The secret river the politics of menstrual hygiene management in the WASH sector

Kuntala Lahiri-DuttSenior Fellow, Resource Management in Asia Pacific

ProgramAustralian National university

Contact: kuntala.lahiri-dutt@anu.edu.au

The ritu: seasons and menstrual cycle

Tradition:• ‘… the rhythms of the body and the rhythms of the cosmos

are in harmony..’ (Veena Das)• bodily fluids—menstrual, vaginal and amniotic—indicate

generative capacity• premodern cultural traditions are also

androcentric/patriarchal - yet did not subscribe to a mind/body division

Ingestion of menstrual blood:‘The underlying logic explaining why things defined as pure were always spoken of as healthy is evident when cleanliness is viewed in terms of seed imbued with power, which, if tempered, engenders social and personal well-being.’ (Hanssen)

Medicalizing menstruation

Effects of representing it as a ‘condition’:• waste product of the body – arousing disgust, requiring

sanitisation• association with being ‘unclean’ – overlays discourses of

purity and pollution• accomplished through ‘hygiene’ products• the body can carry out its ‘normal’ daily activities in

spite of menstruatingEssentialism:• must be experienced in the same manner – deviations

as ab- or sub-normal state

An alternative

Disposal