Stripped of dignity: student's menstrual proof demand sparks outrage

IMAGINE this: once a month, like clockwork, you wake up to pain so sharp it doubles you over.

- VUYILE MADWANTSI

It feels like your insides are being wrung out.

Every step, every movement, every breath hurts. You're nauseous, fatigued, and drenched in sweat.

Now, imagine being told to “just deal with it” or, worse, prove that your pain is real. For millions of women worldwide, this isn’t a hypothetical scenario, it’s reality. Severe menstrual pain, or dysmenorrhea, can be as debilitating as a heart attack, according to medical experts.

Yet, the stigma surrounding menstruation has left many women to suffer in silence, their pain dismissed or minimised.

Recently, this issue made international headlines when a college in Beijing asked a student to “prove” she was on her period to qualify for sick leave. The student was told to pull down her pants to show “evidence” of menstruation.