User:TheLetterAFiveTimes/Culture and menstruation

Buddhism
During menstruation, women should not entire temples or shrines, being seen as polluted. In Sri Lankan Buddhism, this is also true for their husbands and other men, who have been in a home with menstruating women.

Shintoism
The tradition relates to the thought that any death in the family brings impurity and those experiencing this must wait a certain amount of time before being able to return to shrines and other holy areas.

Chinese Confucianism
Chinese views of menstruation are still deeply influenced by Confucianism values of virtue and chastity. Many women feel empowered and feminine in in their early years of starting their menstrual cycles.

Sri Lanka
The lack of education leads to many girls getting sick due to being ill-informed about their bodies and menstrual cycles. Not only this but also, at least one-third of girls missed school during their periods, due to a lack of toilets or pads being accessible to them.

Along with this, there is a ritual surrounding young girls, which starts with their first menstruation and ends with them receiving a soft sex education. Throughout this ritual the girl can not be left alone, always having another girl with her, and if that girl must be away she leaves with the girl an iron axe to prevent spirits from trying to influence the girl in the ritual. This part of the process continues for three months after the completion of most part of the ritual, meaning the girl is a woman before she receives any education on sex.

Annotated Bibliography
Swarna Wickremeratne. Buddha in Sri Lanka : Remembered Yesterdays. SUNY Press, 2006. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.northernkentuckyuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=175055&site=eds-live.

This article was about the traditions and values of Sri Lanka, premodern changes. This source is authoritative as it is an academic source and also references many other academic sources, as well as containing many first and second hand accounts of the topics. In this project, I used this source to better inform the readers about further information about Sri Lankan culture.

Roger J. Davies. Japanese Culture : The Religious and Philosophical Foundations. Tuttle Publishing, 2016. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.northernkentuckyuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1568908&site=eds-live.

This article is about Japanese cultural beliefs, specifically following Shintoism. This source is authoritative, because like the previous source this is heavily an academic source that once more references back to further academic sources, first hand accounts, and primary information. For this I added a source and minimal information to the Shintoism section.

Mou, Yi, et al. “‘I’m about to Get My Tamp on.’ Framing Tampons in We Media Promotion Posts Targeting Chinese Females.” Journal of Gender Studies, vol. 28, no. 4, May 2019, pp. 435–448. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/09589236.2018.1504757.

This article discusses the beliefs, traditions, and ideas surround menstruation in China, and how those have changed over time. This article is full of first hand accounts, and references back to other academic sources. I used this to create a section about Chinese beliefs surround menstruation.

Banerji, Annie. “Third of Girls in South Asia Miss School during Periods - Study.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 22 May 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-women-health/third-of-girls-in-south-asia-miss-school-during-periods-study-idUSKCN1IN00F.

This study researched the reasons that girls miss school and their poor menstrual education in Sri Lanka. I used this study to provide a more up to date research surrounding the culture and beliefs of menstruation in Sri Lanka. This study was done fairly recently, with good data and methods, while those aren't directly talked about, the cultural explanations and importance of issues discussed refer back to other academic sources and first hand accounts from girls, boys, and teachers at these schools.