On December 15, Zawadi hosted a Period Party in Kashani to raise awareness for menstrual equality and provide vital reproductive health education to our attendees. With this event, we hope to encourage our community to embrace menstruation and fight against period poverty.
Menstruation matters
Around fifty girls attended our event, many of whom are in their young teenage years. All of them—as well as a large part of the population—have or will soon have periods. But despite menstruation being a natural bodily process, many people still lack the education, support, and resources they need.
Our goal for this event is to provide all of that to our attendees, on top of providing a non-judgmental space to encourage open dialogue and questions. In this safe environment, we hoped to raise awareness about the challenges and inequalities that people face, as well as teach the girls more about their bodies and encourage them to advocate for their own rights.
Conversations and competitions
Throughout the day, our attendees participated in different activities that covered crucial topics about sexual health and menstruation.
The event began with a health talk led by our nurses about the physiological process of menstruation as well as the anatomy of the female reproductive system to better understand the former. A later talk shifted the focus toward understanding sexuality as a whole. Our attendees learned about what occurs in the body during puberty, including hormonal changes. An important part of this session honed in on precautions with intercourse; participants were informed about safe sex, abstinence, and options available to curb challenges like early or unwanted pregnancies.
After the health talks, our attendees split into groups to create their own presentations about menstrual inequalities and barriers. Their creativity flowed through in their skits, songs, poems, and public speeches, which were placed in a competition.
Our winning teams had projects that addressed the different challenges young women face when it comes to their periods, as well as presenting nuanced takes and compelling research. For instance, one group presented a skit that highlighted the communication barriers that girls with single fathers face. Another presented a poem about the challenges people experience during their periods such as lack of parental support and inexperience with menstrual products.
Question marks on periods
The girls were encouraged to ask questions during the health talks or in confidentiality through a question box. Our educators readily answered their inquiries and dispelled any myths and misconceptions they heard about.
Some of these questions included:
Do virgins get menstrual periods?
Answer: Yes, virgins get menstrual periods. The hymen has an opening through which the menstrual bleed passes through.
What kind of food is one expected to eat when on their period?
Answer: One can eat all types of food generously, especially those with high iron content and sparingly those with highly spiced and high sugar content.
Understanding your body is the first step to taking care of your health. Many of the girls expressed their joy and gratitude for the Period Party and the support provided. They said that this was the first event they have attended where they learned about menstruation, puberty, and sexuality, and celebrated them at the same time.
The girls’ eagerness to learn the process of menstruation, as well as their requests for future educational opportunities and for their parents to join them next time, goes to show that everyone has it in them to understand what matters in the world. Getting started can be as simple as having just fun with it.
Through knowledge and empowerment, we can provoke policy change and break down barriers for women all over the world. Periods should not be a source of shame, and people who have them shouldn’t be shunned. After all, we all bleed the same color.
