The unabashed theocratic bullying in India: Stigma around menstruation (1/3)

Nothing obliterates a civil society more than its despicable treatment of women. The traditional conservative societies have moved from enslaving women to whining about their freedom to now claiming to have been an embodiment of women’s liberties. Not only have they not done anything to liberate women but also are intentionally obtuse to distract everyone from their devious intentions. The theocratic societies across the middle east and south Asia exemplify this behaviour.

The case in the Supreme Court of India to allow women to enter the Sabarimala Temple and the reactions aftermath stands a testimony to the new wave of religiosity. S Gurumurthy, the journalist and one of the directors of RBI tweeted about the possibility of the connection between the Kerala Floods and allowing women to enter the Sabarimala Temple. The sad story of the Indian culture is that this is a mainstream opinion. I want to address this in three parts.

1. Stigma around menstruation
2. The Sabarimala Case
3. Where I see this going: the free temple movement

I want to wrap this up with my opinion on how to take on the theocratic bullying we are witnessing.

The stigma and trepidation around menstruation

The deep-rooted misogyny in the Indian Culture was always covered up by traditions. I have already written about the culture of rape in the country. The discrimination against menstruating women is the ugly domestic secret of the Indian society. For a seemingly developing society with a high percentage of college graduates, it is rather ironic to see their belief in superstitions.  The culture is obsessed with the women’s vagina and what comes out it. Anyone who thinks the previous statement is gross or a massive exaggeration is either an ignoramus or a charlatan.  I am sure that everyone from an Indian Hindu family has seen treatment of women during their mensuration. I will call out some of the most common practices.

Menstruating girls and women are

1. not allowed in most religious functions and temples.
2. not allowed inside the kitchen
3. not allowed to touch anyone in the house
4. not allowed to go near the place of worship inside the home
5. not allowed to use the same dishes as the rest of the members

As a young girl child, one is made to feel scared, ashamed and even disgusted with what is happening to their body. I have personally witnessed this in well educated upper middle class families growing up in a city. The situation is worse in villages and other remote areas. While every culture across the globe had these superstitions, not all cultures have equally come out it. Education has especially done a lot to get most societies out of it. But the Indian society seems to have a unique status where a very educated family finds it acceptable to follow these prejudices.  What is worse, they have upgraded to new reasons for why these practices are valid. I have heard a few Hindu religious scholars say some of the below reasons.

1. The radiation from the body is so intense that people should not come near menstruating women.
   • This sounds scientific, doesn’t it?
2. God cannot withstand the energy from women during those times.
   • I am assuming they have some weak god.
3. To prevent men from getting attracted to women during those times.
   • This assumes men have no control. If they mean religious men like themselves, then I suggest we cage men when their wives go through this. I will be more than happy if men actually took care of their wives during those times.
4. Women get extremely angry during those times.
   • I want to see the reaction in a man bleeding for three days.

The most ridiculous reason I heard was that people married their daughters at a very young age those days only to avoid these questions. As you might see, none of these actually have any moral value. There is no way a humanist or a secularist will every present such an argument. This irrational bullying is the superpower of the theocratic community.  Most women who have grown up being subjugated with these practices have a trepidation at the possibility of questioning these practices.

There is also a line of argument that Hinduism or what the fundamentalists like to call Sanatana Dharma worships menstruation. The examples quoted are the Kamakhya Temple in Assam and the Bhagavathy Temple in Chengannur in Kerala. It is counterproductive for people to bring this up as neither of these temples actually allow menstruating women to enter.

As I have mentioned before in my earlier blog, the systemic misogyny in India is too deep and too well spread. The problem is that defendants of the misogynic practices now are becoming more mainstream and taking a more nuanced stand. The main case which is highlighting this is the case of allowing women to enter the Sabarimala Temple.