Ending period stigma: Men who taking the lead in supporting girls and women

Despite efforts to normalize the conversation around menstruation, it is still considered taboo by some, hence several girls and women suffer in silence with issues from access to sanitary towels, to painful and irregular periods.

There have also been efforts to rope in men into the conversation around menstruation to help them understand and support their sisters, daughters, cousins and all other girls and women going through the natural process.

Jase Mwangi spoke to  Wananchi Reporting about his views around the topic:

Most women get stigmatized for talking about their menstrual cycle to men. Many girls think of starting their menstrual cycle as a nightmare but it shouldn’t be so.

There are some schools that teach about how to go about menstrual hygiene, however this usually does not happen in rural areas where there are also many families struggling financially and even getting access to proper sanitary towels becomes an issue.

In cases where one is raised by a single father, it would feel awkward to tell your father about it because it was considered as a taboo. It is worse in instances where menstruation begins unexpectedly – when one is in class, walking in the streets or even asleep. 

These girls are left wondering what to do and for those in rural areas, getting shops with pads would be difficult because of the distance and the cost incurred. 

Mwangi however says that while these problems still exist, there has been more awareness created and a deliberate push to destigmatize menstruation.

He also says that several men have taken it upon themselves to understand the cycle and support girls and women:

Whenever my girlfriend is on her periods, I understand that it is very normal. I am awared of premenstrual syndrome and that during that time, she craves certain meals and snacks and I try my best to cook them for her or take her out for ice cream dates or anything that she craves just to make her happy. 

She gets bloated and I make her understand that it's okay and I don't body shame her.

She also gets break outs on her face and mostly it's one popping pimple on her face and this makes her feel insecure, but I keep on reassuring her that she is beautiful and it will eventually disappear. 

During these times, she is emotional. One minute she could be smiling and the next one she doesn't want to see me around, we often argue about that. 

When we started dating, I thought it was a mental disorder or that she was going through something because of the extreme mood swings. 

However, these days, I understand what she’s going through. I've had to read up on the process so that I can support her the best I can. 

Mwangi adds that fathers have also started participating in supporting their daughters, instead of leaving it exclusively to mothers.

 This is especially crucial for single fathers.

Mwangi says, “Whenever I'm in the supermarket and I'm in the sanitary towel aisle, some people would look at me weirdly and I could imagine that they have a lot of questions and assumptions in their mind but I would encourage as many people as possible to be supportive.”