Why this is important

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Before living in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, I hadn’t thought much about menstruation. I was the last one in my class to get my period and when I did, my dad bought me flowers and my mother wanted to throw me a period party. With such a body-positive family, I felt like periods were, if anything, too much in the limelight.

 

While working for a local non-governmental organization (NGO) in UP, I surveyed hundreds of girls in rural villages to ask what they needed. What I heard over and over again was: We need information about how our bodies work, why we change during puberty, and how to care for ourselves.

 

So I began sitting in on menstrual hygiene trainings, studying best practices from other local NGOs, and learning how to conduct my own. The overwhelming majority of women and girls with whom we spoke used mattress stuffing or dirty rags as pads and hadn’t learned about menstruation until they’d already begun bleeding. I couldn’t stop imagining how terrifying it would be to suddenly begin bleeding profusely from my genitals without understanding why it’s happening.

 

Story after story solidified my devotion to assist these girls in knowing and loving their bodies. 

 

One girl recounted how her friend died of an infection. As a sanitary napkin, the friend used a dirty rag that had cleaned a bicycle. She was then too ashamed of her vaginal discomfort to seek medical help.

 

I began realizing what those in this field already know: this issue requires widespread attention. And this issue requires much more than briefly supplying girls with information and sanitary napkins. If girls internalize they are inherently impure, then they’re set up for a life of devaluing their bodies. The social norms and mindsets of shame surrounding vaginas and periods have fatal and traumatic psychological consequences.

 

I created Spreading Your Wings to help address these obstacles. No other Hindi or English comic book exists that speaks to the rural specific logistical and social challenges these girls face. The book incorporates metaphors, games, and explanations that my team and I have seen resonate with girls in our trainings.

 

We strive to not just equip girls with accurate and relatable information, but to help them reframe the very way that they see their bodies, to transform the shame they feel into pride.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about Spreading Your Wings and this issue we care deeply about. To learn more about this issue and why it's important, check out my article, "Becoming a Menstruating Woman." We’d be overjoyed if you helped us spread the word. Thanks again!

 

-Ariana Abadian-Heifetz

Author, Artistic Director, and Production Manager of Spreading Your Wings