WE BLEED 🔴RED NOT BLUE!

Menstruation. It’s a necessary biological function experienced by half of the global population yet still associated with taboo, discrimination, and age-old practices in countries all over the world. In reality for 1.8 billion girls, transgender men, and non-binary persons of reproductive age, and millions of menstruating young women across the world ( Refer to UNICEF Reports ) it is still an ongoing fight to bleed with dignity and count me as one among them. As time has changed we have new perspectives and no wonder we are living in the 21st century and for your kind information now menstruation is just not a feminine term or girl topic it is now a gender-neutral term with respect to trans and non-binary (menstruators) as well. But still, we follow the same traditions of discriminating and ill-treating young adolescent girls, menstruators, and women in the name of periods.

On the positive side, we are happy to see a hand full of non-profit organizations and young people advocating for menstrual rights and menstrual justice, menstrual health and hygiene, access to equal sanitation facilities, advocating for the right to bleed with dignity, and young people fearlessly breaking the taboos and myths surrounding menstruation. On the other hand, we have a set of people or norms of the society that say don’t talk about such topics, it's a sin, shhh say that in my ears. Do you know the same people from the society, our family, our community discriminate against us on the cultural and traditional point of view without a second thought from the time when we attain our menarche (the first occurrence of menstruation).

Frankly speaking, I am not blessed with peaceful periods; rather they are painful, sometimes messy, and stressful. Most of us tend to experience symptoms like exertions and vomiting, cramps and anxiety, body aches and dizziness, premenstrual syndromes (PMS), weakness, mood swings, and dehydration as well but don’t worry that’s all-natural and part and parcel of our life cycle that we go through every month, again and again, and is a recurring hormonal process in our body till the day we attain menopause (A natural decline in reproductive hormones when a woman/any other binary gender person reaches their 40s or 50s.). Despite dealing with all that internally we have a lot to deal with externally. A lot of times we are under societal pressure to follow a set of rules and practices that directly hurts our overall well being because those discriminating practices are leading to a huge impact on our mental and physical health till date.

The below excerpt/poem will give you a reality check on my personal experiences and observations of going through the societal stigma and taboo on menstruation and unlearning diverse perspectives and voices from different parts of the world.

WE BLEED RED NOT BLUE!

Hi,

Dear society,

I am on my periods,

Shhhh whisper in my ears,

Don’t say it loud,

So what?

Stay low, stay quiet,

We bleed red not blue

Hide it, don't bring in light,

Sit down, you’re not pure,

Can't help it, got no cure,

We bleed red not blue

Go nowhere, be at home,

You’re on periods, you can't roam,

Don't touch, you are impure,

Don’t eat pickles or spicy food,

Don’t go to the temple “these” days,

Let no human know about it,

We bleed red not blue

Okay!

Maybe it's something not so legit,

Dear society,

What should I do?

Do nothing, be in shame,

As we bleed red not blue

Hold on!

Do you still follow this primitive game?

The misogyny stay away don't get close,

She got chums and that's gross,

That’s what we are told,

As we bleed red not blue

Clear your thoughts,

Change your mindset,

Update yourself,

As we bleed red not blue

Let’s open up the negative knots,

Stand up and raise a menstrual cup,

Hold your female friend,

And say it loud,

Periods are common,

As we bleed red not blue

Let's be the one to stop this agitation,

Let’s end period poverty around us,

Let’s talk about periods,

Let’s normalize the talks,

As we bleed red not blue

Let the world know what menstruation is!

Let us spread the awareness,

Let us be the ones to initiate the talks,

Let us normalize menstruation in every household,

As we bleed red and not blue.

We bleed red not blue but that definitely doesn’t materialize women as incapable of carrying out their regular day-to-day chores in personal and professional life. To all the lovely people “ Do what makes you feel good and happy ”. I do whatever makes me feel good and happy during my periods, may it be eating my favorite food, resting and binge-watching, traveling, visiting the temple, hanging out with my friends, doing my cardio exercises, and practice 'Silambam' ( a weapon-based Indian martial art), just like any other normal day carry out my professional work life with a lot of patience and backend dealing with the societal peer pressures ( Now I don’t worry anymore as I am just used to it or surely have gained the practical experience in handling them with ease ). It is important that we feel good and take care of our well-being because our thoughts and feelings create our reality, not society or our peer’s perceptions.

After reading this you may feel that it is too much or you haven’t come across any kind of situation as such but sadly this is the reality and I'm just showing you the mirror. Yes, though we live an ultra-modern lifestyle in our urban spaces, in the end, we have no choice but to deal with a lot of external situations when it comes to menstruation, again and again, one or the other way.

Menstruation, menstrual morbidities, and menstrual hygiene management are issues which are required to be adequately addressed. We need acceptance, and let us be as we are, a change in our society and community, a change in the mindset, pro-active teaching about menstruation and eco-friendly menstrual products in educational institutions, informal talks surrounding menstruation in our households/ schools/ colleges/offices and friendly conversations on menstruation among all the genders.

“ Let’s be vocal, loud, and clear about our menstrual health and hygiene. Everything starts from you, start small even with your small initiatives but keep in mind that this is for millions of menstruating young people across the world ”.

As a young woman, I really wish we have the right to menstruate without being cast out or missing out and discriminated against, without feeling fearful or shame or restricted with taboos and age-old traditional practices, and without being treated like less or exposed to more vulnerabilities. To bleed with dignity is a basic human right of every menstruating person around the world that should be preserved and freely accessible but the bitter truth is that we are still fighting a long battle with the judiciary and the socio-cultural norms of our society. We should pat our back and feel proud that despite all the struggles and barriers we are all able to manage our mental health and menstrual health hand in hand all these years.

Don’t let periods stop you from doing whatever makes you happy. Wishing all the adolescent girls, young women, and menstruators healthy and joyful periods.

Author: Dega Ramya Tulasi

Disclaimer: This blog is entirely my own personal take and experiences on menstruation, menstrual health, and hygiene. It may appear to be silly or far-fetched to others. But I prefer to remain adherent to my ideals rather than parrot to any other ideologies or practices that I do not necessarily believe in.

Let’s Revive Local Spaces!

By: Sehaj Sahni

Upcycling into the Mindset and Youth Spaces: Combining Affordability and Sustainability by reviving local spaces( dis-utilised, under-utilised spaces, etc. )

An upcycled terrace made completely with upcycled furniture: Old Electricity Cable Bobbins sourced from TNEB costs INR 30 per stool and 50 for painting- Ready to Use, Used Doors converted into Tables: Sourced from Scrap shop at 500 INR.

Should we just throw old things? This question, if honestly answered by scientists and researchers around the World can open up many avenues in the field of sustainability and #ClimateAction. The microplastics problem in the seas is nothing but plastics thrown by us which we almost never give a second look at. Here comes an interesting topic of Upcycling which if used wisely can surely lessen the burden of #ClimateChange. Upcycling works on a simple mantra: Old thing(s) for you might be a treasure for someone else. The general sustainability quotient revolves around the REUSE factor majorly. But it is often not easy or socially acceptable to reuse things that are worn out, needs repair; or simply needs a makeover.

“Upcycling can give second life not just to the furniture or wood pallets, but also give new life to previously abandoned or under-utilised or spaces”

Reviving Abandoned Physical Spaces with Upcycled Furniture and Art:

Integrating upcycled furniture into previously abandoned or disused spaces greatly reduces the start-up costs of any physical space whether residential or commercial. Moreover, many of the Cafes and other commercial spaces have already been starting to realise the creative, cost benefits and environmental impacts of using old things to provide new experiences.We strongly believe in the positive vision for the future of cities and without collaborative spaces for climate action built with inculcation of eco-friendly and self-sustainability practices is the need of the hour!

#Upcycling #MyMarkMyCity #MyMarkMyChennai #IndianYouthCafe #AffordableSpaces #SelfSustainableSpaces #Eat #Sip#Relax #Cowork #UpcycledSpaces #SafeSpaces4Youth #MySafeSpace #YouthAdda #YAChennai #YouthAdda_Official #Sustainability #GenZSpaces #OpenArt #ArtistSpace #Chennai #ChennaiCafe #YouthCaf

#LetsReviveLocalSpaces

#AdoptWhatyouPreach

Omnichannel Spaces and Youth Engagement for Global Action

By: Sehaj Sahni

While the largest population of youth in the history of mankind in India and many other emerging economies is overflowing with aspirations in the connected world we live in, the virtual connectedness helps little to fuel these aspirations and greatly hinders the translation of impact into measurable and sizable action. The spaces that do exist like schools, colleges, coaching institutes, and corporates instill a feeling of competition rather than much-needed collaboration to fuel the Youth Power. On one hand, we have seen youth filled with aspirations to learn, work and earn in a global environment, the local infrastructure, tools, facilities, and labs available at institutes ranging from schools to corporates are biased towards a specific curriculum and don't necessarily appreciate our talents in the way our generation anticipates. Adding to that, with the advent of technology and social media; Youth is quite aware of their issues and many admit that the external pressure that comes in the form of assignments, appraisal cycles, etc is way too much to handle for today’s aspirational youth. Though we find that there are many physical and virtual channels for youth to connect, there is a need to integrate and unify the experiences for the current generation of young people that occur within and between contact channels.

Further, Youth suicide rates in India stands at >35% of the total police recorded suicide cases. The lack of social, safe, and affordable spaces for youth is a major obstruction in the path of development; and the youth development sector in general. On the other hand, we have found that there are also a lot of disused and underutilized spaces that can be converted into omnichannel spaces that have the potential to integrate and unify the online and offline experiences that can add up revenues for the owners while also providing affordable stays for youth in a specific region.

What is Omnichannel Strategy?

A term commonly used by today’s marketing and retails firm, might be the answer to the solutions of youth engagement at local, national, or global levels; omnichannel is broadly a new concept to understand the youth action given the immense improvements in technology available and a greater need to unify the experiences for the young people and adolescents. Multichannel engagement avenues are available for youth to connect with the positive actions in our communities, but without proper integration of shared synergies, the messages communicated towards localizing the global best practices become highly diluted and hence the overall impact takes a back seat.

As we see the business licensing and approval process further simplified by the Government of India, we also see an upsurge with a growing number of businesses specially categorized under the tag: Startups. There is certainly more ease in the commencement of businesses, but a serious lack of physical and virtual infrastructure to support the aspirations of the startup world worsens the situation for most of the leaders of tomorrow. Also, more than they need for offices, there is a need for spaces focussed on inviting new age innovators, changemakers, artists, digital marketers, campaigners, community builders, entrepreneurs, etc.

Further, In recent times, through our public surveys, we have concluded that most of the urban youth feel they are more aware than ever but less than 10% of the participants feel that they are properly engaged in matters of civic importance(IYC, 2019). Civic engagement if unchecked can lead to a disastrous path as the demographic dividend grows in the next decade. Enabling a self-sustaining model and instilling a creative community at spaces have been at a matter of importance as India takes a center stage in the World. Young people already speak out. We just need to be heard. Furthermore, the phenomenon of “Youth Bulge” poses great challenges for the socio-economic condition in India, while at the same time also presents vast opportunities for Young India, only if this share of the population is included in the formal decision-making process and young people are involved in local policymaking. The participation of the Youth is a major feature to be looked upon and how we engage our youth in the community and the World at large and provide leadership skills through informal collaborative activities shall primarily drive the socio-economic growth in our country in the future. As per World Economic Forum reports, the number of youth in NEET( Not in Education, Employment and Training) in India is more than 200 million which is a staggering figure considering the future of the world's largest cohort of people between the ages 10-24, is already at stake. Adding to that, the lack of data on marginalized and vulnerable youth makes addressing the special challenges even more difficult.

Spaces of Expression in Conflict Prone Regions:-

Safe spaces designed especially for the Youth in conflict zones such as Kashmir, Rakhine, Syria, etc. can enable a positive and cohesive environment around the issues they face and enable them to realize positive mental growth. If we provide more opportunities for Youth by enabling physical spaces where they can engage in meaningful conversations- a lot of issues over the radicalization of Youth can be solved.

Gladly, We have been working on researching the youth mindset for more than 5 years and also empowering and enabling safe spaces to express through a bundle of activities that have worked on the omnichannel model - an interplay of media, technology, local experiences. We started India’s first truly youth cafe, Urban Desi House with a triangular revenue model of coworking, events, and hangout space selling affordable food and beverages for urban youth. We learned that an omnichannel approach with the interplay of media, technology and localized experiences towards youth engagement can be introduced to enable informal learning and foster collaboration for youth at physical spaces at several centers in any nation to track and monitor young citizens and recognize the efforts shared through skills mainly through a single ticket system. Social credits that can be used to avail selective government schemes are perhaps one concrete way to create repositories of young people with new-age skills to harness the youth power. Also, community positions for youth ensure social support and attachment, alongside generating social capital that can be tracked and tagged to young individuals. #IndiaNeedYouthSpaces: Youth Cafe, a model hugely successful in Ireland have created an impact at grassroots and has enabled many young people and adolescents to identify their talents early when they attain puberty. Youth Cafes have also enabled spaces where youth have openly talked about the matters of civic importance on one hand and acted on them, while involved themselves in recreational and collaborative activities on the other. The spaces have played an important role in providing the youth an opportunity to attain much-needed leadership skills as they grow to become responsible adults. Similarly, We also wish this kind of solutions to engage and empower youth can lead to positive changes around the community and in India and World at large.

References: UN World Youth Report / NYP 2014 / IYC Report '19 / BBC News India