Red Is the New Green
Deane de Menezes |
TEDxKIITUniversity
• March 2019
Deane De Menezes in the 4th edition of TEDx KIIT University talks about the stigma and taboos surrounding menstruation. She explained how she was once a carefree woman who had no real interest in social causes and not much idea about menstruation as well, which all changed when once she unexpectedly got her periods in the office but had a sanitary napkin to deal with it. But it struck her that how privileged she was ,but what about the less fortunate sections of the society ? How do they deal with it ? She thought about the numerous girls whose days get halted just because of something as normal as menstruation. All these thoughts led to the foundation of RING (Red Is the New Green), because she realised that all women need a safe space to talk. With her faith and full support from her full time job and colleagues, she finally founded it.
RING makes efforts to remove all the taboos surrounding menstruation among the rural sections of the society and how to deal with it. It talks about & promotes the usage of sanitary napkins and teaches the girls about its proper disposal, so as to not cause any pollution due to it. She even talked about different traditions and rituals regarding periods in different states.
Deane wishes to spread the message to everyone to be humble about their experiences and avoid judging. She believes we should be flexible to learn and even unlearn things as well. Admitting we do not know something isn’t a big deal. We are all unique and must learn to celebrate our differences.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx .