Sanitary pads should replace free condoms

Nkamogeleng Lebeloane is using her voice and talent as an artist to tell stories of young women.

Her debut theatre production, The Ignored Flow, tells the story of Masechaba’s heartache as she battles bodily changes.

“She can’t make sense of what is happening and is confronted with something that is facing other young girls who are, just like her, poor – access to free sanitary pads,” she said.

Lebeloane said the dance show was aimed at creating awareness of the importance of access to free sanitary towels in a poverty-stricken country.

“This production – without dialogue – is aimed at challenging the silence and ignorance around the female body development and will speak volumes.

Hopefully it will nudge people to open their hearts and wallets to buy sanitary pads for poor children,” she said.

According to statistics, girls who can’t afford sanitary pads, opt to stay away from school during their menstrual cycle.

“It is unfair that boys can go to school uninterrupted for most of their schooling days, but a girl has to miss her school days because she has no sanitary pads,” Lebeloane said.

“If she goes to school without a sanitary pad in her bag while on her period and an incident happens, it is the very same boys who would laugh at her and humiliate her.”

Lebeloane said she didn’t understand why sanitary packs were not given for free like condoms.

Lebeloane said the show would challenge society to think of sanitary pads as a need, not a want.

“The menstrual cycle is not a choice. The effort used to create and distribute free condoms should be used to tackle the issue of sanitary towels. Providing a girl with the same and equal opportunities as a boy is important in a democratic state,” she said.

She said the government should commit to providing sanitary pads in schools.

“The free distribution of sanitary pads will help a girl to reach her ultimate goals, and dream without limitation. We can make sure that no child has to skip school because they don’t have pads.”

Lebeloane said the stigma surrounding menstruation should change.

“The Ignored Flow strives to remove and destroy the stigma that has been attached to menstruation by encouraging males to talk freely about it. Once addressed, this will make it easier for females to talk about it instead of hiding and missing out on opportunities in silence,” she said.

She said she was against the use of alternative objects, which most poor girl children resorted to.

The Ignored Flow was on for two days only on 15 and 16 June at the SA State Theatre.

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