HINDU FAITH/OLD TIME MYTHS

1. Women are not allowed to perform their daily routine during the menses. The reason was, women (unlike in today’s world) used to work treacherously at home, and to reduce the menstrual suffering they were asked to rest.

2. Women are not supposed to offer prayers during menstruation according to the belief of impurity. The reason being the ancient Vedic seers believed that a menstruating woman was so pure that she is a living channel of the Goddess.

3. They are also forbidden to enter any kind of temples or worship room during this period. The reason being, to protect girls from the Devdasi system (where the adolescents were forced into sexual slavery),  they were denied to enter temples.

4. Hindu strictly believes that women during their period should stay indoors and maintain distance from the family members. The reason for this would be to provide menstruating women with enough privacy and needed rest.

5. Many believe that women are unclean and any object (including food) gets contaminated. The reason, Ayurveda looks at mensuration as a DOSHA through which women cleanse their bodies. Hence, for that specific period, she needs to avoid touching any object which in turn becomes unclean.

6. Another myth is a menstruating woman is impure, sick, or even cursed. She is not impure and menstruation is a natural body process. This menstrual fluid is just a mix of blood and tissue that was not utilized to nourish a baby in the womb.

7. It is a myth that having intercourse with a menstruating woman sexually transmitted disease is spread and if a woman conceives while she is menstruating the baby will be born abnormal. This myth is not true instead STD is spread during intercourse only if either of the partners carries the disease,  menstruation has nothing to do with this. Menstruation also does not have any adverse effect on a baby conceived during that time.

8. There is a message says menstruating women should not take bath or go swimming.  this myth actually prevails from the old days where people used to take bath at the commonplace and a common water body like a pond, river, or a lake. The above myth might have circulated to dissuade a menstruating person from using the same water body that could have resulted in embarrassment to the person as well as inconvenience to others, however, today most of us take bath in private bathrooms and hence there is no reason to follow the above myth. Rather one must take bath daily to maintain general hygiene and cleanliness. If that person is going for swimming one can use tampons to absorb menstrual fluid and prevent it from exiting the body during swimming.

9. There is a very funny myth that we all know has been given before but just for the sake of putting it here let's do it. A myth says that after a girl's first menstruation any kind of physical contact with a boy can get her pregnant. We all know that pregnancy does not occur through casual physical contact and not even from touching hugging kissing but occurs mostly through unprotect sexual intercourse.

10. Now, this is something that many people don't know about and believe to be true. The myth is that it is impossible to get pregnant during menstruation. Ovulation happens within a few days after a girl's period is over. Sperm can fertilize an egg for 3 days. So if a girl has sex on the last day of her period and ovulates in the next few days, the sperm may still fertilize the egg.

11. There are many methods related to health during periods one of them being menstruation leads to heavy blood loss leading to anemia. Healthy menstruation does not lead the anemia. Blood loss during a single menstrual cycle in healthy women is not more than 80 ml (around 3 tablespoons). However, if the blood loss is more than 80 ml during a menstrual cycle, one must consult a doctor.

12. There is another method which is a very funny yet serious, it says menstruating girls and women at greater risk of being attacked by a shark or a bear. This is definitely not true,  menstruation of a girl or a woman does not increase her risk of being attacked by a bear or a shark. In any case, it is still better to avoid them.

13. This one is a weird one, it says that menstruating women are sacred and powerful, with increased psychic abilities. What even?! Nevertheless, the above-mentioned myth was almost followed in the ancient matriarchal societies. People! menstruating women are just regular women undergoing a natural biological process. 

14. You might not have heard this one before. It states that menstruating women can influence elements of nature like the sun, moon, seasons, and climatic conditions. I guess everyone knows the answer to this, it is not true. Menstruating women have no such powers and even scientific research on finding a correlation between the menstrual cycle and the cycle of Moon have remained inconclusive.

 

SOME MYTHS THAT PEOPLE TODAY BELIEVE

1.  Your period stops when you are showering. That is not true there is a little bit of blood going down the drain while you shower, you may not notice it. But it doesn’t mean it stops while you shower. 

2.  Birth control might make your period go away. There are certain types of birth control that can make your period go away, one of the common ones is the shot and also the IUDs. 

3. It’s not healthy to not have your period. False, it is totally okay to skip your period, it happens sometimes (also when you take birth controls). Also, don’t worry, it’s safe to not have your periods when you are on your birth control.

4. Women have their periods sync up. Nuh-uh, Not true! This myth has been going around for four decades. Recent researches show that this is not true and they don’t sync up. 

5. Period stops when you’re in the water. It does not actually stop when you’re in the water, but you might notice that you are bleeding a little less. This happens because your period has to battle the current of the water and the pressure and hence it might not flow out as easily as it does when you’re out of the water. 

6. You can’t have sex on your period. Ummm… NO. You can have sex during your periods and many people even enjoy having sex during that time. Orgasms during periods can help in alleviating some of the menstrual cramps. 

7. You cannot pee with your tampon in. Definitely a myth. The urination hole is different from where your tampon is (in the vagina). Hence you can pee with a tampon in. 

 

There are so many myths out there about periods that are usually associated with shame or stigma. Let’s educate and spread awareness and knowledge!!