Periods. Blood. Menstruation. Gross. Secret. Hidden. Why?
例假。出血。月经。不雅。秘密。遮掩。为什么会这样呢？
A natural biological process that every girl and woman goes through every month for about half of her life.
作为一种自然的生理规律，每个女孩和妇女，在其一生中有一半的时间，每个月都会经历例假。
A phenomenon that is so significant that the survival and propagation of our species depends on it.
这个现象如此重要，以至于全人类的生存和繁衍都要依赖于它。
Yet we consider it a taboo. We feel awkward and shameful talking about it.
然而我们却视它为禁忌。我们谈论它时感到尴尬和羞耻。
When I got my first periods, I was told to keep it a secret from others -- even from my father and brother.
我第一次来例假时，别人告诉我，不要将这件事告诉任何人，哪怕是爸爸和哥哥。
Later when this chapter appeared in our textbooks, our biology teacher skipped the subject.
后来在教科书上出现了有关例假的章节，但是生物老师直接跳过了内容。
You know what I learned from it? I learned that it is really shameful to talk about it.
你知道我学到了什么吗？我学到了谈论例假是非常羞耻的事。
I learned to be ashamed of my body. I learned to stay unaware of periods in order to stay decent.
我学到了为自己的身体感到羞耻。我学到了为了保持体面就得假装不知道例假这件事。
Research in various parts of India shows that three out of every 10 girls are not aware of menstruation at the time of their first periods.
印度各地的调查显示，十分之三的女孩第一次来例假时，并不了解它。
And in some parts of Rajasthan this number is as high as nine out of 10 girls being unaware of it.
在拉贾斯坦邦的一些地区，这一比例高达十分之九。
You'd be surprised to know that most of the girls that I have spoken to,
你可能会感到惊讶，大多数我接触过的女孩
who did not know about periods at the time of their first menstruation thought that they have got blood cancer and they're going to die soon.
在第一次来例假时，不知道例假是什么，她们以为她们得了血癌，马上就要死了。
Menstrual hygiene is a very important risk factor for reproductive tract infections.
经期卫生是导致女性生殖道感染的重要风险因素。
But in India, only 12 percent of girls and women have access to hygienic ways of managing their periods.
但在印度，只有12%的女孩和妇女拥有卫生的例假处理方式。
If you do the math, 88 percent of girls and women use unhygienic ways to manage their periods.
换句话说，88%的女孩和妇女处理例假的方式都不卫生。
I was one of them. I grew up in a small town called Garhwa, in Jharkhand, where even buying a sanitary napkin is considered shameful.
我就是其中之一。我在拉贾斯坦邦的一个叫做加瓦的小镇长大，在那里甚至买卫生棉都很丢脸。
So when I started getting my periods, I began with using rags. After every use I would wash and reuse them.
所以当我来例假的时候，使用的都是布条。使用完我会清洗再利用。
But to store them, I would hide and keep it in a dark, damp place so that nobody finds out that I'm menstruating.
但是我得找一个阴暗潮湿的地方把它藏起来，这样就没人知道我在生理期了。
Due to repeated washing the rags would become coarse, and I would often get rashes and infections using them.
因为反复清洗布条变得粗糙，我常常得皮疹和感染。
I wore these already for five years until I moved out of that town.
在离开了小镇之前，我五年来一直用这样的方式处理例假。
Another issue that periods brought in my life those of the social restrictions that are imposed upon our girls and women when they're on their periods.
另外一个例假带来的不便是社会强加在月经期的女孩和妇女的一些限制。
I think you all must be aware of it, but I'll still list it for the few who don't.
我想大家都有所耳闻，我将为那些不知道的人一一列举。
I was not allowed to touch or eat pickles. I was not allowed to sit on the sofa or some other family member's bed.
我不能碰也不能吃腌菜。我不能坐在沙发上，也不能坐在其他家庭成员的床上。
I had to wash my bed sheet after every period, even if it was not stained.
每次例假结束我都要清洗床单，即使床单上没有污渍。
I was considered impure and forbidden from worshipping or touching any object of religious importance.
我被认定是不洁之人，不允许参拜或触摸任何宗教物品。
You'll find signposts outside temples denying the entry of menstruating girls and women.
不允许经期女性进入庙宇的警示牌随处可见。
Ironically, most of the time it is the older woman who imposes such restrictions on younger girls in a family.
讽刺的是，这些限制往往是家族中年纪较大的女性强加到年轻女性身上的。
After all, they have grown up accepting such restrictions as norms.
毕竟随她们长大，她们接受这些限制，并且将其当成标准。
And in the absence of any intervention, it is the myth and misconception that propagate from generation to generation.
在没有任何干预的情况下，这样的传播和误解一代一代的传播下来。
During my years of work in this field, I have even come across stories where girls have to eat and wash their dishes separately.
在我研究这几年的研究中，我甚至听到过女孩需要单独吃饭和洗碗这样的故事。
They're not allowed to take baths during periods, and in some households they are even secluded from other family members.
她们在经期不允许洗澡，有的家庭甚至把她们关起来，以防和其他家庭成员接触。
About 85 percent of girls and women in India would follow one or more restrictive customs on their periods every month.
在印度，大约85%的女性在例假期间都会至少遵循一条这些限制性的习俗，
Can you imagine what this does to the self-esteem and self-confidence of a young girl?
你能想象这对一个年轻女孩的自尊和自信产生什么样的影响吗？
The psychological trauma that this inflicts, affecting her personality,
这造成的心理创伤可以影响女孩的性格，
her academic performance and every single aspect of growing up during her early formative years?
学习成绩和在早年性格形成过程中每个方面的成长。
I religiously followed all these restrictive customs for 13 years,
我虔诚地遵循了13年的习俗，
until a discussion with my partner, Tuhin, changed my perception about menstruation forever.
直到我和一个叫图新的朋友聊天，让我永久的改变了对生理期的看法。
In 2009, Tuhin and I were pursuing our postgraduation in design.
2009年图新和我都在读设计专业研究生。
We fell in love with each other and I was at ease discussing periods with him. Tuhin knew little about periods.
我们彼此相爱，我和他谈论经期也比较自在。图新不懂例假。
He was astonished to know that girls get painful cramps and we bleed every month. Yeah.
当他知道女孩每个月有月经甚至还要流血时，震惊不已。是的。
He was completely shocked to know about the restrictions that are imposed upon menstruating girls and women by their own families and their society.
当他知道经期女性受到的家庭和社会强加的种种限制后，更加震惊不已。
In order to help me with my cramps, he would go on the Internet and learn more about menstruation.
为了帮助我更好的度过月经，他会去搜索网络，学习更多经期知识。

When he shared his findings with me, I realized how little I knew about menstruation myself.
当他和我分享月经知识的时候，我才意识到自己对月经知之甚少。
And many of my beliefs actually turned out to be myths.
很多我之前所相信的都是假的。
That's when we wondered: if we, being so well educated, were so ill-informed about menstruation,
我们怀疑：如果我们作为受过高等教育的人都对月经知之甚少，
there would be millions of girls out there who would be ill-informed, too. To study -- to understand the problem better,
其它数百万的女孩知道的就更少了。为了研究，为了更好地研究这个问题，
I undertook a year-long research to study the lack of awareness about menstruation and the root cause behind it.
我用了一年的时间来研究为什么月经问题一直被忽视和根植于背后的问题。
While it is generally believed that menstrual unawareness and misconception is a rural phenomenon,
为什么大家普遍认为，对于月经的忽视和误解是一个农村问题。
during my research, I found that it is as much an urban phenomenon as well.
在我的研究过程中，我发现它也是城市问题。
And it exists with the educated urban class, also. While talking to many parents and teachers,
它在城市受过良好教育的人群里也存在着。通过和许多家长和老师的讨论，
I found that many of them actually wanted to educate girls about periods before they have started getting their menstrual cycle.
我发现他们中很多人，实际上希望在女孩的月经来临前告诉她月经的知识。
And -- but they lacked the proper means themselves.
恩，但是他们缺乏合适的方法。
And since it is a taboo, they feel inhibition and shameful in talking about it.
因为这是一个禁忌，他们在谈论它的时候感觉压抑和羞耻。
Girls nowadays get their periods in classes six and seven,
现在女孩子大多在六年级七年级开始来月经，
but our educational curriculum teaches girls about periods only in standard eight and nine.
但是我们的教育课程，在八九年级的时候才正式的讲月经的知识。
And since it is a taboo, teachers still skip the subject altogether.
而且正因为它是禁忌，老师们仍然一起跳过这些内容。
So school does not teach girls about periods, parents don't talk about it.
所以学校不告诉女孩经期知识，家长们也不谈论这些。
Where do the girls go? Two decades ago and now -- nothing has changed.
那些女孩怎么办呢？20年来直到今天一直都是这样。
I shared these finding with Tuhin and we wondered:
我和图新分享了这些发现之后，我们认为，
What if we could create something that would help girls understand about menstruation on their own
我们应该创造一些东西来帮助女孩了解他们自己的生理期，
something that would help parents and teachers talk about periods comfortably to young girls?
创造一些能够帮助家长和老师，更舒服地和孩子们谈论生理期的东西。
During my research, I was collecting a lot of stories.
在我的研究中，我收集了很多故事。
These were stories of experiences of girls during their periods.
这些女孩们在她们经期时的经验故事。
These stories would make girls curious and interested in talking about menstruation in their close circle.
让其他女孩在这个属于她们自己的圈子里，好奇并感兴趣地谈论这个问题。
That's what we wanted. We wanted something that would make the girls curious and drive them to learn about it.
这就是我们想要的。我们想让女孩通过好奇心的驱使去学习月经知识。
We wanted to use these stories to teach girls about periods.
我们希望用这些故事来告诉女孩什么事例假。
So we decided to create a comic book,
所以我们决定写一本漫画书，
where the cartoon characters would enact these stories and educate girls about menstruation in a fun and engaging way.
里面的卡通角色演绎了这些故事，并用风趣迷人的方式告诉女孩子们生理期的知识。
To represent girls in their different phases of puberty, we have three characters.
为了给不同青春期阶段的女孩更好地展示，我们有三个人物
Pinki, who has not gotten her period yet,
。平吉，她还没有开始例假，
Jiya who gets her period during the narrative of the book and Mira who has already been getting her period.
吉雅，她在这本书的叙述中开始了例假，还有米娅，她已经开始了例假。
There is a fourth character, Priya Didi.
还有第四个角色，皮里亚·迪迪。
Through her, girls come to know about the various aspects of growing up and menstrual hygiene management.
通过她，女孩们知道了人体成长的方方面面和经期卫生管理知识。
While making the book, we took great care that none of the illustrations were objectionable in any way and that it is culturally sensitive.
在制作这本书的过程中，我们确保每一张插画都不会引起读者的反感和文化的敏感。
During our prototype testing, we found that the girls loved the book.
在我们第一版书的测试中，我们发现女孩很爱这本书。
They were keen on reading it and knowing more and more about periods on their own.
她们急不可待地读，知道了越来越多她们自己的经期的知识。
Parents and teachers were comfortable in talking about periods to young girls using the book,
家长和老师使用这本书，给女孩们讲经期知识时也非常的舒服，
and sometimes even boys were interested in reading it.
有的时候甚至男孩也对它感兴趣。
The comic book helped in creating an environment where menstruation ceased to be a taboo.
这本漫画书改变了大众的氛围，月经再也不是一个禁忌。
Many of the volunteers took this prototype themselves to educate girls and take menstrual awareness workshops in five different states in India.
在印度五个不同的地区，很多志愿者用这本书的初版来教育女孩，并且开展提高月经认识的讲习班。
And one of the volunteers took this prototype to educate young monks and took it to this monastery in Ladakh.
甚至有一位志愿者用这本书去教育年轻的僧人，把它带到了拉达克的寺庙中。
We made the final version of the book, called "Menstrupedia Comic" and launched in September last year.
我们这本书的最终版本，叫做“月经百科”漫画，在去年九月正式出版。
And so far, more than 4,000 girls have been educated by using the book in India and -- Thank you.
到目前为止，在印度和其他十余个不同的国家，超过4000个女孩...谢谢。
And 10 different countries. We are constantly translating the book into different languages
受到了这本书的教育，我们不断地把这本书翻译成不同的语言，
and collaborating with local organizations to make this book available in different countries.
不断地和当地的机构合作，让这本书在不同的国家可以上市。
15 schools in different parts of India have made this book a part of their school curriculum to teach girls about menstruation.
在印度15所来自不同地方的学校，把这本书纳入了教学课程之中，来为女孩讲解经期知识。
I am amazed to see how volunteers, individuals, parents, teachers, school principals,
我惊讶于志愿者、个人、家长、老师、校长
have come together and taken this menstrual awareness drive to their own communities,
共同努力，提升所在社区的女性生理意识，
have made sure that the girls learn about periods at the right age and helped in breaking this taboo.
确保女孩在正确的时间学习生理知识，并帮助破除这个禁忌。
I dream of a future where menstruation is not a curse, not a disease, but a welcoming change in a girl's life.
我希望将来有一天，月经不再是一个诅咒，不再是疾病，而是一个女孩生命中受到欢迎的转折点。
And I would -- And I would like to end this with a small request to all the parents here.
我希望...我希望在结尾对各位家长提出一个小小的要求。
Dear parents, if you would be ashamed of periods, your daughters would be, too.
亲爱的家长们，如果您对于例假感到羞耻，您的女儿也会一样。
So please be period positive. Thank you.
所以做一个积极面对例假的人。谢谢。