Celebration of menarche : Welcoming womanhood in the indigenous ways

Abstract

Menarche, the first menstrual bleeding,suddenly pushes a young girl into a new worldof womanhood. This rapid developmentalchange and the sudden change of the selfconceptaffect adolescent girls (Ruble andBrooks-Gunn, 1982). The young mindsstruggle much to cope with this suddenchange in their body and lifestyle, leading tostress and subsequent mental trauma (Paigeand Paige, 1981; Marshall, 2016; Chandra Mouli and Patel, 2017). These psychologicalchanges are also evident in prepuberty,puberty, and post-puberty adolescent girls(Ruble and Brooks-Gunn, 1982; Marshall,2016; Stenson et al., 2021). The sensitiveperiod of puberty impacts trauma on girls’development of an anxiety disorder(primarily social phobia) and may even causepuberty or post-puberty depression or PTSD(Marshall, 2016). Though subjectively,menstruation is taught in all the high schoolcurricula, dealing with this transitional phaseremains struggling among adolescent girls inlow- and middle-income countries (ChandraMouli and Patel, 2017). The lack ofknowledge, preparation, and guidance aboutmenstruation, as observed in the low- andmiddle-income countries (Chandra-Mouliand Patel, 2017), pertains to the social tabooon discussing this natural physiologicalprocess and the communication gap withingenerations. To deal with these problems andto respond well to the requirements ofadolescent girls during menstruation,Chandra-Mouli and Patel (2017) suggesteducation regarding puberty to all (both girlsand boys), proper hygiene to be maintainedduring menstruation, availability of clean,functional toilets in schools and community,and mental support at the family andcommunity level. They further suggest thatthe menstrual education and availability ofpertinent facilities will enhance selfconfidenceand strengthen personaldevelopment among adolescent girls.