https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i3.095
Menstruation, Stigma, and Feminist Resistance
DR. LATHA S
Associate Professor
Department of English
Mount Carmel College, Autonomous, Bangalore
Email: writelatas@gmail.com
Abstract: This paper explores the transformation of menstrual narratives in contemporary India from silence and stigma to public dialogue and feminist resistance. Drawing on feminist theory, cinema studies, cultural discourse, and digital activism, it attempts to probe the cultural and social forces that define menstrual experiences within patriarchal, religious, and media frameworks. The paper traces the evolution of women, her representation in Indian cinema from passive embodiments of morality and sacrifice to active assertions of bodily rights and social agency.
Analysing Pad Man and the #HappyToBleed initiative by Nikita Azad, it examines the collective visibility of menstrual discourse in contemporary India. Permitting the film advocates normalization, awareness, and accessibility, the campaign mobilizes decentralized digital resistance against cultural and religious stigma. Both interventions pursue to reclaim menstruation as a site of dignity and empowerment.
Locating these within the frameworks of menstrual narratives, period politics, menstrual justice, and reproductive discourse, the study commands the junctures of representation, access, and bodily autonomy for broader social, cultural, and political transformation.
Keywords: Menstrual Narratives, Digital Activism, Reproductive Discourse, Bodily Autonomy, Feminist Resistance
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