JOIN USA social media outrage against a sexist remark by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president in connection with entry of women to the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala is gathering momentum.
“Happy to Bleed”, a women-led Facebook campaign, was launched on Saturday against Prayar Gopalakrishnan’s recent statement that entry of women in Sabarimala could be discussed only after invention of a machine that could ascertain their “purity” (whether they are menstruating or not).
The Facebook campaign hosted by Nikita Azad, a student from Patiala, urges women to share pictures in which they hold placards/sanitary napkins/charts that say “Happy to Bleed”, in retaliation to “the shame game” by “a patriarchal society”.
“Happy to Bleed is a counter campaign launched against menstrual taboos, and sexism that women are subject to through it. It acknowledges menstruation as a natural activity that doesn’t need curtains to hide behind,” says the introductory note on the campaign’s Facebook page.
The seven-day campaign marked as a Facebook event already has many women posting pictures with #Happytobleed messages that also assert that the issue is not religious but about rights. Nikita had, on November 20, posted on the online platform Youth Ki Awaz a letter addressed to Gopalakrishnan in which she questioned the tagging of menstruation as an “impure activity”.
“I thank you for giving women an opportunity to get rid of the Utopian-liberal discourse of freedom, and rethink their position in society. Also, I thank you because your statement will not install purity checking machines, rather let women put a fight against such retrogressive, barbaric and misogynist customs,” she wrote.
TDB chief clarifies
Entry to the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala is barred for women of menstruating age, broadly categorised as women aged between 10 and 50 years, a restriction implemented in connection with the temple’s celibate deity.
Gopalakrishnan, chief of TDB that manages the temple, said he did not denigrate women and was only responding to reporters’ queries during a press briefing with regard to possibilities of technology in ensuring that the temple strictures were not breached.
“This is strictly about following a temple tradition but unfortunately, controversy is being created. When I took over as president, I took an oath that the temple’s long-followed traditions would be maintained,” Gopalakrishnan, a former Congress MLA, told Deccan Herald.
“When a reporter spoke about technology to screen women in connection with this restriction, I only responded, saying that we’ll talk about it once such technology is available,” he said.