Hyderabad Artists Join Hands to Break Silence Around Menstruation

Living in the 21st century, people still shy away from talking about periods. The oppressive burden of myths and stigma has overpowered the menstruators and their immediate audience so much that they are forced to stay silent to initiate a dialogue about periods.

Breaking this silence around menstruation, a city based NGO, Youngistaan Foundation organized a unique event observing menstrual hygiene month 2022 on Saturday at Lamakaan to raise awareness on creating a period positive environment for menstruators with over 100 members of inter-generational, gender inclusive audience using art, culture, satire, and humor as tools.

The slam poets, Rana Khan and Krishna from Hyderabad Arts & Culture Community (HACC) stressed upon sustainable menstruation, natural process of periods through their poems before stand-up comedian Roshni Rao took the stage to get those in attendance laughing by highlighting the normalized talk around period stigma.  Later, Hyderabad storytellers Association (HYSTA), a collective of storytellers performed a tandem act focusing on menstrual education.

During the event, the audience shared how they were shunned by their family members while speaking about their period of grief, men shared their experience of learning new things around menstrual hygiene, and thanked the organizers for creating a carefree environment.

Speaking on the occasion, Founder and Director of Youngistaan Foundation, Arun Daniel Yellamaty, said, "Menstrual hygiene and the taboos around it are hardly spoken in public spaces. I believe it's high time we speak about it and create awareness to the people around us. Today's culture program aimed at that. We build our conversations on menstrual hygiene by using arts and also secure participation from men. Only open conversations like this can help normalize menstruation. We will be creating more such conversations on menstruation and various other social issues.”

The event was organized in partnership with UNICEF as part of a month-long campaign to impact and support one million lives through virtual platforms and on grassroot interventions to create sustainable impact on the lives of menstruators.