Kerala activists fight menstrual taboos by mailing napkins to factory where women were strip searched
The ‘Red Alert: You’ve Got a Napkin’ campaign has drawn inspiration from Karnataka’s Pink Chaddi drive.

 

Photo Credit: Facebook
After sparking off a series of public smooching protests across India in November 2014, the original Kiss Of Love campaigners are back with a new cause – fighting discrimination against menstruating women in Kerala.

The new campaign, called “Red Alert: You’ve Got a Napkin!”, was launched on Wednesday after news of a forced strip search of women in a Kochi factory was reported by various media outlets.

Inspired by the 2009 Pink Chaddi campaign against moral policing in Mangalore, the Red Alert campaign involves mailing sanitary napkins (used or unused) to the manager of Asma Rubber Private Limited in the Kochi, where more than 40 women employees were strip searched by two female supervisors in a bid to find out who left a used sanitary pad in the bathroom.

The incident took place on December 10, and the manager of the factory had refused to support the women or take action against the supervisors. A police complaint was filed against the supervisors only on December 27, after the Kerala state women’s commission intervened.

Body politics

The Red Alert Facebook page, hosted by Kiss Of Love volunteers, has posted the address of the factory to which protesters can send sanitary napkins. “Protest against this inhuman act! Send a napkin (used or unused) to the MD of the company and mark your protest against this inhuman act,” the Facebook page says.

Read mor here- http://scroll.in/article/698178/Kerala-activists-fight-menstrual-taboos-by-mailing-napkins-to-factory-where-women-were-strip-searched