Beyond the binary: Addressing menstruation challenges within the LGBTQIA+ community

While working on eco-conscious menstrual practices, Dr Sneha Rooh, a palliative physician and psychotherapist from Delhi, found the LGBTQIA+ community almost non-existent in the discourse around menstruation. 

Since 2013, Dr Rooh, who has more than six years of experience in queer-affirmative therapy, has been highlighting stories around menstruation across the gender spectrum through Orikalankini (‘Ori’, used to call out to a woman in Hindi in rural India and ‘Kalankini’ is a literal and metaphorical reference to someone who is ‘stained’). The initiative engages with menstruators across the gender spectrum through art, dialogue and theatre to change the narrative around menstruation and sexuality. 

Dr Rooh realised that those transitioning, or identifying as non-binary and transmasculine, didn’t relate to the feminine connotation around menstruation.

“A couple of years after I started Orikalankini, someone who identified as a non-binary person told me that they couldn’t associate with the name Orikalankini,” says Rooh, who was also coming to terms with her own queer identity as a bisexual woman. 

She learned from the menstruation experiences of trans people across the country; “how was the compounded stigma around menstruation and being queer affecting those at this intersection; where were the spaces their stories could be told,” she tells SocialStory.

Listening to the community

In 2020, Dr Rooh joined hands with Diti, a young, Delhi-based transmasculine activist, to produce a podcast series titled ‘Bloody Inclusive’ that narrated the menstruation experiences of gender non-conforming, transmasculine and non-binary people. Diti works with Sangat, an organisation promoting gender equality at the intersection of women's rights, poverty, sustainable development, and livelihoods. 

“I grew up in Assam as a gender non-conforming child. All through my early years, this didn’t bother anyone until the day I got my period,” says Diti, who recalls their harrowing experience as a 10-year-old. 

“My family made a ritual out of it, invited people, draped me in a Melkha Chadar (a traditional Assamese saree), and made me marry a banana tree, as per their customs,” they narrate. 

But their nightmare continued when the news of their periods spread in school. As someone who always dressed and behaved like a boy, the incident left them red-faced and traumatised.

A menstrual art and awareness workshop organised by Orikalankini left Diti wondering what it would be like for others like them to be heard and find community. 

“In today’s world, it is important to understand that there are people beyond just women who menstruate. Menstruation doesn’t define our identity and all advertisements that promote menstrual products solely for women only increase our gender dysphoria,” they say.

The Bloody Inclusive podcast featured non-cis and non-able-bodied perspectives on menstruation over eight episodes between December 2020 and January 2021, supported by Sangat. 

Also Read

This trans leader is teaching her village to reclaim social and cultural spaces

Beyond the binary

Challenging menstruation as a cis-normative phenomenon is important for inclusive health and well-being says Sai, a transwoman activist based in Delhi in the podcast. She says conversations around menstruation tend to romanticise the image of a fertile young woman ready to give birth. “This is problematic at multiple levels because it lacks nuance,” she says. 

As an example, Sai points to trans people who are assigned male at birth and opt for gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapies. 

“As they transition, they experience what we call ‘phantom periods’ where they feel all the symptoms associated with menstruation; the cramps, discomfort and hot flashes, without physically bleeding,” she explains.

“The core principle behind any employment provision such as maternity and menstrual leaves is built on gender. Gender-responsive employment policies, therefore, should take into account varied gendered experiences,” adds Sai. 

Menstruation education for all

Dr Rooh curates art-based and somatic approaches to facilitating menstrual workshops for NGOs working in health and advocacy. As part of these workshops, she has focused on understanding menstruation through the body, honouring its changes, and keeping a tab on one’s cycle organically, as opposed to focusing on the assigned gender of participants. Her modalities include bodywork (breath, yoga), art and movement. 

“Change could begin with a small step such as using inclusive terminology such as ‘menstruators’, instead of ‘women and girls,” she says. “But I have been explicitly told by people in the major menstrual health movement not to bring gender, disability and caste into the work, as they believe this would complicate things.”

Orikalannkini has partnered with Nazariya, a queer feminist resource group, to offer an annual 13-week fellowship titled Gender and Sexuality Lab. It works with 13 teens and adults from across the gender spectrum and trains them to implement their own sexuality and menstrual wellness projects and initiatives. 

“We also represent members from the queer, disability and oppressed communities in our study material and bring in facilitators from these groups to train our fellows. These are some ways we ourselves have evolved over the years and included diverse experiences in the work we do,” Rooh says.