A third way into the book I found that the most intriguing text this far has actually been in the earlier pages of the book. Laskshmi and the people in her culture have beliefs dramatically different then our cultures in many different fields too. A strong example of this is how they treat their women is almost cruel and extremely unfair, women have to work very hard without credit or little to no pay, they are treated like animals. Everything about the way Laskshmi's cultural treatment is unfair. When women first start puberty and menstruate for the first time they suddenly become a woman in every aspect of their lives. This can not be better presented when Ama begins telling Laskshmi the roles she will have to fill after she gets her first period. "Never look a man in the eye. Never allow yourself to be alone with a man who is nit family. And never look at a growing pumpkin or cucumbers when you are bleeding. Otherwise they will rot." (Pg. 15). This shows not only do women have to become very loyal to men even if they are not married to them, but they also have to be careful as to what they look at. It's almost as if women are believed to curse the crops just by looking at them. This is much different from the typical American culture, when women are going through their menstrual cycle men are taught to respect, have more patients, or do favors for women because of the pain they are in. However with Laskshmi's culture women are worked even harder and they are treated worse. Also when Laskshmi first started 'bleeding' she was put outside in the goat shed and hidden from the world for a week until Ama came to tell her what was happening to her body and the new tasks she would have to do.
In America when a woman has her period she is given the products and information she needs to handle the situation, however in third world countries such where Laskshmi lives her people do not have access to these products. This results in them using rags, tree leaves, old clothes, toilet paper, newspapers, cotton wool, cloths or not at all to stop the bleeding. This causes many health issues and more often than not girls result in skipping school one week a month. Within the four years of high school girls can loss up to 156 learning days equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of learning in high school (rhrealitycheck.org). The way girls are treated especially when they are becoming women is drastically different in our culture vs. Laskshmi's.
I too was interested in this subject of the book. What really stumped me was the idea that a woman on her period would rot plants by looking in their direction. I did some research as to where this myth came from in historical times and i could not find the exact belief but in some places it is believed that If a menstruating woman cans fruits or vegetables, the fruits will spoil in the can." ("All Woman." Jamaica Observer News. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.).Since the two myths are so similar i wonder if they come from the same region.
ReplyDeleteI was also interested in this subject! It seems crazy to me that women would be shunned and isolated for something as natural and harmless as menstruation. According to The Globe and Mail, in proper Nepalese tradition, women are forced to stay in tiny rooms attached to their homes for the entire week they are menstruating. They are also not allowed to drink milk as they believe that it will make the cow stop bearing milk. This concept, called "chaupadi" is thankfully becoming less popular and regularly practiced, but it is still very apparent in the western regions of Nepal.
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