Taboo around menstruation is one of the most effective forms of oppression. It is an intangible force that prevents us from communicating comfortably about our own bodies and from accessing the proper education that would teach us about how our bodies work. It turns a bodily cycle that is natural and normal into a process of shame and disgust. The monthly shedding of the uterine lining is the very process that enables life on this earth to exist. It is an uncomfortable and difficult monthly process that half the world’s population goes through in order to enable life to continue.

The story with Kerala’s Sabarimala Temple is a strong example of why menstrual taboo is so prohibitive. It is an arbitrary scapegoat to prevent women from practicing their faith alongside men. Constructs of purity have long kept women from advancing in society — in both the western worlds and eastern — and by using women’s bodies against them, many patriarchal societies are able to create rules that allow men to control women at their whim.