The Red Spot Campaign: Delhi NGO Celebrated Happy Period Day to De-Stigmatise Menstruation

The Red Spot Campaign: Delhi NGO Celebrated Happy Period Day to De-Stigmatise Menstruation
(L) Twitter ; Women's Health (R)

Fighting social taboos, breaking through stigmas to talk about anything that society forbids us to, is a constant battle that every one of us needs to face on a daily basis. However, it is double the hardship for women, because they are judged way more harshly at every step of the way, both in their personal and professional lives. One of the predominant issues women face for which they are not only judged, but misunderstood and made to feel hideous about, is menstruation. It is ridiculous that even in this day and age, when liberal art education has become a standard part of the college curricula, there is zero to very little awareness about issues that women face on a daily basis. Sachhi Saheli is an NGO with a mission to bring all levels of society to collectively act in favour of every woman so that she can lead a life on her own terms, and based on her own choices. Sachhi Saheli is different in the way they tackle these problems. Instead of providing help to women on the aftermath of harassment, this organisation aims to improve their lives by addressing the very root cause of the problem – the society.

On 5th February, 2020, Sachhi Saheli celebrated the “Menstrual Health and Awareness Day” with great enthusiasm in both government and non-government schools and colleges. The celebration was aimed at de-stigmatizing menstruation, and subverting the clandestine narrative that is built around it. Essentially, it is an aim towards normalizing the process, so that the shame and anxiety associated with it can be removed. People from all over the country became a part of this grand campaign by creating unique “Happy Period Day” themed greeting cards and posters, and exchanged them amongst each other.

Even the social media movement for Happy Periods Day got huge support from all walks of life.

The movement called the ‘Red Spot Campaign saw participation from hundreds of people as they clicked photos with a red spot on their hands and posted them with a personal “period story”/solidarity statement on various social media platforms under the hashtags #HappyPeriodsDay and #PushTheStigmaAway.

It was the first time that the otherwise- stigmatized process of menstruation was celebrated with a festive spirit on such a large scale.

Besides Delhi, states like Maharashtra, Dadar Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Assam among others celebrated Happy Periods Day on 5th February.

Students from Colleges such as Hansraj, Ramanujan College DU, Lady Shri Ram College, IIITD, Dayal Singh College, Indraprastha University and Deshbandhu College took to social media to participate in the Red Spot Campaign.

Several NGOs/ Brands such as My Pad Bank, Apna Green, Haiyya, Ecofemme, Unipads, Tata Trusts Vatsalya, Gramalaya etc. too by conducting awareness campaigns and activities in their respective states and cities.

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