Taking on the taboo of menstruation

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/28/taking-on-taboo-of-menstruation

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As Rose George writes, it is not only female athletes who face the “taboo” of menstruation (Let’s stop being so bloody-minded about menstruation, 23 January). Across the developing world women struggle during their periods. From not being able to afford sanitary pads or tampons to being hidden away while they bleed, the impact can be devastating.

ActionAid often hears of girls being pulled out of school for a week at a time because their families cannot afford protection or even because there are not enough toilets. In refugee camps, a young girl or woman who has fled her home with few or no belongings has limited access to water or soap and has to travel long distances to communal toilets. When she gets her period, the chances are she has no sanitary products. She has to cope with this on top of everything else. These are some of the reasons why we donate sanitary kits as a matter of course during conflict and disaster as a way of helping women maintain their dignity, and why in Africa we teach young girls how to make their own sanitary pads.

Yet when we started advertising some of these facts on London Underground the reaction and subsequent debate astounded us. People were divided. Many applauded and thousands donated, but some – normally men – questioned whether this was important. We were also challenged on why we were even talking about periods, despite the impact on women’s wellbeing. It is obvious there is still a long way to go, even in the UK, before we are comfortable talking about an issue that affects half the world. It is important that this changes.Michelle LoweryCommunications manager, ActionAid UK

• Rose George found that some girls in India thought they were dying of cancer when they had their first period. The Rev Chad Varah started the Samaritans at his church, St Stephen Walbrook, London, in 1953 because the first funeral he conducted as a priest was of a 14-year-old girl who killed herself because she thought her first period was the result of a sexually transmitted disease.Laurie AndrewsMaldon, Essex

• Heather Watson’s willingness to speak about the effects of her period on her tennis form is welcome (Sport, 22 January), and Rose George’s piece on ignorance and prejudice spot-on. Let’s go beyond sport, however, and consider the effect of menstruation on young women taking public exams. Michael Gove’s “reforms” would reinstate the single end-of-course exam, with no coursework, which must adversely effect some female students. Of course, summer exams at school and university can also coincide with hay fever season – a double whammy for some women. That’ll teach us not to be born male.Jill MortiboysStowmarket, Suffolk

• Thank you, Michele Hanson, for your honest account of this rarely mentioned subject (A certain age, G2, 27 January). As a teenager growing up in north Staffordshire in the early 60s my only knowledge of PMT was our local bus service: Potteries Motor Traction.Jenny LumleyLondon

• A woman bishop on the front page and Michelle Hanson talking about periods and the ridiculous tax on tampons in G2. Hallelujah! Some days it seems as though women may yet have a voice in our society.Julie CuninghameWickham Market, Suffolk