The study aimed at investigating menstrual taboos, restrictions, and myths among the unmarried adolescent girls and the historical roots to these norms as perceived by elderly rural women in Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2023 to April 2024, involving 322 respondents selected through purposive sampling with probability proportional to size (PPS). Employing validated questionnaire to obtain data, this study on unmarried adolescent girls (10–19 years) revealed the existing level of restrictions and taboos during menstruation. Focused Group Discussions with elderly women were done to gain inter-generational insights on the matter. The most common restriction included washing hair (80.4%), participation in social gathering (60.6%) and avoiding religious activities (56.5%). While 31.1% of the respondents reported emotional indifference to these norms, a significant portion (46.6%) experienced discomfort and distress in following the imposed restrictions. Significant association is found between father’s educational level (p = 0.01), menstrual problems (p < 0.001) and restrictions imposed. The study also noted various passive and active counter reactions to the imposed restrictions. Qualitative narratives from older women revealed that some restrictions originated from protective practices (46%), while the others were just to curb women’s power in patriarchal society (54%). The findings suggest that irrational, outdated and misinterpreted restrictions often lead to serious hygiene, reproductive and mental health related issues. So, those must be challenged through culturally resonating scientific explanations. Policy interventions and community-based approaches involving both men and women will definitely help to normalize ‘menstruation’ as a common biological incident, and eradicate the menstruation related negativities of all forms.
Ganguly et al. (Fri,) studied this question.