“Be Who You Needed”: The Sustainability of Parrying the Menstrual Stereotypes

Abstract

Embracing the mental health issues as mainstream literature of Sustainable Development Agenda by the United Nations General Assembly, built up the present research to study the attitudes of youngsters toward menstrual cycle and to assess the relationship between the action of ‘breaking menstrual taboos’ and the ‘guilt experience’ among women in India. The data collection was done as a semi-structured Interview within the realm of purposive sampling, and Thematic Analysis was used as the core research design. It was found that there are stereotypes associated with menstruation among youngsters which are the overt impediments to confer about the subject. The most common stereotype was, “all women go through mood swings and are grouchy during their periods.” There are relatively several proscriptions that the girls are conditioned to practice from the onset of their puberty. The two most commonly practiced taboos include, ‘not going to temples’ and ‘not entering the kitchen’. Failure to follow these, or even the thought of breaking such menstrual taboos, may lead to guilt and vacillation. The present study explored an array of stereotypical beliefs of men and women considering menstruation and discussed the mental health challenges associated with the same. The idea of sustainability is incomplete without achieving overall well-being, and the present study shall create awareness about the ongoing concerns of women in the country