There still exists period shaming in the Northern part of Kenya and other parts of the country. Menstrual shame can cause negative physical and mental health impacts on the female population. This in turn causes them to withdraw in silence and shame hurting them both within and without.
May 28 was Menstrual Day, a day that acknowledges menstruation and starts conversations to help reduce period shame. For this year, we had a few celebrities such as Ajib Gathoni, Kensington Christine and many more championing it. They were dressed in beautiful dresses that had stains on them. During the event, many ladies got to explain their experiences around their first menses and how people reacted to them. This aimed to reduce the stigma around period stains that ladies get so embarrassed about.
Some ladies came forward and talked about the pain of being female and getting to that stage. We have women having to hide their sanitary towels to the best of their ability so that Jo one knows they are going through it. For ladies who started their menses while in mixed schools, they had to hide their sanitary towels from being seen and would not even share them with their fellow girls.
To make matters worse, the lack of menstrual education has led to women being silent about going through that phase. The consequence of this is, girls who just began are too scared to get sanitary towels. To make matters worse, many girls from the northern part of Kenya don’t have access to these sanitary towels. Since they have no access and are ashamed of it, they don’t ask for it and end up without it and use sponges or miss school.
Period shame has created an atmosphere where women are constantly ashamed to go through that time of their lives. There have been sanitary drives being held all around the country but the stigma still continues.
” Social oppression of women as menstruators or owners of a body regarded as unclean and deficient continued to subject women to shame and mental torture created by society, ” Joyce Elema, Miss Universe Kenya Marsabir County 2022 posted on her socials.
Continuous ignorance of this subject leads to contempt and disgust pushed in society and stigma therefore continues. Menstrual health education in both school setups and societal levels is necessary in order to stop the stigma that had been created.
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