Anushka Dasgupta / Facebook Anushka Dasgupta / Facebook / Facebook

ANUSHKA DASGUPTA WAS on her way home last week when she noticed lots of men “ogling” her and women urging her to pull down her t-shirt.

Only when a woman offered her a sanitary towel did she realise why she was on the receiving end of so much attention: she had a period stain on her pants.

I came to know why I was the centre of attention for the better of my journey when a woman (well meaning, I’m sure) offered me a sanitary napkin. I had stained my pants. So here I was, well past eight, standing alone at Esplanade with a massive red stain across my butt and a rather artistic red dot under the zipper of my pants.

The reaction to the stain angered Dasgupta and inspired her to write a lengthy Facebook post about why no woman ought to be ashamed of their period.

Anushka Dasgupta / Facebook Anushka Dasgupta / Facebook / Facebook

First she had a message for the women who instructed her to hide the stain.

This post is for all the women who offered to help me hide my womanhood, I AM NOT ASHAMED. I bleed every 28-35 days, it is painful at times, I get moody at times, but I walk into the kitchen and get myself some chocolate biscuits and I’m good to go for the next eight hours come hell or high water because I AM NOT ASHAMED.

And then she had a message for all the men who stared.

This post is for all the men who ogled at me today, I AM NOT ASHAMED. Check out the big red blotch on my pants all you want, check out my butt, check out the way I move, come touch me if you dare, and I will show you that I AM NOT ASHAMED. I will take out a sanitary napkin and show you how it works while you can teach me how to pee in public (because clearly you’re not ashamed, and neither am I).

Before addressing the kids who had remained oblivious to the stain.

To all the children who didn’t give a damn, DO NOT BE ASHAMED. There will be many bloodstains on pants, on skirts, on bedsheets, on cushion covers, on chairs, on tables, against the wall, and on the battlefield where YOU fight the stigma by NOT BEING ASHAMED. Do not whisper when you utter the word “PERIODS”, do not subtly offer a woman a sanitary napkin, or a fresh change of clothes. ASK her if she needs one, TELL her she has stained her clothes, DO NOT HELP HER HIDE IT.

The powerful status has received over 10,000 likes and has been shared thousands of times with people praising Anushka for shedding light on what remains a taboo topic.

As for Dasgupta?

She hopes it “asking uncomfortable questions, and having uncomfortable debates, and getting into uncomfortable conversations so that the discomfort finally disappears.”

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