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The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

bbc.co.uk

261–270 of 273 posts

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#261
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Religions (and consequently certain traditions) that have survived until today have an incredible obsession with mensturation. This is just another stick to beat and humiliate women with. It is unbelievable (for a questioning, inquisitive human being) that Bronze Age traditions and beliefs are still revered today.

I'm not aware of an obsession with menstruation in any major variant of Christianity.

I'd recommend reading the Bible. There's a lot on the topic to be found there.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could only think of one verse off the top of my head, but here are several. The Leviticus 15:19-30 reads a lot like what was described in the article. http://www.openbible.info/topics/menstruation

To be fair, that's Jewish civil law. The vast majority of Christians would agree that this doesn't apply to Christians today.

>The vast majority of Christians would agree that this doesn't apply to Christians today.

Jesus disagrees with that, as these people would learn if they ever actually read their holy text.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#263
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not anymore (at least in the west), but the bible does have that stuff in it too. http://www.openbible.info/topics/menstruation

These practices wouldn't have been observed by Christians, except perhaps by early Jewish converts.

Yup. That's why old testament practices like male genital mutilation are no longer practiced by Christians today.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#264
post #197
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woman being unclean during menstrual cycle is part of Abrahamic religions. But I guess this comes from the bigger problem of "sex" being wrong unless it constitutes "breeding".

The only Abrahamic religion that views sex as only for breeding would be Catholicism (and maybe a few other smaller sects). Judaism, Protestants and Muslims all believe sex is a normal healthy thing.

>Judaism, Protestants and Muslims all believe sex is a normal healthy thing.

LOL. Might want to give their religion's source material a read.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#265
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one knew scientifically for thousands of years why pigs were unclean. Or shellfish, or 80% of the stuff that was considered 'unclean' food according to the first testament. Now a days there is a particular scientific explanation for it... traditionally it was the pig rolls around in its own feces, and smells bad, and folks seem to get sick from its meat... the menstruation situation, its bloody, it smells bad, and…

Ah I see. You failed to define "village water supply" as an open stream or river. You also failed to explain why only women are "unclean" in this scenario, since men and animals are also covered in dirt and germs when they bathe. Wouldn't all people and animals be "unclean" then? Seems like the "pretty rational" behavior of keeping women out of the water fails to account for "unclean" men and animals as well. Please…

>Seems like the "pretty rational" behavior of keeping women out of the water fails to account for "unclean" men and animals as well.

I really doubt that they'd let a guy bleeding out everywhere do much of anything either. On a fundamental level, blood has a strong association with injury and sickness for what I think should be obvious reasons.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#266
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have your facts mixed up. Honor killings are not an Indian ritual by any means and unheard of in even uneducated villages.

Actually, he is right. Khap panchayats in the state of Haryana act as a parallel government and sanction honor killings. Recently in a village in Bengal a similar village body ordered a woman to be gang-raped by her fellow villagers.

[deleted]

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#267
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have your facts mixed up. Honor killings are not an Indian ritual by any means and unheard of in even uneducated villages.

Actually, he is right. Khap panchayats in the state of Haryana act as a parallel government and sanction honor killings. Recently in a village in Bengal a similar village body ordered a woman to be gang-raped by her fellow villagers.

[deleted]

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#268
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have your facts mixed up. Honor killings are not an Indian ritual by any means and unheard of in even uneducated villages.

Actually, he is right. Khap panchayats in the state of Haryana act as a parallel government and sanction honor killings. Recently in a village in Bengal a similar village body ordered a woman to be gang-raped by her fellow villagers.

There's likely global (but unprovable given nature of social science) precedent for this and similar in most every culture where fidelity and virginity were absolute sacred values. Another practice for example, rural villagers in South American will kill you no questions asked if you mess with their daughters. In the US, a "shotgun wedding" had its name for a reason. My grandparents can attest that a couple of my great-grandparents were modern comparatively barbaric farmers (Jeff Foxworthy redneck jokes all the way).

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#269
While this man seems amazing and has done a great thing for a lot of women, it's a shame that the main problem still remains. Menstruation is still taboo, both in the west and in India. It would be nice if instead of importing the western method of dealing with it (using sanitary pads to dispose of our menstrual blood secretly and in the process creating mountains of rubbish - where do all the blood-stained "sanitary" napkins go?) the women could just wash their cloth pads and dry them in the sun. It seems quite terrible environmentally.

I'm a woman and grew up using disposable menstrual products. I only started using reusable ones when I was thirty because I have endometriosis that causes heavy bleeding (so I have to use postpartum type pads) and it weighed on my mind to be throwing them out all the time. Now I feel terrible about all those years. I don't need to wash them in hot water because it's sunny where I live. But I hide the bucket that I soak them in and I hang them out when my husband is not at home so he doesn't have to see them. Thankfully, I don't have to be so secretive about our baby's nappies.

Re: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

#270
post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Following your link : "This list indicates the number of, and per capita cases of recorded rape. It does not include cases of rape which go unreported, or which are not recorded" Hey don't you see any reason for a victim of rape to not report her/his aggression? Once you find one or two, think about how they may influence the results in the US and in India. Does the comparison hold? You can play blind if you want, do…

"Following your link : "This list indicates the number of, and per capita cases of recorded rape. It does not include cases of rape which go unreported, or which are not recorded"" And unreported rapes will be higher in India - much higher - than Botswana (92.9), Panama (28.3), Jamaica (24.4), Belize (6.7) because? "Your statistics cannot be used for international comparisons." Glad I was able to bask in your unabash…

I just pointed out that the statistics you provided as evidence to make your point are irrelevant.

It's good to quantify things but you need to understand the limitations of the figures.

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