Burma: breaking the taboo of female menstruation

Text by: Sarah Bakaloglou

A Burmese feminist association launched a campaign on Facebook to tackle a taboo: that of female menstruation. The campaign slogan: “The rules are not shameful. "

Publicity

From our correspondent in Burma,

Beliefs around female menstruation are many in Burma. They may vary by community, but all of them refer to the idea that menstruation is something dirty and unclean , which women should be ashamed of. Nandar, the 25-year-old Burmese girl who started this campaign, says she had experienced it herself: during her first period, her parents forbade her to stay under the family roof. During the following ones, she had to sit on the floor in a corner of the room, and not move. It is forbidden to go to a Buddhist temple or to touch a man, even his family, so he was told not to contaminate anything. This is a situation that many young women in Burma have lived and still live. With consequences that can be serious, since some of them do not go to school when they have their period.

A situation which is explained by the lack of knowledge on this subject

The Facebook campaign will notably put a doctor's interview online. The goal: normalize the discussion around the rules , explain why they are natural. Because today, the subject is taboo in Burma, just like sex education in general. Taboo within families already, even between a mother and her daughter. Taboo also in society. To speak of the vulva, the Burmese use slang words or children's words. In theory, courses have been planned in the school curriculum since 2006, to talk about reproduction for example. But teachers rarely dare to talk about it.

A lack of sex education which makes that in Burma, studies show that 40% of the teenagers think that it is not possible that a woman becomes pregnant after a single sexual intercourse.

Mixed reactions

According to the feminist association that launched the Facebook campaign, the Purple Feminist group, reactions are mixed, in a country where the fight for equality between women and men remains difficult. The NGO received messages saying that this subject should not be discussed, that it was not so important. An activist, a former political prisoner, for example commented by saying: “ Rules are like sweating, it doesn't deserve a campaign. "

But the NGO also received a lot of testimonies from women, and men, who recount their experiences. Sharing is possible thanks to social networks, which make it easier to confide in a country where Facebook is very popular . Speech is starting to become free in Burma, at least in big cities like Rangoon. Last year, for the first time, The Monologs of the Vagina was performed in public in Burmese.

►Read also : India: students stripped naked to prove that they are not menstruating

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• Burma
• Womens rights
• Education
• Sexuality

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