Hail Kiran Gandhi. The woman who ran the London Marathon 2015 elite women’s race free-bleeding. Why? Because she wanted to run comfortably, so wearing a tampon was out of the question. But wait, wasn’t she running to raise awareness for women who don’t have access to sanitary products? Well, a little of both maybe. It surely was lucky then that she got her periods on the day of the run. How else would we have been made aware of a “natural monthly process” like periods?

Choosing to run while bleeding free was ‘her choice’, and I appreciate it. But I fail to understand the reason for Ms. Gandhi’s wearing light pink pants to ensure that the world knows about it. She stated, while being interviewed by a popular women’s website, that she wore pink because she felt really “superstitious” about the whole thing – and that her pants matched her shirt! Wow! A woman who is boldly upholding the feminism torch is promoting superstition as well! She also stated that she feels good in bright clothing – why then, when she ran the DC Rock N Roll half marathon, was she dressed in black from head to toe?

I am not a “hater” – the label which has been given to people who dared to express their disgust at Gandhi’s choice to run free-bleeding. If I were a hater, I would have said that this is a publicity stunt. Or that it was a pathetic attempt to make sure that her pictures turn up everywhere even though she was behind hundreds in the race. On the other hand, if I were a cynic, it would have struck me as odd that even though the race took place in April, the story of her “sisterhood movement” suddenly resurfaced after three months!

I read a lot of comments related to this topic where it was asserted that women in “third world countries” would cheer for this because they are too poor to buy sanitary pads. It’s true that many women suffer because of lack of funds to buy these products. They use horrific alternatives like cloth, ashes and husk sand. But I am yet to see a woman who walked about the streets free-bleeding. And yes, I live in India ­– a “third world country”. The funny part is that these “poor women” would probably never hear about the “statement” she apparently made for them, nor care.

There is nothing shameful about periods. It is a normal bodily function – there is no requirement of either glorifying it or condemning it. What is the end result that Gandhi is seeking? That we talk about this topic comfortably? We do, when required. So why this unnecessary, totally meaningless hype about the glorification of feminism?

Google tells us that “Feminism is a range of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women.” There have been numerous wonderful women have been titled as feminists, who have done something worthwhile for the fellow women. Unfortunately, this act cannot be termed as a feminist act. At most, it can be called a woman’s way of expressing her “I don’t care about what the world thinks” attitude. But was it? It seems like a weak attempt to draw attention to oneself because if the story of the stained pink pants had not surfaced, no one would have even known who Kiran Gandhi is.

What amazes me is the hypocrisy. I would have been cheering this woman on, periods or no periods; because I appreciate the effort she took to train for this. But so did hundreds of others. Tigist Tufa, the winner of this marathon, must have trained hard too, since she took 2 hours and 23 minutes to complete this 26.2-mile race – which Gandhi completed in 4 hours and 49 minutes. But I don’t find any kudos going Tufa’s way. In fact, media has played this story in such a way that Gandhi has become the face of this race!

The saddest part of this story is that it was never about campaigning for Breast Cancer Care or promoting feminism. Not about the suffering, bleeding women of the world either. It wasn’t even about winning the race. It was only about Ms. Gandhi, and her shocking pink pants.

It has been stated that ‘men would have an issue with this, because they decide the norms of society’. Well, these are just empty words to justify this act. Let’s not make the men enemy here – so that the women automatically group together to face the ‘enemy’. When men suffer from chaffing while running, they do not take off their clothes. Would we accept it as ‘statement making’ had a man run a marathon naked, showing his support for the poor and homeless? People deal with pain in their own ways, but making others uncomfortable to make a statement is not acceptable.

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by Chetana via STYLECRAZE