Break the taboo: Celebs support menstrual health via social media
Periods are normal. They are not inappropriate and there is no room for shame while talking about them. Recently when Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about menstrual hygiene in his Independence Day speech, his initiative to address the issue from the Red Fort was appreciated by one and all.
Bollywood celebs have also supported Instagram campaigns on menstrual health. Actor Kirti Kulhari who posted about one such campaign, says, “There should be no need for code words for period, no need for wrapping newspapers around a pack of sanitary pads and asking for a pad doesn’t have to be a hushed request. It’s time we ended periodshaming.”
An NGO, Humans For Humanity, which had been working to spread awareness around menstrual hygiene, kicked off the Red Cloth Campaign during the pandemic, to keep the ball rolling. This initiative talks about breaking taboos around periods. “We are inviting everyone to participate; one can participate by simply tying a red cloth around the wrist and putting up the picture as a post or story on your Instagram handle with the hashtag in the caption,” says Anurag Chauhan, founder of the NGO, who is now taking the virtual route to spread awareness on menstrual hygiene.
Actor Lisa Ray and singeractor Shibani Dandekar have also supported the campaign along with many social media users. And while posting about the campaign, the actors are tagging co-stars.
Sharing her views on menstrual health and campaigns, actor Kubbra Sait says, “It’s still so crucial that we bring it to every school, so that girls and also boys can speak about this. We should normalise it, instead of it being some sort of taboo.”
Another actor who backed this cause is actor Divya Seth Shah. She says, “A bodily function that propelled the human race is rendered unspeakable by social taboo. Time to change. The rite of passage into adulthood. Just making it real and dignified and the red cloth campaign is a powerful declaration of the end to this silence.”