In the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Kerala, South India stands the Sabarimala temple. A holy site which many Hindus pilgrimage to because it is their belief that the deity, Lord Ayyappan, meditated there after he vanquished a powerful demon named Mahishi.
According to the legend of Lord Ayyappan, he was a Bramhachari. In the Hindu tradition, this means he was a celibate monk who renounced sex and marriage.
It is for this reason that females from the ages of around 10 to 50 are not allowed to enter the sacred Sabarimala temple during menstruation.
This prohibition against women of “menstruating age” has been followed for the hundreds of years that Hindu pilgrims have made the journey to the temple. However, it has come under fire in recent days following the comments of Prayar Gopalakrishnan, the President of the Devaswom Board which manages the temple. He told reporters he would only consider allowing women to enter the temple if a machine could be invented to confirm if a woman was on her menstrual period.
“These days there are machines that can scan bodies and check for weapons. There will be a day when a machine is invented to scan if it is the 'right time' for a woman to enter the temple. When that machine is invented, we will talk about letting women inside," he said.
According to reports, many women view his statement as mysogynistic and ignorant, and only promote the misconception and belief that mensturation blood, and even a woman on her period, is dirty.
"This is a basic issue about discriminatory beliefs that say menstruation is unclean. Menstruation is a natural activity which doesn't need curtains to hide behind,” said Nikita Azad, a student who began an online campaign to end the taboo against menstruation.
Azad started the campaign initially to protest the remarks made by Gopalakrishnan against menstruating women. However, as the Facebook page for the campaign has grown and gained popularity in just a few days, she says the scope of her initial protest has now expanded to “identifying all forms of patriarchy and preparing ourselves for struggle.”
Hundreds of women, and even men, have posted photos of themselves holding up signs with the #HappyToBleed hashtag in solidarity of the cause. Some photos even show the slogan written on sanitary napkins. Others have even gone so far as to photograph faux and real used napkins, emphasizing that blood from menstruation is no more or less pure than the blood which runs in everyone's veins.
Here, a menstruating goddess for you. Indian Goddess. Kamakhya Devi/Jagdamba/Sati #EndMenstrualShaming #HappyToBleed pic.twitter.com/r4KlvBtm49
— PunjabiCinnamon (@IcedCinnamon) November 24, 2015
If someone talks of how gods (33 million) are distracted by what I carry between my legs. #templeentry #HappyToBleed pic.twitter.com/gl3wznRs6y — Meena Kandasamy (@meenakandasamy) November 24, 2015
To people who think 'Menstruating woman is Impure' I would say 'If woman didn't bleed you wouldn't have been born!" #HappyToBleed
— Devika S. Deshmukh (@DevikaD17) November 24, 2015
Only an incorrect mindset believes a menstruating woman is impure. #HappyToBleed — Ravinder Singh (@_RavinderSingh_) November 23, 2015
#HappyToBleed so relieved that people are questioning the sexist ideology that has prevailed for centuries. — Keren Benjamin (@Kerenbenjamin25) November 23, 2015
Although Gopalakrishnan has since attempted to clarify his initial statement, saying that it was a reporter who brought up the suggestion of a menstruation detection machine (Actually, the reporter suggested an age-detection machine which would determine if a woman had reached menopause), he is still unwilling to allow female devotees to enter the temple.
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