Module on imparting awareness on Menstrual Hygiene to adolescent girls in Karnataka, India.

1. Mythri Complete
module on
Menstrual
Hygiene
awareness for
adolescent
girls

2. Using the video
We are sure that you are waiting to see the video and download it!
But, before it is downloaded and used, we strongly recommend
that the following guidelines be read and kept in mind, so that the
sessions you intend to conduct can be more effective.
Clearly, this is not the only way of imparting awareness on
Menstrual Hygiene effectively. However, in our experience we have
found that the following methods work quite well.

3. Disclaimer
The contents of this video and
presentation should not be substituted as
medical advise for problems related to
menstruation.

4. Target group – Adolescent girls primarily from
government schools in rural and urban locations
across the state of Karnataka, India

5. OBJECTIVES:
1. To address common myths and misconceptions regarding
menstruation
2. To enable adolescent girls to overcome inhibitions to talk
about menstruation and seek help when required
3. To impart awareness on maintaining personal hygiene
during menstruation
4. To promote maintenance of hygiene regardless of personal
preference of cloth or Sanitary Napkins to absorb menstrual
flow

6. How we arrived at the content
Since 2010, we have reached out to over 5000 adolescent girls in rural
and urban government schools. The content in the awareness video has
been put together primarily based on the questions asked by adolescent
girls in government schools we visited in Bangalore, Tumkur, Hoskote,
Devanahalli, Kolar, Mangalore, Karwar, Gulbarga, Mandya and
Chamrajnagar. While the questions came from the girls, we sought the
answers through doctors and from the book on menstrual hygiene,
published by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
The contents therefore, focus largely on the concerns of adolescent girls
and what they wish to know instead of what we feel they must know.

7. Guidelines for the Facilitator

8. Guidelines for the facilitator
1. Most schools we have visited, prefer a female facilitator to conduct
the awareness session. If you are a male and wish to conduct the
session, ensure that you have the consent of the school principal
2. Get familiar with the contents of the video. This will help in
equipping yourself for interactions with the girls
3. Invite female school staff to be present for the session so that there
is mutual comfort between students and staff and they can carry
forward such interactions in your absence
4. Request schools to invite mothers / female guardians to the session
as the practises and encouragement at home is as important as in
school

9. 5. We encourage having this session separately for girl students so that
they are more comfortable to open up and share their concerns
6. The age group of students who can be invited to attend this session
can start from 9 years (std. 5 onwards). The session will be equally
important for those who are yet to attain puberty as well as those who
have started menstruating
7. Explain beforehand to the school staff that while discipline is good,
we encourage girls to open up, speak and ask questions during the
session and therefore teachers are requested to avoid repeatedly
asking girls to maintain silence
Guidelines for the facilitator

10. The Session

11. Points to remember before you start the session:
• The session will be most effective only if the facilitator engages with
the girls meaningfully before, in between and at the end of the
video
• Showing the video alone at a stretch may not serve the purpose
entirely
• Our objective is not to give information through one-sided
monologues, but to enable girls to overcome their inhibitions and to
talk about issues surrounding menstruation in a comfortable
environment through interactive sessions, involving the female
students, facilitators, teachers and mothers, if possible

12. Introduction: Overcoming Inhibitions

13. Overcoming Inhibitions
The previous picture pretty much summarizes how girls would react
when you first announce the purpose of your visit. Most girls will
avoid looking at you, some will giggle, some will feel extremely
uncomfortable and some will be nervous that their problem might
be highlighted in front of all.
So, how would you proceed?

14. Share your experience
Overcoming Inhibitions

15. Overcoming Inhibitions
If the girls have to open up to you, they first need to relate to you –
as a female and more importantly, as someone who has been
through what they are now going through.
We have found that when the facilitator initiates conversation by
sharing their personal experience of how they felt as an adolescent
who first attained puberty, an immediate and drastic change occurs
and the girls begin to open up about their experiences and problems.

16. Girls reacting to the facilitator's experience
Overcoming Inhibitions

17. Do remember
• Girls will only feel as comfortable to talk about menstruation as you
are. The minute you hesitate, feel awkward or show embarrassment,
the girls pick it up and react accordingly.
• It is extremely important that as a facilitator you are comfortable to
talk about your period and about menstruation, so that young
girls realize that it is OK and can be spoken about.
• Adding humour to your story works wonders to lighten the
atmosphere and to make girls relax and talk about their own stories.
• In some cases, it does take a while to get 1 or 2 girls to talk about their
experiences, but it is worth the time as only then will the class, as a
whole get truly comfortable to talk about menstruation.

18. Girls sharing their experiences with the class
Shirali, Uttar Kannada, 2011Dandeli, Karwar, 2013
Attiguppe, Bangalore, 2012
Maddakanahalli, Tumkur, 2013

19. Using the Video - Mythri

20. Once you have helped girls overcome their initial inhibitions, you may
proceed step-wise to talk about menstruation through the Animated
Video provided. The contents of the video have been split into 3 parts to
enable interactions and invite questions at relevant intervals. Links to
access each part of the video online has been provided. The 3 parts are:
1. Common Questions – This covers the first set of questions which
girls usually ask and are keen on knowing
2. Biological basics & Hygienic practices – This section covers the
biology of what causes menstruation to occur. It also covers
hygienic practices of using, cleaning and disposing cloth and Sanitary
napkins
3. Personal hygiene & cleanliness – This section summarises the points
covered so far, with focus on maintaining personal hygiene during
menstruation

21. Part 1 – Common Questions

22. Part 1 – Common Questions
Now that girls seem more comfortable to learn about
menstruation, it is a good idea to invite them to ask questions
that they have regarding menstruation. Not only is this a good
precursor to showing the first part of the video, it will also help in
building curiosity among girls to know these answers and
therefore, pay attention when the video is played. Some of the
typical questions asked include:
• Why do we have aches & pains during a period?
• Is something wrong with me because my period occurs only
once in 2-3 months?
• Isn’t menstrual blood impure, bad blood?
Following this, Part 1 of Mythri can be played.

23. Links to Introduction & Part 1
You can view the Introduction and Part 1 of the video at the
following links:
Introduction - http://youtu.be/mBhMo040vp4
Part 1 - http://youtu.be/xGMUC_wQEEE

24. Following Part 1..
Before moving to part 2 of the video, interact and ask the girls if their
questions have been answered and if anything needs to be explained
again. If so, please take the time to slowly explain the aspects which
they haven’t understood. Some of the important points which
schools have asked us to repeat include
• How can we tell if the bleeding is heavy and when should we see a
doctor for the same?
• How can girls keep track of their dates (menstrual cycle) and come
prepared to school a few days before they get their period?
• Is it OK if the period occurs only once in 2-3 months?
• What is white discharge?

25. Part 2 – Biological basics & use of
hygienic practises

26. Part 2 – Biological basics
This part of the video is shown in answer to the question “Why
does this happen only to girls?” or “Why do we need to
menstruate at all?”. Often girls feel low about themselves and
unfair that the process of menstruation affects only them and not
boys.
Continuing to carry such a feeling impacts their self-esteem, their
sense of dignity and affects their confidence. Therefore, it helps
when the facilitator looks at the process of menstruation from a
different angle – one of giving women the unique ability to
reproduce and create life, and conveys the same to the students
through part 2 of the video.

27. • Initiate conversations to prepare them for the next part of the video
by asking them what means they use to absorb menstrual flow.
Allow them to freely express whether it is a cloth or Sanitary Napkin.
• It is important to note that the lack of hygiene and problems due to
unhygienic practises arise due to improper use, be it with cloth or
sanitary napkin, rather than the method itself. Therefore, we do NOT
encourage girls to use one way over the other and instead leave it to
their personal choice, affordability and preference after having
explained how hygiene can be maintained with both methods.
• Seek answers from them on their current practises on using,
cleaning and methods of disposing so that you obtain a better
understanding of their practises and what needs to be corrected. At
this stage, do not correct them. Allow them to express freely.
Part 2 – Use of hygienic practises

28. Link to Part 2
You can view Part 2 of the video at the following link:
Part 2 - http://youtu.be/FFpMvw_D7sE

29. Following Part 2..
Once part 2 has been shown, make sure they have understood
which of their practices need to be improved/changed and why.
Some of the commonly found incorrect practices include:
• Using the same cloth/pad without changing for over 8 hours
when the flow is scanty
• Drying the used, washed cloth indoors to prevent men from
seeing it
• Disposing Sanitary napkins in toilets and water bodies
• Sharing menstrual cloth among female family members
• Unhygienic storage practices

30. Part 3 – Personal Hygiene & Cleanliness

31. Part 3 – Personal Hygiene & Cleanliness
This session can be initiated by asking girls what methods they
currently use to maintain personal hygiene during menstruation,
following which the video can be shown. It is important to stress
on the following:
• Use completely dried undergarments and cloth during
menstruation
• Do not share your cloth with other family members
• Take bath daily and keep your private parts clean after each
change of cloth/pad or visit to the toilet
• Wash your hands thoroughly after each visit to the toilet

32. Link to Part 3
You can view Part 3 of the video at the following link:
Part 3 - http://youtu.be/lOtPha6pxgk

33. Open Discussions

34. Open Discussions
• Once the 3 parts of the video have been shown, the session can
be open to invite the girls to ask any other question which has
not been covered in the video.
• Often questions on religious and cultural practises such as not
being allowed to visit temples generate a lot of curiosity among
girls and they wish to know why.
• The facilitator must keep in mind that we need to respect
individual religious and cultural practises and focus our talk
primarily on those aspects which interfere with maintaining
hygiene.

35. Typical Questions
Q. Why are we not allowed to visit temples during menstruation?
• Response: Traditionally, practises restricting women to stay
indoors came into being to ensure that they get sufficient rest
during menstruation. However, the same practises have continued
to this day. While it is each person’s personal choice to visit a
temple or not, please know that it has no relation to a woman
being impure during menstruation. Menstruation is a natural,
biological process.

36. Typical Questions
Q. Is it OK to consume period postponing pills during religious
festivals which otherwise require us to stay away if we are
menstruating?
• Response: While it is OK to consume such pills following a doctor’s
advice once or perhaps twice a year due to unavoidable
circumstances, it is preferable to stay away from artificially changing
the course of your menstrual cycle. Delayed periods due to such pills
could be painful, heavy and could be accompanied by facial acne
due to the hormonal changes in the body. Although it is
understandable that women feel embarrassed to announce that
they are menstruating and hence be excused from attending
religious ceremonies, it is more important to be concerned about
the health implications by repeatedly swallowing pills

37. Typical Questions
Q. Disposed Sanitary Napkins attract snakes, causing a shaapa (curse)
to the person who has used the pad, and might even cause their
death
• Response: There is no truth in this. This was probably invented to
prevent women from disposing Sanitary Napkins in the wrong
manner.
Q. Does bleeding during menstruation cause pain in the vagina (often
asked by girls who are yet to attain puberty)
• Response: No. Unlike a wound causing blood to be discharged,
menstrual bleeding does not cause any pain in the area from where
it is being discharged. However, aches and pains in the stomach,
abdomen, legs, etc. are a normal process of menstruation and are
called pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)

38. Carrying it forward: Before you leave, make sure that you have
handed a copy of the video to the school and formed a team of
students and staff who are willing to carry forward the same to
future batches. This will ensure that the process of imparting
awareness doesn’t stop with you.

39. One on One sessions - Before concluding the session, inform
the students that you will be available for one on one sessions
if any of them wish to talk in private. Often, girls who are too
shy to speak in front of the group will come forward during this
time, after everyone else has vacated.

40. In conclusion - While the topic of menstruation itself is a serious one with
impact on health and well-being, the manner in which it is handled need
not be so, especially while talking to young girls. What girls need to know is
that menstruation is a normal, natural process and the problems which they
go through are universal and every woman goes through the same.

41. Thank you for your interest and patience in going
through the guidelines. Here are all the links at a
glance:
Introduction – http://youtu.be/mBhMo040vp4
Part 1 – http://youtu.be/xGMUC_wQEEE
Part 2 – http://youtu.be/FFpMvw_D7sE
Part 3 – http://youtu.be/lOtPha6pxgk

42. We would love to hear your feedback.
Do write to us at mythrispeaks@yahoo.com with
inputs, suggestions and to let us know how you
intend to use this video.