films that I have identified
6:13today for close reading have the
6:15potential for change, and that is why I
6:17bring it to your class.
6:19Uh before I straight away come to the
6:21films, let us take some of the
6:23historical and anthropological insights
6:26regarding
6:27what and how menstruation derives its
6:31meaning. So, historically, if you look
6:34at it, uh you will find that there are
6:37uh symbolic contamination and cultural
6:40taboos associated with
6:42I mean, and the process of menstruation.
6:45It is also called as periods and many
6:47other names that you can
6:49uh think of in your own culture.
6:53So,
6:54the problem here is that
6:57there is no uniform rule.
7:01Different cultures identify different
7:03kind of characteristics or assign
7:05different kind of meaning to the
7:07menstruation process. Many times, you
7:10will find very contradicting ideas in
7:12the sense that it can be powerful and
7:15polluting both at the same time.
7:17And this
7:19contradictory narrative leads to many
7:21prohibitions and rituals that are part
7:25of the larger picture in which meaning
7:29of menstruation is constructed.
7:32Now, Chris Knight is a theorist who
7:34links these early rituals to later
7:37repression. So, what does this mean?
7:39That something which began as a kind of
7:42a ritual has now become a restriction.
7:46So,
7:47many of these things did not have any
7:50scientific value,
7:52but they added
7:54because of their persistent existence,
7:57because there there are people who kept
7:59on doing it, it became a ritual nobody
8:01wanted to question.
8:03There are also other anthropologists who
8:06suggest menstruation may remove
8:08pathogens or reduce the metabolic cost
8:10of endometrial maintenance, which is a
8:13very scientific thing, but
8:16menstrual stigma and medicalization of
8:19menstruation have contributed to
8:22gender-based disparity. What does this
8:24mean? This means that, I mean, just
8:26recently there was a decision on
8:28menstrual leave, and you know about
8:30this, you can read great detail, but
8:33primarily it is that is also very
8:35paradoxical in nature, because at when
8:37we are saying that there is a demand for
8:40menstrual leave,
8:42uh it does identify that it's a
8:45situation in which women need rest or
8:48related uh aspects, but
8:52it can be very discriminatory as well,
8:54because then you become
8:56in the larger narrative of uh socially
8:59abled woman and a less productive
9:03I mean, person. So, you know, it's very
9:05contradictory in the sense how these
9:08narratives work, and that is why
9:10uh I mean, uh still
9:12there are many feminists who do not
9:14agree to uh menstrual leave, because
9:16they say that it can affect uh women's
9:19participation in workplace.
9:21In the 20th century, how however, we see
9:24immense amount of shift globally in
9:27terms of how menstruation is dealt with,
9:29because there are many products that
9:32came in dealing with menstruation. One
9:35of the uh elements that I take up
9:38hygiene uh was prioritized in 20th
9:41century and I think that is
9:44a
9:44technological intervention that is a new
9:46intervention in 20th century that kind
9:49of changed the narrative towards what it
9:52was conventionally on menstruation. And
9:56finally, in the context of not just
9:59India but globally, there has been a lot
10:02of effort put in
10:05educating about what is to be done
10:08during menstruation and not to be done
10:11during menstruation. But primarily,
10:13there are two things that are happening
10:15in terms of menstrual education. One is
10:19how do you reduce stigma associated with
10:22menstruation, the shame associated with
10:25it, and the second is around the
10:27hygiene. What is How do you maintain the
10:30hygiene quotient at that point of time
10:32so that there are no chances of other
10:35diseases to be uh happening. That is one
10:37thing that is kind of component of
10:40menstrual education.
10:42Let us now straight away move to the two
10:44films that we are talking about, Pad Man
10:47and The Great Indian Kitchen.
10:49So, when it comes to Pad Man, in fact,
10:51if you watch the film, you will find
10:53that it's a beautiful love story between
10:55a husband and wife. On the surface, yes.
10:59On a deeper level, no.
11:02In fact, it it is a very big narrative
11:04on destigmatizing
11:06uh menstruation. If you look at the
11:10film,
11:11uh if you read about the film, you will
11:13find that the film is based on
11:16Arunachalam Muruganantham from
11:18Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu who created
11:21low-cost sanitary pads for his wife
11:24primarily, uh but then in general. Uh
11:28so, there is a character called
11:30Lakshmikant and his wife Gayatri in the
11:32film. Lakshmi Kant is played by Akshay
11:35Kumar naturally a superstar chosen to
11:38spread this kind of a message. If you
11:40remember there are other advertisements
11:42also in which you must have seen Akshay
11:44Kumar spreading that message. That's a
11:46clear cut stand on how we are enabling
11:50our society to de-stigmatize
11:53these issues around women.
11:55So if you look at this film it looks
11:58like a very beautiful story but in the
12:00core of it you find that it is breaking
12:03menstrual stigma through affordable
12:05sanitary pad innovation.
12:08The theme is menstrual health awareness,
12:11resilience of a common individual. At
12:14some point of time Gayatri says and I'm
12:16loosely translating it she says that I
12:19mean
12:20there is no she doesn't support social
12:23taboos but the cost of
12:26breaking social taboos is something that
12:28she's uncomfortable with. I mean this is
12:30a loose translation maybe
12:32we will
12:33I mean if you see the film you will
12:35actually know the context that I'm
12:36talking about. So these are three themes
12:39that she talks about in the particular
12:41film. We move on to the next film which
12:43is Joe Baby's film. It's called The
12:46Great Indian Kitchen.
12:47In in fact the film was earlier released
12:50on a cable TV I have read and then of
12:53course it went on to become such a big
12:56hit
12:57not just by women but across India being
13:00dubbed into kind of languages and also
13:03I mean in English, Hindi for larger
13:07outreach and that was primarily because
13:10it was not just normalizing the unpaid
13:13labor. I mean if you look at the film it
13:15looks like it's primarily about kitchen
13:18space being the site of women's unpaid
13:21labor but if you look at the deeper
13:24layers you find that it is also a
13:26narrative on destigmatizing
13:28menstruation.
13:30And how, you know, the domestic spaces
13:33become
13:34a kind of
13:36a
13:37promoter of those gender-based
13:39operation.
13:41Uh the first theme that I'm going to
13:43talk about is the theme of impurity as
13:47explored in Pad Man. Now, if you see the
13:51film, I mean, you can see here in on
13:54your screen that there is an argument
13:56that is happening where Gayatri's
13:58folding her hands and if you look at the
14:01stance of Akshay Kumar, he's he's
14:03receptive, but he's not he's unable to
14:06understand what is happening and why is
14:09she so, you know, apologetic about
14:12something. So, if you look at the film,
14:14you find that the issue of impurity
14:16around menstruation appears in recurrent
14:19fragments in the film. Uh as Gayatri
14:22believes she must not be touched by her
14:24husband during the menstruation because
14:26she's supposedly impure at that point of
14:28time and that is why maybe she should
14:32not be touched. And uh
14:35many warnings she gives to her husband.
14:37If you look at
14:39the screen, you will find that
14:41after many warnings from his wife
14:43Gayatri, Lakshmikant fails to stay away
14:46from the woman's affair, which is often
14:49considered impure. So, woman's affair
14:52here is the process of she's
14:54menstruating and hence he should stay
14:56away. The deliberate cinematic shots, I
14:59mean, if you look at the film, you will
15:01find that
15:02Gayatri's at the outer space and
15:05Lakshmikant is in the
15:08I mean, is in the inner space of the
15:09home. This is very deliberate because
15:12and also if you look at the image, you
15:13will find that the rags are stand I
15:15mean, the rags are outside. This is
15:17clearly
15:19explicating the notions of impurity
15:22within the setup of a Indian home. When
15:25she tells her husband, "It's a woman's
15:27problem. Please stay away.
15:29As per our tradition, it's considered
15:31impure." He reverts,
15:34"Come inside and create a new ritual."
15:36Now,
15:37it looks like a very simple sentence,
15:40"Come inside and create a new ritual."
15:43But, it is actually breaking away from
15:46the already existing rituals that are
15:48being practiced and that has been
15:51conditioned in Gayatri's mind. So, if
15:54you analyze the film through these
15:56narratives, you find that it is a very
15:58iconoclastic moment in
16:00uh how uh menstruation is being
16:03showcased in Indian cinema. Because this
16:06is probably for the first time there is
16:07a film talking about menstruation so
16:10openly and
16:12and in such a de-stigmatizing way.
16:16The second uh
16:17film that we are taking up, The Great
16:19Indian Kitchen, even here we find the
16:21themes of impurity. If you look at the
16:23image, there is an aunt uh I mean, who
16:26is showing uh this uh young bride how to
16:30kind of go about it.
16:32The film roughly invests 16 minutes in
16:36uh reflecting about menstruation and we
16:38we see that the question of impurity is
16:42not really uh overtly discussed, but
16:44then there are scenes which you can
16:48see and analyze. Now, one of the
16:51quotations I'm going to uh read here
16:53which will help you understand the
16:56situation, which will help you
16:58understand what I am talking about in
17:00terms of impurity. Now, the aunt in this
17:03image, if you're if you're following,
17:05please look at your screen. The aunt in
17:07this image is taking the young bride and
17:09she says,
17:10"Under running water, wash everything
17:13that you have used, including the
17:15spread. Put your washed clothes away
17:18from those of others. Burn the sanitary
17:21pads. Don't leave them lying around.
17:24Don't evoke the wrath of snake god.
17:27After 7 days, purify everything you have
17:30used with holy water. Don't think that
17:32Gulf returnees are exempt from God's
17:35wrath. So, not only she gives her
17:37guidelines, she also takes a dig
17:41at her because her parents have
17:44worked in Gulf and she's from there.
17:47So, she also takes a dig that don't
17:50think that you if you do not come from
17:52this culture, if you have not been
17:54raised here in the place where they are,
17:58mean that you have all the right to kind
18:00of break it. So, you know, the purity
18:03quotient that you have to be very pure
18:04during that time, uh and uh how the idea
18:09of impurity is associated with
18:11menstruation is showcased in The Great
18:14Indian Kitchen as well. So, we dealt
18:16with the theme of impurity in both the
18:18films. We move on to the shame
18:20narrative. Now, if you uh look at the
18:23screen, there are so many people. It
18:25looks like a village panchayat, and
18:28indeed it is where, you know, uh when uh
18:31Lakshmikant has been manufacturing this
18:34low-cost sanitary pads, he has been
18:36asking many women to try, and that has
18:39been a matter of shame for his wife,
18:41Gayatri, to the extent that entire
18:44village has come together, and they are
18:46now shaming Gayatri that her husband is
18:49doing something like this. And uh
18:52when Lakshmikant asks her that if she
18:55wanted to go to her home, her paternal
18:57home, because she's facing so much of
19:00shame, she says,
19:01"Tell me,
19:02do you want to leave, Gayatri? I told
19:05you, for a woman, nothing is worse than
19:07shame, not even a disease." So, she is
19:10ready to bear the burden of
19:13being
19:15not well.
19:17She's ready to suffer
19:19through some disease, but she's not
19:21ready to bear the shame
19:23that she has to face because her husband
19:25is ultimately uh you know, trying to
19:29come up with a solution and produce a
19:31low-cost sanitary pad. So, it's a very
19:33interesting scene I I came across and I
19:35thought it would be very nice for you to
19:37kind of read how the entire village,
19:41mostly male you will see, have come up
19:43to uh shame Gayatri, whose husband is
19:48uh doing something which is kind of
19:50blasphemous in certain sense.
19:53In uh the film The Great Indian Kitchen,
19:56you see now in this particular film, uh
19:58the new bride is sitting inside, whereas
20:01the aunt is standing outside. Again, the
20:04inner-outer space narrative you can see.
20:07Uh there is no direct reference to
20:09shame, but uh when she's sitting on bed,
20:12the aunt comes and she's surprised. And
20:14she says,
20:15"You sleep on a bed? Hasn't anyone told
20:18you not to sleep on a bed?" And this is
20:21a kind of an ostracizing attitude and uh
20:25she clearly warns him, "Okay, I mean,
20:28you have sat on the bed, it's fine. I
20:29mean, there is a kind of a uh dismissive
20:32attitude, but she says, "Don't meet
20:34anyone or go out." So, a clear
20:36indication is there that if you are uh
20:39going out or meeting somebody, then it's
20:41a I mean, what kind of a woman are you?
20:43That kind of a narrative you can see in
20:45this particular image. Uh you even if
20:47you locate both the faces, there is a
20:50there there is a kind of a startling
20:52effect in in uh the faces of both these
20:56women.
20:59The third idea is that of mobility. Like
21:02I said, before I move on to uh
21:06the other aspect, The mobility quotient
21:09is
21:10extremely important. Now, many times,
21:13not just in these two narratives, you
21:15will come across several other
21:17narratives even in documentaries where
21:19the moment a woman starts menstruating,
21:22she's supposed to just be inside. While
21:26it is quite assumable that some women
21:29might have a lot of problem while they
21:30are menstruating and it's absolutely all
21:32right to take rest, but not all women.
21:36Generalizing this phenomena is
21:38problematic. So, if you look at this
21:39scene, so see, it's a very beautiful
21:42scene of how inner space outer space
21:45works. So,
21:47Radhika Apte, Gayatri standing outside,
21:49there is a window and she's watching
21:52these boys play cricket match. And while
21:55they are playing, they are, I mean, it
21:57it clearly is indication they are
21:59having fun, but the boys playing outside
22:02discuss how it is natural for her to
22:04stay on the balcony as she's on her
22:06period. So, they also know because she's
22:08there and nothing can happen then
22:11there is one boy,
22:13a very young boy who passes a remark and
22:15he says, "She's currently on her
22:17five-day test match going on." So,
22:20a very clear-cut example of how even a
22:24even a young mind is
22:27trained
22:28to
22:29believe that mobility is not something
22:32that one does while they are on period.
22:35So,
22:35a social conditioning from the very
22:37beginning is happening and mobility is
22:40at question for women. Same way, if you
22:43see at the the narrative of Great Indian
22:46Kitchen, you there are many close shots
22:48like recurrent shots. So, the when she's
22:51secluded in a small room, you see aunt
22:53coming and this woman
22:56being there just confined in a room,
22:58totally confined
23:01without any mobility. So, she was asked
23:03to be in her room where her food is
23:05given and she's asked to wash her
23:07utensils so that they can be reused and
23:10to emphasize on its
23:13mobility quotient, the director takes
23:16continuous shots. Like,
23:18you are just going on changing over a
23:20period of 7 days and that is very
23:23suggestive but very effective if you
23:26look at uh, the scene in the film.
23:29Uh, finally, the hygiene aspect is uh,
23:33shown in both the films. If you look at
23:36this particular scene, you find that
23:38there is a
23:39cloth which is there and uh,
23:41I mean, Lakshmikant is going to pick it
23:44but Gayatri says no. Please don't do
23:46that.
23:47And she says that I mean, it's it's not
23:50nice. So, Lakshmikant says, "You use
23:53such dirty cloth on these days? I won't
23:56even clean my bicycle with this." Uh,
23:59but that is a situation. So, the hygiene
24:03quotient which is in clinical sense
24:05prioritized,
24:07that has gone for a toss in this
24:09particular scene which is a reflection
24:11of what was happening or what is perhaps
24:13happening in society. Later, the male
24:16doctors exchange surfaces the horrors
24:19women undergo. During menstruation, they
24:22use dirty rags, leaves, sometimes even
24:25ash. If you invite illness, it will
24:27come. So, naturally, something which is
24:30clinically proven that these dirty
24:32cloths can cause disease is taken care
24:36of in this particular film. It's a
24:37clear-cut message. These are products
24:40one should not do.
24:43This is a clear indication that hygiene
24:45is an important component of a dressel
24:49during menstruation.
24:51Similarly, if you see this particular
24:54scene, Uh the new bride is bathing in in
24:58water and uh
25:00it is a it is a suggestion that the
25:02condition of the room where the woman is
25:05staying in the room is very dark and
25:09obviously what kind of medical care will
25:11she get? And therefore she's compelled
25:15to take bath many times and if you look
25:17at this pond, it doesn't look like it is
25:19very hygienic pond but she's supposed to
25:21go there and take bath to maintain
25:23hygiene. But in contrast where she's
25:27staying, the room is very dingy and
25:29dark. So clearly the hygiene quotient is
25:33compromised and the way it shows in the
25:36film, you find that probably it needs
25:38more
25:39attention. The process of menstruation
25:41needs more attention towards hygiene.
25:45There are some other recurrent practices
25:48around menstruation. I thought I will
25:49pick up and show you. In Padman, they
25:51show this celebration of menarche. On
25:54your screen everybody, The Great Indian
25:56Kitchen, she can't touch the plant. I
25:58mean, there is a tulsi plant over there
26:00and then secondly, we have furtive
26:02selling of sanitary pads. So you can see
26:04that the shopkeeper is selling the
26:07sanitary pads under the table as if it
26:09is a kind of a shame. So uh these three
26:12images I picked up. There is more that
26:14you will see when you see the film.
26:16Thank you so much. I look forward to
26:18seeing you in the next slide.