Women and Menstruation

This article decodes the concept of God in Hinduism -on how the Supreme Brahman is perceived in five different forms of which idol worship at a temple is the easiest and meant for the community as a whole. As such rules and regulations for temple worship encompass restriction on women during menses. The only available scientific research on what happens inside a temple is recorded in this article. Based on the discovery of generation of negative ions in a temple, this article decodes the rationale behind the restriction on  women of menstruating age at Sabarimala.

Sometime in the middle of the nineteenth century, a businessman tours a remote New England paper factory that is powered by a river of blood and a workforce of women whose repetitive, exhausting work has drained the very blood from their faces. This is "the Tartarus of Maids," the second setting of Herman Melville's highly memorable yet seldom remembered 1855 tale. At a cursory glance, the story is a social exposé about the deplorable working conditions in factories, dramatizing how mechanical processes literally break down workers' bodies. But Melville's choice of representative factory workers, a workforce of young maids, coupled with the bizarre outcome of their labor, bleeding, begs for a feminist reading that accounts for these unusual, graphic details.

Against the backdrop of an unprecedented number of women deploying
in a new array of roles in the so-called "global war on terror" and
the official opening of combat arms units to women in the United
States military, menstruation has served as a key idiom in debates
about what it means for women to wage war. In this article, I explore
what public curiosity about and military anxieties over soldier menstruation
can tell us about the banal and bodily nature of women’s
militarization as a deeply affective, sensorial, and embodied process,
and the tensions these anxieties reveal within liberal promises of
a gender-integrated US military. Drawing on discourse analysis and
ethnographic interviews, I examine efforts within US military medicine
to hormonally regulate women soldiers’ menstrual cycles as a matter
of military operational concern, alongside public narratives by women
soldiers who deny the significance of menstruation to the work of
soldiering. I argue that both of these discourses enact a conflation
between womanhood and menstruation in the debate over women’s
role in and at war, in a manner that circumscribes the possibilities of
what we can apprehend – and feel – about war and soldiering as
gendered experience.

Adolescence has been considered as a special period that requires specific care as it marks the beginning of menarche, an important turning point hence good hygienic practices during menstruation are crucial to maintain a healthy life. Menstruation and menstrual practices are still darken by socio-cultural conditions resulting in girls remaining ignorant of the scientific facts and hygiene health practices which results into severe health problems. The present study analyse the practices regarding menstrual health and hygiene among rural women respondents in Coimbatore district.The primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire from various villages in Coimbatore district. The study reveals that lack of privacy is a major concern both in household and in schools. Also, ignorance, misconceptions, unsafe practices, and illiteracy of the mother and child regarding menstruation are the root causes of many problems. So, there is a big need to encourage adolescents at school levels to practice safe and hygienic behaviours.

Aim: The aim of study has determined menstruation and menstrual hygiene information levels of female students at secondary school. Method: The descriptive study included 125 students attending Toki Şehit Uzman Çavuş Bahaddin Erturhan Secondary School located at the centre of the Province of Sivas between 1-15/12/2015. The data were collected through " Menstruation Period and Hygiene Information Form ". The data analysis was performed through number and percentage distribution and Pearson's chi-square test. The statistical significance level was established at p<0.05. Findings: 36% of students were menstruating and 56.8% have sufficient menstruation information. Related to menstruation period, 44.8% of students could have physical complaints in premenstrual period; 72% that disposable pads should be used during menstruation; 3.2% that menstrual bleeding came from uterus; 2.4% that menstrual bleeding is discharged through vagina; 32% that menstruation repeated once every 21-25 days. Related to menstrual hygiene, 32.8% of students could have bath during menstruation; 51.2% that they must sit on a stool during baths; 27.2% that pads should be replaced once every 3-4 hours; 57.6% that they needed to wash their hands before and after changing pads; 53.6% that used pads should be wrapped before being thrown out; 6.4% that toilet cleansing should be done by single motion from front to rear; 24.8% that underwear should be changed every day; and 24.0% that their underwear should be white colour. The difference between menstrual status and sufficiency of information on menstruation and menstrual hygiene was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Information on menstruation and menstrual hygiene was identified to be sufficient among menstruating students (88.9%) and insufficient among non-menstruating students (61.2%). Results and Suggestions: It is suggested that due training should be given to students before onset of menstruation due to insufficient related to menstruation and menstrual hygiene information level of students.

Throughout Nepal, women and girls follow a range of menstrual practices, many of which leave them vulnerable to negative health outcomes. We applied a participatory visual research method called Collaborative Filmmaking to acquire a nuanced and sensory understanding of menstrual practices and motivations in Kanchanpur, Nepal. The study also provides insight regarding menstrual practice complexities across different castes/ethnicities and religions. Results show an array of menstrual practices related to cleansing, cooking, touching, worshipping, and sleeping. Participants' menstrual practices varied by caste/ethnic and religious background and were motivated by religious and spiritual beliefs, family tradition, negative consequences, and social pressure.

The cyclical disembogument of blood, mucus and certain other substances from the uterus in the reproductive life of female at an average interval of 28 days. It materializes from puberty to menopause. It is absent before puberty, during pregnancy and after menopause that is at the age of 45-50 years. The flow continues for 4-6 days without any substantial pain. It is concocted of blood which may be 30-40 ml, deprived endometrium, mucus, leucocytes and unfertilized ovum. The menstrual blood which oozes out from the uterus clots instantaneously due to brisk formation of fibrin. If the blood prevails in the uterus, fibrin is sublimated on the endometrium and as a result there is fragmentary clotting. Intra-uterine clots if preserved for a prolonged time deliquesce due to the exertion of plasmin.

Menstruasi merupakan perdarahan vagina periodik yang terjadi dengan terlepasnya mukosa rahim. Masa reproduksi wanita normal ditandai dengan adanya perubahan sekresi ritmis bulanan hormonal, fisik ovarium dan organ reproduksi lainnya yang disebut sebagai siklus menstruasi. Lama satu siklus haid bervariasi, namun rata-rata berjumlah 28 hari (Guyton dan Hall, 2016).

Lama haid biasanya 3-5 hari, tetapi pada wanita normal pengeluaran darah dapat sesingkat 1 hari atau selama 8 hari. Jumlah darah yang keluar secara normal dapat berkisar sekedar bercak sampai 80 mL, jumlah rerata yang keluar adalah 30 mL (Guyton dan Hall, 2016).