Step right up, Mr. Tough Guy, and try enduring menstrual cramps

Mr. Rahman, a 26-year-old restaurateur in the southern Indian state of Kerala, did not fully grasp what he was signing up for when he agreed to have the wires clamped below his navel. But now he knows, at least a little, the pain that his mother and sisters deal with every month when they have their periods.

“It was a horrible experience,” Mr. Rahman said. “I could not concentrate on anything around me for as long as the cramps lasted.”

The simulation was part of a new campaign that aims to tackle longstanding taboos around menstruation in India and raise awareness of more effective hygiene products that can better protect women’s health.