Period Paatu Ft. Sofia Ashraf | Sista From The South | Blush

It is time to read between the legs about what menstrual hygiene products are doing to your body and the environment. In this video, our Sista lays out the pros and cons of Sanitary Pads, Tampons and Menstrual Cups through a witty adaptation of Villu Paatu - a tamil folk storytelling form.

NAARIYAL KE LADDOO | Breaking The Stereotype |

What happens when a wife lies to her in-laws that their son has got a job, when in reality, it is she who goes to office, while her unemployed husband manages the household? The story tells us about a newly wed couple, and how they struggle daily, to combat the frustration of unemployment, breaking the stereotype of gender bias. Director: Vivek Soni

Indian female farmers going 'womb-less' to boost productivity by Devyani Nighoskar 24 Jul 2019

Despite national awareness campaigns, menstruation is still a taboo subject in India and impoverished people are most at risk [File: Reuters]

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Maharashtra state, India - Pushpa, a farmer and mother of two, was 26 when she experienced heavy bleeding during her period and abdominal pain.

She took medicine for two years until a doctor advised a more serious "cure".

She soon became one of the many women in the villages of Beed district, which is in the Indian state of Maharashtra, to undergo a surgical procedure to remove her womb.

"It was not an easy decision to make. But my husband encouraged me to do it, because the pain affected my work. The hysterectomy caused some hormonal imbalance and I put on weight," said Pushpa, who is now 37. 

According to Indian media, more than 4,500 young women in Beed have had potentially unnecessary hysterectomies over the past three years. 

Activists and studies surveying affected women say there are socioeconomic reasons behind this phenomenon.

They claim that women are becoming "womb-less", whether voluntarily or coerced, for two main reasons. 

The first is that doctors are exploiting them, scaring them into believing that the expensive surgery is necessary and, therefore, turning a profit. The second is because of a perception that menstruation hinders work.

Beed is a drought-prone area, where sugar cane cutting is the main source of income.

During cane-cutting season, October to March, the women often rise at 4am to make food for their family. The working day then begins at 6am and ends at around sunset, 6:30pm.

Given the water shortage, work is scarce. We cannot afford to lose it over our female problems.

VRANDAVANI SANDEEP, FARMER WHO HAD A HYSTERECTOMY TWO YEARS AGO

Field work is rigorous and requires upper body strength. After the cane is cut, it is tied together. The women carry the loads on their heads.

If they need to urinate, they usually do it in the fields because longer breaks incur a fine.

Rukhmini Tandale, a 45-year-old cane cutter from Vajrantwadi village, went to a doctor in November 2018 in Beed city, and like Pushpa complained of abdominal pain.

The doctor told her having a hysterectomy would prevent cancer.

"I did think that an operation might just be a way to extract more money, but I didn't want to take a chance," she told Al Jazeera.

The average cost of a hysterectomy is 35,000 rupees ($508) in Maharashtra, a state where the daily wage for a female farmer is around 202 rupees ($2.93).

Almost 30km away, in Hajipur village, Lata Magar, another victim, said: "It was better to invest in operation at once than keep spending over medicines."

Women are often made to believe that their uterus is of no use after childbirth and are rushed into unnecessary surgeries.

"Some unethical clinics, whose main purpose is maximising business, advise hysterectomies by telling women that their ailment may turn cancerous. [But unnecessary] hysterectomies [may] also lead to other health issues," said Dr Shashikant Ahankari, president of the HALO Medical Foundation in Maharashtra.

Eknath Devrao and Lakshman Sonawne are contractors for sugarcane farmers in Beed district. They usually employ a couple in a field and claim that they have never asked a woman to have her womb removed in order to boost productivity [Devyani Nighoskar/Al Jazeera]

Usha Raosaheb is a community health worker, known as an "ASHA sister", appointed by the government's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in Vajrantwadi village.

She countered the women's claims, telling Al Jazeera: "There may be some greedy doctors, but I know several women who undergo hysterectomies to become employable by contractors or more productive in their fields."

Farmers in Beed are usually hired by a contractor, who employs couples as one unit. 

Women who have a "pishvi", which means bag but is used to refer to a uterus, are seen as less employable.

Contractors employ the couple for a year and pay them an advance of about 1,50,000 rupees ($2,175). To earn it back, the women need to show up to work every day and some voluntarily undergo a hysterectomy to avoid their routine being impacted by their periods.

Bajinder Maan, a labour rights lawyer in Delhi, told Al Jazeera that he feared thewomen's human rights were being violated.

"They can certainly avail justice from the labour laws office in their district if they feel that their employers or contractors are forcing them into surgery, or showing a bias towards those women who have had a hysterectomy," he told Al Jazeera. "However, it may be challenging for the women to prove this claim in the civil courts because they are part of an informal industry, with no workable documents to establish the contractual relationship.

"Being part of a district farmer's union, affiliated to a political party, makes it easy to get redressals for such grievances."

More than 4,500 young women in Beed are believed to have undergone early and possibly unnecessary hysterectomies [File: Amit Dave/Reuters]

Vrandavani Sandeep, 36, from Umrad Jahagir village, had a hysterectomy two years ago.

"Given the water shortage, work is scarce. We cannot afford to lose it over our female problems," she told Al Jazeera.

Several women in the villages of Beed district referred to their "female problems", a euphemism for menstruation - still largely a taboo subject in rural India.

Periods are viewed by some sections of society as making women impure, and they are banished to live in menstruation huts.

They can't enter temples or kitchens, and can't touch anyone.

While several of these "traditions" are still practised in India, the subject has entered the national discourse with campaigns such as Menstrupedia and Girls Glory, along with the release of the commercial Bollywood movie Padman and the Oscar-winning documentary Period-End of Sentence.

Usha, the community health worker, said: "Taboos are being shattered through awareness programmes. Though, we still have a long way to go when it comes to basic hygiene, access to proper drinking water and nutrition."

I encourage my wife and daughter to talk to me. I lost my sister to uterine cancer because she kept the problem to herself.

UDHOVITTHAL KUTE, FARMER FROM VAJARANTWADI

Through ASHA sisters, women in rural India are meant to have easier access to free pads.

But women in Beed villages complain that this has not been the case. 

Radha Mugle, a 28-year-old from Hajipur who is preparing to have her womb removed, said: "The ASHA sisters hardly receive stock and it's difficult for us to be able to afford it ourselves."

The average cost for a pack of 12 low-cost sanitary pads is 100 rupees ($1.45) in Beed.

Reflecting on her own hysterectomy, 60-year-old Gayabai Mugle said: "I was unable to get up during my period and would often get infections."

Sitting on a charpoy in a thatched hut, she now understands that these complications may have been because she used cloth instead of a sanitary pad - something that is still practised in several pockets of the country, and because she was unable to discuss her menstrual ailments with anyone.

However, the conversation around menstruation has begun in some parts of Beed.

"I encourage my wife and daughter to talk to me. I lost my sister to uterine cancer because she kept the problem to herself," said Udhovitthal Kute, a 43-year-old farmer from Vajarantwadi, whose wife Ayodhya had a hysterectomy two years ago.

Gayabai Mugle, 60, with poses with her daughters-in-law. She was unaware that using a piece of cloth during menstruation instead of a sanitary pad caused infections. [Devyani Nighoskar/Al Jazeera]

The National Commission of Women has alerted Maharashtra Chief Secretary UPS Madan, following a report in The Hindu Business Line, calling for legal action to "end the menace of womb removal". 

A special committee was formed on June 18 under the Maharashtra legislative assembly.

"The seven-member committee comprises of doctors, health workers, researchers and human right activists. The committee would be carrying out surveys and formulating a plan to put an end to this practice. The report is anticipated in mid-August," said Dr Radhakishan Pawar, district health officer from Beed district. 

Education for women often isn't a priority in Beed.

The lack of schooling leaves farm work as the only option and fails to provide them with knowledge of their rights and the hysterectomy procedure.

Most quit school after they hit puberty. Some are forced to because their families can no longer afford the fees.

With no other skills or schemes directed towards women, they start helping out on the farms.

Manisha Tokle, a women's rights activist from Beed, said: "This is a serious matter and one solution for it is to make women aware of their bodies.

"Women who have undergone hysterectomies need to be provided follow up sessions."

In Umrad Jahagir village, 40-year-old cane-cutter Dwarka Sandeepan, reflects on the importance of education.

She is the only married woman in her family who has not had a hysterectomy.

"We need more employment schemes for women," she said. "Education is a must, too. How else will we know of our rights?"

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

No games for women with 'too much' testosterone

Indian activist and researcher on gender issues in sports, Payoshni Mitra, talks about the case of Dutee Chand, an Indian athlete who was recently banned from competition due to naturally occurring high testosterone levels. Hida Viloria, an intersex representative at the IOC Commission follows with her take on the International Olympic Committee’s policy on testosterone testing. For the rest of the conversation, watch the full episode: http://bit.ly/1pKhkYK

Caster Semenya’s CAS verdict: ‘will lead to witch-hunt’ by Payoshni Mitra

The International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) eligibility regulations for competitors with Differences of Sex Development say that its health and science department will look into each case.

However, Dr Payoshni Mitra, one of the 10 experts on Caster Semenya’s team, believes implementation of the regulations will result in violation of the rights of female athletes. Mitra, an activist and researcher on gender issues, believes that officials of national athletics federations will, without the knowledge of the outside world, subject women athletes with suspected hyperandrogenism to tests and procedures to screen them early before investing in them long-term with an eye on medals in international competitions.

ALSO READ | Therapy life-long, has side-effects: Expert

Gender bending, gender testing by Vrinda Marwah

आज ओलंपिक धावक सेमेन्या Semenya को लेकर खेल जगत में चर्चा है. उनके शरीर में टेस्टोस्टिरोन हार्मोन की मात्रा लड़कियों में पाई जानेवाली निर्धारित मात्रा से अधिक है. इस आधार पर फैसला हुआ है कि उनको दवा खाकर अपने शरीर के टेस्टोस्टिरोन को घटाना पड़ेगा तभी वे महिला खिलाड़ी की श्रेणी में (ख़ास दूरी की) दौड़ प्रतियोगिता में हिस्सा ले पाएँगी. मालूम हो कि टेस्टोस्टिरोन लड़कों के लक्षण उभारनेवाला हार्मोन है. इस खबर पर पूरी दुनिया में फिर से बहस छिड़ गई है. पिंकी प्रामाणिक और दुती चंद का उदाहरण हमारे सामने है. मतलब यह है कि हाव-भाव, चाल-ढाल, पहरावे, केश-सज्जा आदि ही नहीं अब हार्मोन और क्रोमोजोम की जाँच करो और लड़का-लड़की के दो डिब्बों को बनाए रखो. कई साल पहले का यह लेख महत्त्वपूर्ण है.

The arrest and subsequent humiliation of Indian athlete and international medal winner Pinki Pramanik has violated her right to privacy, bodily integrity, and basic human dignity. It has also raised important and often sidelined questions about gender, sports and the way the world is organised. Twenty-six-year-old Pramanik was accused by her live-in partner of repeated rape and torture, and of being a man. She was arrested on June 14, 2012. She was not granted bail for 26 days, which she spent in a male cell in a West Bengal jail, and she had to undergo three gender determination tests at different state hospitals, because the necessary facilities were not available at a single hospital. An MMS clip, showing her in the nude while undergoing one of the tests, was leaked online and went viral. The district and sessions judge, while granting Pramanik bail on July 11, held that she was physically incapable of rape, and that the petitioner who alleged rape had been in a consensual live-in relationship with Pramanik for nearly three years. Pramanik was suspended from her job as a ticket collector with the Eastern railways; the suspension was revoked after her bail and she has now rejoined work. While speaking to the media, she alleged that, in police custody, gender tests were forcibly carried out on her after drugging her and tying her hands and feet.

In November 2012, the West Bengal police submitted a chargesheet before the district court in which, citing medical reports, they alleged that Pramanik is indeed male, and charged with rape. Later, Dr BN Kahali, who headed the medical investigation into Pramanik’s gender, clarified that Pramanik suffered from a “disorder of sexual development”, and could best be described as a male pseudo-hermaphrodite, which is to say that Pramanik is not female, but “cannot be termed a male”. Pramanik has responded by saying she feels “like a joker in a circus”, and is being driven by the police to think of suicide. According to the latest media reports (also in November 2012) Pramanik planned to file a defamation case against the police and the public prosecutor, and publicly asked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee, and the union sports ministry, to intervene in her case.

Transgender Parents Who Conceived Two Sons Naturally

Bianca and Nick Bowser, who were born male and female, respectively, conceived their two sons naturally. While the couple both identify as transgender, they have not gone through gender reassignment -- which caused Nick to carry the pregnancies.

Judith Butler : Your behavior creates your gender

By Cristan Williams
@cristanwilliams

Judith Butler is a preeminent gender theorist and has played an extraordinarily influential role in shaping modern feminism. She’s written extensively on gender and her concept of gender performativity is a central theme of both modern feminism and gender theory. Butler’s essays and books include Performative Acts and Gender Constitution (1988), Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990), Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”(1993) and Undoing Gender (2004).

However, the concept of gender performativity has been used – and some would assert – abused to support a number of positions that misconstrues Butler’s work. I, therefore, wanted to ask Butler about what she really thinks about gender and the trans experience.  Along the way, Butler specifically addresses TERFs and the work of Sheila Jeffreys and Janice Raymond.

---

Cristan Williams: You spoke about the surgical intervention many trans people undergo as a “very brave transformation.” Can you talk about that?

Judith Butler: It is always brave to insist on undergoing transformations that feel necessary and right even when there are so many obstructions to doing so, including people and institutions who seek to pathologize or criminalize such important acts of self-definition. I know that for some feels less brave than necessary, but we all have to defend those necessities that allow us to live and breathe in the way that feels right to us.  Surgical intervention can be precisely what a trans person needs – it is also not always what a trans person needs.  Either way, one should be free to determine the course of one’s gendered life.

CW: I think it’s safe to say that many gender theorists are controversial in one way or another. Some have lumped your work together with the work of gender theorists such as Sheila Jeffreys, who wrote:

[Transsexual surgery] could be likened to political psychiatry in the Soviet Union. I suggest that transsexualism should best be seen in this light, as directly political, medical abuse of human rights. The mutilation of healthy bodies and the subjection of such bodies to dangerous and life-threatening continuing treatment violates such people’s rights to live with dignity in the body into which they were born, what Janice Raymond refers to as their “native” bodies. It represents an attack on the body to rectify a political condition, “gender” dissatisfaction in a male supremacist society based upon a false and politically constructed notion of gender difference… Recent literature on transsexualism in the lesbian community draws connections with the practices of sadomasochism.

Can you talk about the ways in which your views might differ?

JB:  I have never agreed with Sheila Jeffreys or Janice Raymond, and for many years have been on quite the contrasting side of feminist debates.  She appoints herself to the position of judge, and she offers a kind of feminist policing of trans lives and trans choices.  I oppose this kind of prescriptivism, which seems to me to aspire to a kind of feminist tyranny.

If she makes use of social construction as a theory to support her view, she very badly misunderstands its terms.  In her view, a trans person is “constructed” by a medical discourse and therefore is the victim of a social construct.  But this idea of social constructs does not acknowledge that all of us, as bodies, are in the active position of figuring out how to live with and against the constructions  – or norms – that help to form us.  We form ourselves within the vocabularies that we did not choose, and sometimes we have to reject those vocabularies, or actively develop new ones.  For instance, gender assignment is a “construction” and yet many genderqueer and trans people refuse those assignments in part or in full.  That refusal opens the way for a more radical form of self-determination, one that happens in solidarity with others who are undergoing a similar struggle.

One problem with that view of social construction is that it suggests that what trans people feel about what their gender is, and should be, is itself “constructed” and, therefore, not real.  And then the feminist police comes along to expose the construction and dispute a trans person’s sense of their lived reality.  I oppose this use of social construction absolutely, and consider it to be a false, misleading, and oppressive use of the theory.

CW: Recently, Gloria Steinem wrote:

So now I want to be unequivocal in my words: I believe that transgender people, including those who have transitioned, are living out real, authentic lives. Those lives should be celebrated, not questioned. Their health care decisions should be theirs and theirs alone to make. And what I wrote decades ago does not reflect what we know today as we move away from only the binary boxes of “masculine” or “feminine” and begin to live along the full human continuum of identity and expression.

Would you comment on Steinem’s statement?

JB: I agree completely that nothing is more important for transgender people than to have access to excellent health care in trans-affirmative environments, to have the legal and institutional freedom to pursue their own lives as they wish, and to have their freedom and desire affirmed by the rest of the world. This will happen only when transphobia is overcome at the level of individual attitudes and prejudices and in larger institutions of education, law, healthcare, and kinship.

CW: What do you think people misrepresent most about your theories and why?

JB:  I do not read very much of those writings, so I cannot say. I do know that some people believe that I see gender as a “choice” rather than as an essential and firmly fixed sense of self.  My view is actually not that.   No matter whether one feels one’s gendered and sexed reality to be firmly fixed or less so, every person should have the right to determine the legal and linguistic terms of their embodied lives.  So whether one wants to be free to live out a “hard-wired” sense of sex or a more fluid sense of gender, is less important than the right to be free to live it out, without discrimination, harassment, injury, pathologization or criminalization – and with full institutional and community support.  That is most important in my view.

CW: Do you think that humans have an innate and subjective experience of having a body? If so, would part of that experience also include having a body with primary sex characteristics?

JB: Most of what people say about these matters is rather speculative. I know that some subjective experiences of sex are very firm and fundamental, even unchangeable. They can be so firm and unchanging that we call them “innate”. But given that we report on such a sense of self within a social world, a world in which we are trying to use language to express what we feel, it is unclear what language does that most effectively. I understand that “innate” is a word that conveys the sense of something hired-wired and constitutive. I suppose I would be inclined to wonder whether other vocabularies might do the job equally well. I never did like the assertion of the “innate” inferiority or women or Blacks, and I understood that when people tried to talk that way, they were trying to “fix” a social reality into a natural necessity. And yet, sometimes we do need a language that refers to a basic, fundamental, enduring, and necessary dimension of who we are, and the sense of sexed embodiment can be precisely that.

CW: Some (such as Milton Diamond) assert that there seems to be a genetic issue that can lead to transsexualism. What are your thoughts about such assertions?

JB: In the works by Milton Diamond that I have read, I have had to question the way he understands genetics and causality. Even if a gene structure could be found, it would only establish a possible development, but would in no way determine that development causally. Genetics might be yet another way of getting to that sense of being “hard-wired” for a particular sex or gender. My sense is that we may not need the language of innateness or genetics to understand that we are all ethically bound to recognize another person’s declared or enacted sense of sex and/or gender. We do not have to agree upon the “origins” of that sense of self to agree that it is ethically obligatory to support and recognize sexed and gendered modes of being that are crucial to a person’s well-being.

CW: If “gender” includes the way in which we subjectively experience, contextualize, and communicate our biology, do you think that living in a world without “gender” is possible?

JB: Sometimes there are ways to minimize the importance of gender in life, or to confuse gender categories so that they no longer have descriptive power. But other times gender can be very important to us, and some people really love the gender that they have claimed for themselves. If gender is eradicated, so too is an important domain of pleasure for many people. And others have a strong sense of self bound up with their genders, so to get rid of gender would be to shatter their self-hood. I think we have to accept a wide variety of positions on gender. Some want to be gender-free, but others want to be free really to be a gender that is crucial to who they are.

https://www.transadvocate.com/gender-performance-the-transadvocate-interviews-judith-butler_n_13652.htm

करुणा नंदी - CJI पर यौन उत्पीड़न का आरोप

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SnS5nxHHXE