Exploring young men’s knowledge and perspectives on menstruation in Cis-women

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of menstruation andmenstrual health, especially menstrual hygiene, which hasrecently gained global attention. The stigma ofmenstruation is global and deep-rooted and negativelyimpacts health, agency, mobility, and dignity. Moreover,most health education programs do not addressmenstruation adequately, focusing merely on biology andlacking information on its relation to sexual andreproductive health and lack of a broader perspective,especially sociocultural. Most research focusing on girls’and boys’ perspectives towards menstruation is scanty.Hence, the primary objective of the present study is toexplore the young boy’s perspectives towards menstruationin the Kerala context. A descriptive exploratory study wasdone using in-depth interviews among 25 young men agedbetween 19-30 years, and data analysis was done usingthematic analysis. The study found that most participantslacked adequate knowledge of the biological process ofmenstruation. They also believed that menstruation was awomen’s issue that boys/men did not need to know about.However, most of the boys have heard/known about thecultural practices related to menstruation. The studyconcluded that engaging boys and men is integral inconversations related to menstruation, and partnershipwith boys is essential for achieving gender equality.