We’ve become a world that has a long list of things to shun. We condemn the right to speak and ban all things that can be viewed under the microscope of moral policing and filter freedom of expression as per our societal norms. So for Indians, Instagram’s recent act of removing a girl’s pictures due to reasons of objectifying community guidelines does not come as a surprise.
The image was that of a fully clothed girl who is menstruating and has a blood stain that’s clearly visible. What’s the big deal? It happens to all women, every month! After all, it is a natural, biological process that’s important for women and human kind to take their generations forward.
We as a misogynistic society have seen much worse. For centuries, Indian women have been condemned for menstruating and asked to keep away from all things holy at that time of the month.
But for Instagram to take this step is a little startling. Especially, when we take note of the fact that many accounts on Instagram have posts on multiple socially objectionable things. Imagine a 15-year-old posing amidst a group of young boys in a bikini. Yes, that’s the kind of thing we’ve seen.
But this menstruating picture, which contains neither nudity nor graphic images promoting violence, should ideally have never come under Instagram’s censorship radar. Especially since it is being done for a noble cause of dealing with the taboos surrounding menstruation. We know that Instagram’s been on a spree of banning anything that is even remotely offensive, but these pictures are far from objectionable. It’s even more puzzling considering the west is more open about the subject of menstruation on social media.
On the other hand, while we support Rupi and her cause of not being ashamed of this natural process, we can’t quite understand why anyone would want to bring about the awareness in such a manner. No, we are not advocating the Instagram route of removing it from the face of social media but simply questioning how it provides any kind of awareness. They are aesthetically shot, somewhat, but are still not pleasing enough.
Rupi who is also a poet posted these images on her website and on Instagram twice, later with a long and hard hitting message to the social forum, blaming them for being blinded against women and their problems. While the gesture is appreciated, the rest of the pictures are even less appealing to the eye.
We agree that the shaming of menstruation is a huge problem that needs to be dealt with by sensitising the society towards women and their intimate issues, but doing it the Rupi way isn’t the best.
Spreading awareness happens at the grass root level where they lack information and resources. So a woman in rural India who distributes sanitary napkins makes a tangible effort at spreading awareness while Rupi posting pictures of her period stain on social media does nothing more than create a stir of debate.
Moreover, her campaign hasn’t quite gone the way she wanted it to. By posting these pictures, Rupi has created debate on the pictures that will soon die down, rather than bringing menstruation as a subject out in the open, in public domain.
Image courtesy: Rupi Kaur Blog
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