Sane Seven asks women to strip to their underwear in a social project that highlights the issues surrounding menstruation and the psychological effects of period shaming across the globe…

A portrait photographer Sane Seven asks women to strip to their underwear in a social project that highlights the issues surrounding menstruation and the psychological effects of period shaming across the globe.

At birth, all girls take part in a lottery. Some are born to an educated couple in a free-thinking country that respects human rights. Others open their eyes in a small village somewhere in Africa, Southeast Asia or the Middle East where sexist laws and strict orthodox traditions still define gender roles.

This fact alone will determine the huge differences in the way these girls will develop sexually and psychologically. The less fortunate will experience the horrors of genital mutilation joining the estimated 200 million of other girls and women who were forced to undergo this ritual to earn social ‘honour’ and to prevent social exclusion. Others will be forced into child marriage or will face breast ironing procedures to stop their breasts from growing to prevent sexual harassment and rape. Even their monthly period will be a source of shaming if they reach that age unharmed psychologically or physically.

As natural as periods might be, all women across the world pay tax for it in one form or another. In developed countries, that tax comes in the form of the money spent on sanitary products. In less developed regions, women pay the same tax with their pride, dignity, health, and, in some cases, their lives.

A recent report from India has revealed that in the city of Bhuj, a teacher forced 68 female college students to strip to their underwear to inspect if they were not menstruating. This was justified by the local religious rules that disallowed menstruating women to go into temples or kitchens, touch other people, sit with others at mealtimes, or sit anywhere else but the back of the class. The inspection was to ensure young women were not breaking these rules.