Let's Talk About Periods | Ananya Maskara | TEDxYouth@NMS

Ananya Maskara runs the social initiative 7th Period, through which she sells scented candles to raise money, to buy sanitary pads made by women with polio, and to sell those to underprivileged girls. She grabbed our attention by pointing out a shocking incident of a girl committing suicide due to peer shaming in school while she was on her periods. She emphasizes the taboo the society has created around menstruation, and how it has covered the biological process into a “brown paper bag”. How a menstruating girl in India is treated as contaminated, and even her shadow is to be avoided. Ananya wants to be an agent for social change. Her main agenda is to spread the message, “Anything you can do, I can do bleeding," and spark conversations around periods, and that’s what she does with this talk. She is an avid reader with a dynamic book collection. she participate in various MUNs both in India and abroad to fuel my love of international politics and debates. Most importantly, She is a passionate feminist and take pride in my social work most notably my initiative 7th period. 7th period is a social initiative aimed at decreasing the stigma around sanitary napkins for students across Delhi. Through providing girls between the ages of 12-18 (Class VI-Class XII), we
hope to an increase access to sanitary napkins, while simultaneously decreasing the stigma and negative attitudes towards the natural process of menstruation. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx