How an Indian woman tackled the taboo subject of menstruation

Aditi Gupta is an upper middle class, educated young woman with a degree in design from a top Indian design institute. So why did she treat her body as impure, avoiding the kitchen for fear of contaminating food, washing her clothes separately and not touching pickles or poppadoms because they would go bad whenever she had her period?

The reason: shame. Menstruation is a taboo subject whether you are an illiterate village woman or an urban sophisticate with an MBA. Gupta, 29, was steeped in the superstitions and myths that surround menstruation in India, despite her education.

"It was only after I got married and used to have pain and cramps that my husband began researching on the net how to help me. I realised I didn't really understand my own body. There is so much information out there but Indian women don't have it," says Gupta.

This prompted her to create a new comic book and website called Menstrupedia to shatter the taboo surrounding the subject in conservative Indian society, where ironically internet pornography is easily available and sex columns in newspapers discuss masturbation and premature ejaculation but not menstruation.

The silence around menstruation makes young Indian girls feel ashamed, which is then exacerbated by parents and teachers avoiding the subject. Menstrupedia aims to break the silence so that girls feel more relaxed about their bodies and are more aware of the hygiene practices that they should follow.

Although sex education is taught in some schools, Gupta found that the timing was all wrong.

"When I was at school, the chapter on reproduction came up in class nine, but my periods had begun in class seven. In any case, the exam paper had no question on menstruation, so no one paid any attention to it," she says. "Nothing has changed." Unaware, frightened and ashamed, girls would hide their periods from their families.