Ritika Ruminates

Image Source- Days for Girls International The suicide of a 14-year-old girl from Mumbai due to stress caused by first periods has made headlines in the news. As per reports, the girl was under stress and misinformation regarding the menstrual cycle. The drastic step has once again brought need of period and mental health education into the spotlight. Though her step was drastic, her fear and stress regarding periods have been shared by all the women and girls who experience period for first time. When I got my period for the first time, like many other girls, I thought that it was the last day of my life. Periods, even now, remains a taboo in the Indian society, especially in villages and lower-tier cities. Many girls get to know what periods are when they experience it for the first time. There is no prior knowledge of periods before the first cycle begins. Girls are instructed to not talk about periods with male members of the family and guy friends as well. This can lead to misinfo...

Image source- Indian People Times In past few years, period leave has became an important point of discussions. While many people agree on its need in educational institutions and workplaces, and any other institutions/organizations, government or private, it's unfortunate that there are still many who do not agree to it, and it not being implemented nationwide (and even worldwide). With periods being very painful on average of 4-5 days of the month (differs in every menstruator), rest of a day or two is really needed. From period flow, cramps, headaches, bloating to mood swings, stains and back pain, it is surely a torturous pain for 4-5 days on a monthly basis. Why do we need period leaves? That too hopefully paid for women in workforce.  Rest from pain - Going through so much pain but still working will affect her/their productivity for the day. Rather than pushing the body, can give body a rest for a day or 2, which can save her energy and she will be able to be mor...

Image source- Healthline Period stains are something that are still stigmatized. Girls and women who bleed are excluded already (especially in small towns and rural areas), and when they get a period stain, people look at her and at the stain with disgust or laugh it away. Irony I find is that in a action scene where there would be quite a representation of human blood with all the action, we just watch the scene with interest. But when it comes to menstrual blood stains that a female gets on her clothes (or even blood in sanitary napkins ad), we get disgusted.  Instagram handle named Feminist has uploaded a social experiment reel where a teenager got her pants stained and people just walked away looking at it, not bothering to let her know or give her help until a girl in the ends does it by giving sweatshirt to tie around the waist. Though this was most probably staged, but this is reality of a lot of girls.  There was also this video long time ago where boys ar...

While filling any application forms, be it of some government forms (with some laws across India and some states to include transgender), any educational institution or private institutions- how often do we see more gender options other than male and female? There are a lot of genders that aren't listed on the forms.  To start with, there is actually a difference between sex, gender and gender identity. Sexuality is another different part but not relevant to this blogpost. Sex : It refers to the biological sex that is assigned at birth, usually on the basis of external anatomy. Based on the sole criterion of production of reproductive cells, there are two and only two sexes: male and female. Though there is another sex called intersex, which is an umbrella term used to describe people with differences in reproductive anatomy, chromosomes or hormones that don't fit typical definitions of male and female. Gender : It is often defined as a social construct of norms, behaviors and ...

Image source- YouTube I had recently came across a video by bestseller author Ravinder Singh where he spoke about reducing the age to 16 for youth. To watch that video, click  here . Do watch the video before reading the blogpost, as to understand the references. I do agree with what he has said in his video. Though I have some additions of my own too on that perspective. Often, when teenagers (13-19, though gonna focus only on 14-17 here in this blogpost) enter into relationships, which is getting a lot common this days, they do indulge in romance (even if its not anything sexual). But those who do, and it comes in light to any of the families, be it only about relationship or something more, most often, their phones are taken away and they are made to split up without choice of their own. This also causes defamation to girl, either by her family themselves or the society, cause the respect of family lies with her🙂 (boys have no role in upholding family respect, it se...

  Image Source- Times Of India Menstrual cups have come up to be a recent option in menstrual products. It has been on a rise, and for all right reasons. Menstrual cups are made of medical grade silicone, which has been the best menstrual products till date. Some of the advantages of menstrual cups are- Easy on skin-  As it is made from medical grade silicone and is inserted into the vagina, it doesn't react with skin, causing rashes near private areas. So you are free from discomfort rashes cause because of chemical commercial pads and do not have to walk like a penguin. Just menstrual cups won't be suitable for those with silicone allergy. Pocket friendly-  A menstrual cup costs mostly around Rs350-500 and one cup lasts for anywhere between 3 years-10 years, depending upon the brand (and usage). So you save a great ton of money from buying pads or tampons, and may finally be able to make that Goa trip. Leak proof- Menstrual cups to a lot extent is leakproof. Though init...

Rapes and sexual harrassments were all very heartbreaking and shocking, but what's recently turning into worse is that  in many recent cases, minors are perpetrators too.  The innocent souls are turning into rapists just as well. Where is the society even going? With the new technology and more open-mindedness with the passing time, it was expected that rape rates would go down. But what's disheartening is that not only adults, but now even minors are raping others. What's the use of all the education if this is where the minors of our country are heading towards? With early access to social media and absence of age appropriate sex education at our homes and school, the children are now getting easy access to adult contents on social media sites, which are unfortunately majority of the times sexually objectifying, misogynist or phobic towards LGBTQIA+ community. The more content we consume of, we subconsciously start thinking on similar lines. If a minor gets access to meme...

Image source- time.com Some days ago, I came across the question on Quora - 'What is legal but feels illegal in India?'. The thing that came to my mind as an answer was- abortion. If you have had a traumatic history of abortion or simply against the idea of it because of your blind beliefs irrespective of facts, you can simply stop reading here only. Abortion is considered as a sin in India and across many religions and countries. Where  parenthood  is considered as the main task to tick off in life's to-do list, on the other hand, abortion is not considered as a option and a choice. But why is abortion considered in a bad light? I now wonder, in my first year of  college, that though we had been taught about reproduction in biology in our school, why were we never taught anything related to abortion? Not everyone wants to have a child, or a pregnancy can be result of sexual abuse as well. If they can mention reproduction, so why not abortion? I will write dow...

Image source: Revel and Riot While I was talking to my family, Ayushmann and Jitendra's 'Shubh Mangal Zyaada Savdhaan' topic came up and one of my parents called it (the film as well as homosexuality) baseless. The film made to educate the public about homosexuality itself was called baseless. This is the unfortunate truth of the majority of the Indian population. It is unfortunate that its 2021 and we still have homophobia and biphobia in our country. Though these phobias exist all around the world, it exists more in India and countries like India where there is no sex education that isn't inclusive of LGBTQ+. The Bollywood movies (except SNMZ) stereotype gays as someone who wears 'girly' clothes, apply make-up, and all. It might be true for some, but not all. The character of Karan Mehra from Made In Heaven has also depicted character of a gay without the general stereotypes. Phobias like this stem from a lack of knowledge about unknown things. Homosexuality...

Image source- Wikipedia Homophobia Biphobia Transphobia And don't know what all phobias are against people belonging to LGBTQ+ community Homophobia is hate and prejudice against homosexuals. Gays and lesbians. Though we are in 2020 now, part of our society, worldwide, is still stuck on homophobia. Why is it hard for some to accept a same-sex couple who are in that relationship with mutual consent? When it comes to pro-creation, yes, I know that they cannot have a kid of their own (atleast as of now, if technology develops in future, who knows they might be able to?). But parenthood is not everyone's choice. Also if that couple mutually wants kid(s), they can rather adopt a child or way that works for both of them. Though many countries are opening about it, decriminalizing it, and accepting homosexuality, many are still not. Parents disown their homosexual kids (you have failed here as a parent tbh), honour killings take place (even worse), the individual or couple ...