Women We Love: Fu Yuanhui

Fu Yuanhui has done something unthinkable: She has admitted to having a period and she did so in public.

This is what she said after finishing fourth in the 4×100 relay. According to an article in NPR, she was doubled over and seen grimacing. This is what she told the reporter

“Actually, my period started last night, so I’m feeling pretty weak and really tired,” Fu told the interviewer in Mandarin, according to an English-subtitled video on Shanghai Expat’s YouTube channel. “But this isn’t an excuse. At the end of the day, I just didn’t swim very well.” (Source NPR)

This was seen as revolutionary because she did the unthinkable. She admitted that women who play sports have periods. I went to a fabulous lecture this past spring at IDEA PT west that centered around how to train women for their best strength and workout gains around their cycle. It was emphasized to us that, “Women are not small men.” Women have certain biological processes and hormones that have an effect on fat loss and on training.

Helping to break down cultural barriers

Yuanhui’s statement was seen as a huge step for Chinese women being vocal about a gender related issue. It’s an issue that is rooted in cultural superstition because some have even expressed surprise that women can swim on their periods.

According to a 1980 study done by Cordia Ming-Yeuk Chu, now the director of the Center for Environment and Population Health at Griffith University of Australia.

Chu’s study found that the Chinese believe the period disrupts the natural forces of the body they call yin and yang. They also believe that a woman having her period should avoid activities like swimming and other contact with water because that could further upset the balance of yin and yang. Menstrual blood is seen in Chinese culture as “polluting” and “dirty,” (Source NPR)

Women in China also do not have the medications and products that women in the United States have for dealing with their period because of these cultural beliefs so when you get down to it, Fui Yuanhui’s simple statement about her period may have helped start a real conversation about periods. This same article from NPR said that using Tampons is practically unheard of due to concerns about virginity. China just had one company start to manufacture tampons.

Talk about a lasting impact!