Divya Agarwal On Menstruation Post: 'After Giving It Back To Trolls, I Am Recieving Worse Messages'- EXCLUSIVE
Recently, Divya Agarwal shared a post talking about her mood swings during periods, for which she got brutally trolled. But the actress gave it back to the haters. We spoke to Divya on the controversy and also asked if the trollers have stopped bothering her
Divya Agarwal gave a befitting reply to haters who trolled her for talking about her periods in one of her recent posts. She had shared a video of hers with boyfriend Varun Sood and captioned it as, "When I am in periods, Varun doesn't know what to do".
We got in touch with Divya to talk about the controversy. Excerpts from the conversation:
Were you expecting this kind of reaction when you posted the story?
Not at all. Whenever I post a photo or a story, I never care about the reactions and maximum times after putting out a status, I forget about it. But when I shared this particular post, I got tremendous amount of replies. Almost 2-3k people have replied on that one story. And the way people are discussing it, I am extremely surprised.
What kind of reactions have you received?
Many girls were happy about the fact that I was discussing my periods openly. Then, there were men who were supportive and sent sweetly messages. In fact, few have messaged Varun on how to treat your girlfriend when she is in period like Didi ko chocolate khilao, unke liye cake lekar aao, pair dabao and Varun told me, 'Mujhe subah se lecture mil rahe hain Divya because of you (laughs).' And then there was this interesting message which I received from a guy, who also told me not to share the screenshot of his message. He told me how his girlfriend screams at him a lot when she is in periods. That was hilarious.
Somewhere messages were really sweet and hilarious but some of them were so bad. There are girls and boys who are trolling me and sending me abusive messages, humiliating me and saying how can you talk about such things openly. You are shameless, being a Hindu you should secure your sabhyata, sanskriti. And I am wondering how does religion come into the picture in all this.
After you gave the befitting reply to the trolls by sharing their posts, has the backlash stopped?
The message I have shared is very normal and now the comments I am getting on it are worse. I can't even share grabs of them. Random guys are abusing me and calling me what not.
Will you now think twice before openly talking about menstruation on social media?
Not at all. In fact, I will talk about it more openly. Because honestly, I didn't know people still consider this as a taboo. Now, I will address this topic more. Like I keep getting messages from NGOs on this issue, so I'll try and help them also to spread the awareness. It's not a new feeling for any girl. Since childhood we have come across situations like this where people feel shocked if we discuss our periods in open.
When was the first time you faced the situation you just mentioned?
I remember when I was in Std 4, my mother had told me about menstruation and after explaining everything she told me that it's a girl secret and never discuss about this with boys. She was not very educated and her thinking at that time was old. So she taught me what she was taught.
So, did you follow her advise?
No, I have a younger brother and we are very close to each other. I remember I told him about this- ki ladkiyon ko na aise aise hota hai- and he was so young that he didn't even react to it. But later, when I my periods started, he used to help me in all the ways- right from getting sanitary napkins for me to buying chocolates also to control my mood. When my mother saw how casual we are in our approach, her mentality changed too.
Why do you think 'periods' is still considered to be a taboo word?
The problem is that only girls are told and educated about it in the school. I remember we were in Standard 8, when our female teachers took us to a seminar hall and we were explained about the whole thing. Whereas boys were not taken for the same and after attending the seminar, when we came back in the classroom, whole day boys kept asking us where had we gone? What we were told? Itna hawa macha rakha tha shuru se hi.
Image Source:- Instagram/divyaagarwal_official