The Unfiltered Flow | Episode 1

The podcast discusses the menstrual taboo and the work of Menstruation Redefined, a non-profit organization in Toronto. Anjali Sachdeva, the director of research, shares her experience and the organization's efforts to improve menstrual product accessibility. They emphasize the importance of understanding different experiences and identities when addressing menstruation. Anjali's medical background supports the analysis of societal norms around hygiene and cleanliness during menstruation. The organization aims to provide menstrual products in all post-secondary campus bathrooms. The episode concludes by highlighting Anjali's advocacy work and her upcoming discussion on her achievements and overcoming research barriers. Welcome to the podcast, The Unfiltered Flow, where I, Yamilha Mohanis, will be sharing my feminist analysis of the gendered hierarchy embedded in societal systems, as its apparent favoring of the male body constructed negative connotations of the menstrual cycle and the relationship menstruators build with their cycle. Let me first define menstrual taboo. This taboo refers to a veil of shame placed onto discussion of menstruation and access to essential menstrual products. The societal norm of hygiene and cleanliness does not accept the natural cycle of menstruation and all it entails. Today, I will be sharing my interview with Anjali Sachdeva, the director for a student-led non-profit organization, Menstruation Redefined. We are located in Toronto, Ontario, where we will be talking about Menstruation Redefined's work towards bridging the gaps in menstrual product accessibility and bringing awareness to the hurdles individuals face as a result of menstruation, and especially talking about what Anjali does as director of research. During the pandemic, I found that there wasn't a lot to do, and I found that I was trying to find something meaningful to do in the meantime, and I discovered this organization at the time it was called Menstruation Matters, and have decided to look up, just try to find research about this topic, and educate myself to be able to apply, and it was the sheer lack of research that kind of even inspired me to like, well, this is a problem, why are we talking about that, and that really inspired me to start pushing to apply there and to work there, and I've loved it ever since, and that was actually what my initial role was for. The idea of like our organization at the time was focused particularly at university students, looking at the time to see, is there access, well, first, if there isn't access, the idea is, if you want to go lobby to a politician with regard to access, you need staff. The way you, I guess the word I'm looking for is, the way you're taking care of yourself during menstruation should be something we talk about, and should be just as important as we wash our hands, but it's not about what we're doing, it's about what we're doing. Her background as a medical student supported my feminist analysis, as her biological explanations to the idea of hygiene and cleanliness connect to the societal norms of the menstruating body, I highlight. Washing, the process is not about washing, and I think hygiene makes it seem like we need to clean, or we need to wash, and that can actually cause for misconception, and then further, you can get the idea of, oh, I need to put soap up there, or I need to do these things, when your reproductive organs have a natural cleansing process, you're discharging, you have discharge, and you have so much going on, and you have mucous membranes there, and so that's almost closer to your mouth, is what I visualize it, where you have a mucous membrane, in that way, and so it's not like you're putting soap in your mouth to clean, you're cleaning your teeth, but that's a different story, it's different, if you're not cleaning those mucous membranes, and so it's just interesting to me that there's all these little misconceptions, that I just, as I grew older, I started to learn, and I was like, oh, you don't soap up there, or, oh, you don't, as like, fragrances, and these sorts of things, can actually disrupt the pH balance, and everything going on there, and that's not something that you're necessarily taught right away, you just like, learn over time that, oh, you're not supposed to do that, but there was no information, initially, I would say, with regards to these small little misconceptions, about like, cleanliness, in a way. Menstruation Redefined has been working towards guaranteeing menstrual products in all bathrooms on post-secondary campuses. As director of research, Anjali deemed it necessary to take into account multiple identities, both in their work, and in their definition of menstruators, simply not confining their efforts to women's bathrooms. Like, how different an experience for someone who's perhaps transgender, and experiencing their period, is from someone, from someone else, and it's just, there's just such varying experiences, and how periods make people feel, go to university, and not have a pad, or not have a tampon, just by chance, even though I had the finances to procure one, I would think like, oh my god, I got my period, running to lecture, what am I going to do? Like, you could just make a makeshift pad there in the washroom, but it's not pleasant, and I can only imagine for people who commute, for people whose situations are not as, like, it's not as easy for them to be able to access a pad. As we wrap up today's episode, it is clear that the definition of the menstrual taboo has expanded thanks to Anjali's educational background as a student, a researcher, and as an advocate for menstrual inequity. In the next episode, Anjali will be discussing her accomplishments as an advocate, how she overcame barriers in the early stages of research to doing her part in achieving the goals of Menstruation Redefined.