User:Misterhashtag00/PadsAgainstSexism

Pads Against Sexism
Pads Against Sexism is a campaign where people protests using sanitary napkins which are glued with messages written on them addressing the issues of rape culture, sexism, gender inequality, and taboos on menstruation. It started in Germany but spread to different countries. The campaign went viral on the internet when people used #PadsAgainstSexism.

History
Pads Against Sexism was started by a 19 year old Elone Kastratia in Karlsruhe, Germany. She was inspired by a quote that read "Imagine if men were as disgusted with rape as they are with periods". On International Women's Day, she took to the street of Karlsruhe, her hometown in Germany where she put up the sanitary pads with messages glued on them in the public spaces with her sister Nora by her side photographing her street activism.

After she posted the photos of her activism on social media accounts like Instagram and Twitter, she received huge support which led to #padsagainstsexism campaign not only on the social media but supporters of the cause took to street and began to put up sanitary pads with messages as well.

Elonë received messages from people in places like India, South Africa and Brazil and many other places across the world showing their support of the cause and some asking her if they could replicate her idea in their own country.

One of the many reasons why Pads Against Sexism campaign went viral is because she used sanitary napkins instead of paper which made it interesting and drew a lot of attention. The photos of the sanitary pads on social media also received negative responses. Some went on to comment "You should be raped too" but that did not stop her from continuing her activism.

Impact of the campaign
The Pads Against Sexism campaign has inspired youth and feminists around the world.

India
In India, the campaign was started by four students Mejaaz, Mohit, Sameera and Kaainat of Jamia Millia Islamia Central University in Delhi. They put up messages written on sanitary pads like ‘Period blood is not impure, your thoughts are’, "Kapde nahi, soch badlo", “Menstruation is normal, rape is not", and put it up on their campus. They also went around the city sticking sanitary pads with feminist messages at the bus stops, metro stations and other public spaces. The campaign in Jamia did not gain any support instead only negative response from the administration. According to the officials at the University, the students needed to have permissions to start the campaign and that they failed to do so. The University authorities upset by their actions issued orders to remove the sanitary pads from the campus and also demanded an explanation of their actions. The authorities demanded explanation from the students and informed them that a disciplinary committee would be set up and action would be taken against them if their explanation was not satisfactory. These students were also criticized for creating a hostile atmosphere in the university and for "indirectly targeting boys of Jamia"

The four students refused to remain anonymous and came out to the public with their campaign in order to avoid publication of false or inaccurate information or views about their campaign in the media. They did so to end confusions and made themselves known to the public to let the people know who actually speaks for the campaign.

The campaign allowed the students to address taboos against menstruation, victim blaming and shaming and safety of the women in public spaces. In an interview with the four students of Jamia, they explain why they decided to link sexism and rape with sanitary napkin. One of them explains,   "At any point of time, if you are shunning a woman just because she is menstruating, which is a biological function, it suppresses a whole gender. And when you suppress a gender you give rise to something like rape culture because rape is not just sexuality, its dominance and power."The students at Jamia claimed to have received support message from Elone Kastratia. She reportedly helped plan the Delhi chapter of the #PadsAgainstSexism campaign. The campaign shifted from Jamia to other Delhi University campuses where students followed and enacted the same protest. The DU students also marched through the streets of Kamla Nagar addressing taboos on menstruation and protest against it.

Pads Against Sexism campaign then moved to Jadavpur University in Kolkata, West Bengal.The students followed the same action there as well. Strong messages like, “Victim blaming is also called gender violence”, and “Naming and shaming the victim is sexual violence” were glued on sanitary pads and put up on the walls on their campus. The protest spread widely and received huge support. This was also at the point when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee commented on the Park Street rape case saying that it was a 'made up story'. Some few students have reportedly formed a new group called "Periods" who are spreading feminist messages written on sanitary napkins all over the campus. Just before the Pads Against Sexism campaign, there was a protest in the campus after a woman student was allegedly molested on campus. The protests went on for weeks which gained solidarity movements in other Indian cities and then led to the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti.

Lahore, Pakistan
A year later after the Pads Against Sexism Campaign in India, few students from the Department of Information & Technology and Liberal Arts at the Beaconhouse National University (BNU) in Lahore decided to protest against the stigmatization of menstruation. They placed 25 sanitary pads on their university’s wall with important facts and messages about periods like "I am not poorly flawed or made", "Periods are not inherently sexual", "Why should I be embarrassed?". These students also stood next to the hygiene products with stain on their clothes and talked about the menstruation as being normal.

Bloomington, USA
In Indiana University as well, five women discreetly put up sanitary napkins with messages across the Bloomington campus sticking it up on trees, walls of the toilets, bedrooms, also on the staircases and bike racks addressing similar issues of gender inequality,. The students formed the Pads Against Sexism group and along with the Pads Against Sexism campaign, they have taken up the initiative to donate twice the amount of pads used for the initiative towards local homeless shelters.

The messages or the slogans on the sanitary pads across the campuses and countries are different however addressing the same issue of sexism, rape culture, against victim blaming, gender inequality etc.

Online campaign
Elone began to use #PadsAgainstSexism in order to inspire and to lead the movement even further. The #PadsAgainstSexism went viral on the Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The Pads Against Sexism tag was widely used by women showing support of the campaign and protesting against the issues raised by the campaign. The campaign also has multiple Facebook pages according to the location like Pads Against Sexism (Delhi) and Pads Against Sexism (Africa) with many supporters.