Indore: Students of Indian Institute of Management Indore are not only bookworms. They are socially sensitive also.
As part of their social commitment, students of the premier b-school have undertaken an initiative -- #LetsTalkPeriods and as part of it they are also going to attempt a national record of "Video Chain of Maximum Number of Participants Passing a Sanitary Napkin".
The record attempt would be made during the IRIS-2020, the cultural management fest of IIM Indore, to be held from December 4 to 6. “We have thought of igniting the chain reaction of breaking the taboo of talking about periods and menstrual hygiene and the very first step in this journey is to make women hold a sanitary napkin in public unashamed,” said IRIS coordinator Priya Arora.
The students along with two NGOs are going to go to villages and make videos of women holding sanitary napkin in public and also make them speak about periods without any hesitation.
Women across the world spend around 2000 days of their lives menstruating and yet talking about periods is still a taboo in most of the developing countries. While one is being ignorant everyone has to suffer the consequences. Though many of us are aware on the subject, seldom do we talk about it openly.
“Holding a pad in public has been a taboo since very long. Boys shy away when they see a pad and girls feel insecure to ask for a pad in front of anyone. The reality is deeply rooted to the grounds when a girl is taught to not use the words like ‘periods’ in public, when they are taught to not attend any pious religious ceremonies during periods, and when they are called “impure” when they bleed,” said another coordinator Toshendra Kumar Singh.
Anjali Sahani and Ashwani Kumar, who are members of coordination committee, said that the record attempt is very first of its kind. “When the pandemic distressed our little worlds, IRIS is determined to create an impact on the ground level. Hence, we tapped upon one of the unspoken yet natural issue,” the duo said.
They said that their aim with this drive is not only to create a national record of maximum number of participants rather the cause is much ingrained.
