In January 2019, over four million Indian women stood arm-to-arm forming the “women’s wall.” They stood in protest for the right to enter temples while menstruating and for a larger stance on gender equality. Menstruating women, or women from ages 15-50 are not allowed to enter holy temples since they are, in 2019, still deemed “impure.” Countries like India still harbor a very hostile position on menstruation and menstruating women. It comes as no surprise given one constant taboo throughout history is menstruation. Menstruating bodies have been deemed “dirty,” related to illness and have condemned women into a physically limiting, domestic role.

But most of us know that.

Countries in the West, namely Europe and North America, have formed various companies and aid groups which send sanitary products for menstruating girls and women to countries like India. What these western societies do not seem to realize is there is still bad blood between the topic of menstruation and the larger western public discourse. 

The notion of controlling different aspects of menstruation through taking birth control or using sanitary cups to be more environmentally sustainable builds a facade that we have taken complete agency over our periods. It would seem that way. Menstruation, however, still holds stigmas.

Menstruating people in 2019 have become secret holders. The tension and doubt in knowing what setting is appropriate to talk about one’s period, to visibly bleed or even to exchange sanitary products are done in hushed tones. Many non-menstruating people are not educated enough on the topic. Women, and many male partners, do not know to approach the topic of period sex.

It is still a western taboo that our grandmothers, our mothers, and now us have to talk about. The bad blood between menstruation and an open dialogue should be over.

This site contains how different women, from different cultures and countries in the west view their periods. From university groups supplying sanitary products on campus in Freiburg, Germany, to an open conversation about menstruation misconceptions from women in Amsterdam, these views show how menstruation in 2019 is still taboo.