THEL 28 May is celebrated the International day of menstrual hygienean important date, because, beyond the occasion to achieve greater health awareness, tear the veil of silence that still envelops today Menstruation: An uncomfortable, avoided, distorted topic. So much so that, even in our era in which everything seems at the end of the word, talking about menstrual cycle is still a revolutionary act.
Day of menstrual hygiene, a day to break the taboo of menstruation
The data confirm this: despite social and cultural progress, The menstrual cycle remains a question full of taboos. According to a recent survey conducted by Initiala leading company in hygiene services, 40% of women try shame to talk about itwhile a significant 25% felt observed in the days of the cycle. And that discomfort does not arise from the body itself, but from the gaze that the society pose above.
Two generations, the same silence
The “dignity” research, compared the menstrual experience of Millennial and Gen Zrevealing a common denominator: The stigma is still alive. 37% of women born between the eighties and nineties say they have faced the first cycle without any preventive information. And without a guide, without a family or school context that would welcome the transformation of the body, Many teenagers have associated emotions as fear with menstrual bloodshame, inadequacy.
The menstrual cycle is a theme that crosses generations and boundaries, between stereotypes to be fallen and freedom to conquer (pexels)
The most prepared gen z but the embarrassment remains
The younger girls, those of the Gen Z, show greater preparation: almost 80% declare they have felt ready for the arrival of menstruation. However, This greater awareness was not enough to dissolve the embarrassment. 31% felt the need to hide their cycle and 27% immediately made fun of male peers.
The impact in daily life
The cycle, in fact, is not just a biological event. It is a condition that model the daily life of womenstill limiting them to be essential today. One in two women, for example, has given up on recreational or sporting activities for lack of absorbent or adequate spaces for the gearbox. And 37% has avoided professional or personal appointments For fear of not having sufficient protection with them.
For the genz even worse situation
The gen Z, although grown in a more open company, is the most penalized: 61% said they had renounced activities during the cycle for the same reason. In short, it can be said that in a world that to tighten it with inclusionmenstrual hygiene remains a luxury for too many, in too many contexts.
Embarrassment is not the fault of the body
But why are menstruation still scare? Why do they continue to be lived as something to hide under the counter, under clothes, under the voice? Menstrual education remains a sore point of our educational and cultural system. And the result is that, even in advanced contexts, women learn to apologize for their body. 39% of the interviewees admit they feel uncomfortable at the mere thought of having to get up to go to the bathroom during the cycle, For fear that the absorbent is visible. But the problem is that it is not just a mere question of practicality, but of identity: the female body It is still lived as a body to be contained, to be controlled, to be justified.
The men and the silence that weighs
Men take part in this story, even when they are silent. 26% of them, declares itself to discomfort with the theme of menstruationand 17% never talked about it openly. A silence, often unaware, but which feeds the distance and strengthens prejudices, instead of contributing to a more just collective education.
From period shaaming to freedom to be
Face the menstrual cycle naturally, It means teaching girls that there is nothing wrong with their bodiesthat there is nothing to hide. It means restoring dignity to a universal human experience, breaking down the stigma, Present free absorbents in public placeseducating boys and girls together. In fact, menstrual freedom is also personal freedom, it is respect for self and others. And only when the cycle will be a cultural, as well as organic fact, can we say that we are truly inclusive. Until then, Every May 28th he will have to remind us that we must not apologize for the fact that he is women.
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