FOR INTERCOURSE-RELATED BLEEDING @INDIA
ANOTHER INCIDENT THAT HIGHLIGHTS WHY EDUCATION ABOUT MENSTRUATION IS IMPORTANT – A 12-YEAR-OLD KILLED BY HER BROTHER WHO IS BLINDED BY PATRIARCHY AND ILLITERACY
2023 and it is unbelievable that there are still people who don’t have any knowledge about menstruation and female reproduction. In the, latest case in Thane, Maharashtra, India, a 12-year-old girl was tortured to death by her brother and the murder stems from his suspicions of his sister being involved in sexual activity.
The girl lived together with her 30-year-old brother who is a security guard and his wife; one day her brother saw some blood stains on the girl’s dress and understood that the girl was bleeding from her private area. The bleeding which was because she recently started her menarche was misunderstood by her brother as bleeding after intercourse.
The man assumed that his sister had intercourse which he considered not okay and started accusing her of an affair. The girl who knew she was just bleeding because of her period failed to explain it to her brother; the girl knew about her period but didn’t know how to explain it to her brother.
The 30-year-old escalated from accusations to verbal abuse and then to physical torture; the girl was tortured for 4 days during which she was beaten, and burnt with tongs. The poor 12-year-old who is already in pain from her period, was succumbed to death by the torture that her brother had put her through.
The accused who was blinded by the raging anger burnt the girl’s mouth with heated tongs and continued to torture her like that for 4 continuous days. later the girl who went into critical condition was taken to hospital where she was declared to have died due to the injuries.
The girl’s body was covered with burnt marks and was sent for post-mortem. The guy was arrested and taken into custody for murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code which will get him lifetime imprisonment or a death sentence.
Incidents like this happen due to a lack of knowledge about some basics. Some superstitions in India claim that period blood and a woman on her period are impure which is why no girl or woman is allowed to speak about period when in public or in front of men. Some people still believe in all these and who involve in practices where women are considered untouchable when they are on their period.
What is period or menses or menstrual cycle or menstruation?
Menstruation is a regular process that a woman’s body undergoes once a month until she undergoes menopause (the cessation of menstruation due to a decline in hormones naturally). This process involves the discharge of blood, the uterus’s inner lining, and the unfertilized egg produced by the female reproductive organs; the discharge finds its way out of the vagina.
This happens because as soon as the reproductive organs start producing an egg, a woman’s body starts building a womb expecting the eggto be fertilized; a fertilized egg will develop into an embryo that will need nutrients, and a suitable temperature to survive and that will be provided in the womb and to fulfill this need of the embryo, the female body starts building womb just in case an embryo form.
A womb is where the baby’s development takes place for the 9 months of pregnancy. And in biological terms, it is the uterus where the baby is protected. This cozy place for a baby is created by the thickening of the uterus which involves in development of new layers on the inner walls of the uterus.
If the egg produced is not fertilized then this developed lining tears itself apart and flows out of the vagina and this process is called menstruation. Menstruation happens once in 28 days (sometimes this period may vary due to various reasons) which means every month the same repeated process mentioned above happens in a cycle which is why it is called the menstrual cycle. And every month the discharge lasts for days that vary from 3 – 6 (sometimes more).
Why is menstruation mistaken for bleeding after intercourse?
People who don’t know about menstruation often mistake the bleeding for something related to intercourse. This is because in some cases when a woman has her first intercourse, there are chances of her bleeding due to the breakage of tissue called the hymen. Hymen is a layer at the entrance of the vagina which is very thin and during the first intercourse, this hymen stretches or tears and causes bleeding.
This doesn’t happen in all cases or to all women but many men who saw this happen often assume the hymen to be the seal of virginity which it’s not because some women are born with less part of the hymen and sometimes the tearing of the hymen happens way before first intercourses due to menstruation or rough exercises.
What went wrong in the above incident?
In the above-mentioned incident, the accused saw his sister bleed due to a period that he never heard of and assumed that she had her first intercourse and accused her of that. And this only happened due to a lack of knowledge about menstruation and period blood. People need to be educated about menstruation and to know that there is nothing bad or shameful about it. Raise awareness about menstruation and stop spreading hate about it.
What are your thoughts on the incident and the superstitions revolving around menstruation? Tell us here and keep in touch at https://microwebblogs.com/.
