"Menstrual Taboos"
Nepal is a county where menstruation is still a taboo. In some cultures here, menstruation is still considered to be "god's curse on women" and when you are menstruating, you are supposed to sit in a corner and not touch anybody. Seriously, if you touch someone, even by accident, then they wash all their clothes, take a shower and sprinkle cow urine in the house to purify it. My friend practices such a religion and I went to her place to hang out one time. While watching a movie I fell asleep on the couch and my period had started just then. By the time I woke up, the couch was soaked and my light blue jeans were gone as well. She saw this and started yelling which brought her mum, dad and brother into the room. I cannot even start to describe the look on their faces. It was like I had killed her sick grandmother and was sawing her body into bits. Of course the house had to be purged then. They threw out the sofa washed all the clothes and sheets and curtains they owned (3 days of non-stop laundry), scrubbed the floors and walls and even held a huge "purging ceremony" complete with incense-burning and hymn-chanting to rid their house of whatever evil I had brought in with my monthly gift. It's no surprise that we're not friends anymore.