Originally published at: http://sg.lsepcn.com/archives/645
The Modern "Blood Tax" — Sanitary Pads
Editorial Office of the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Proletariat
Sanitary pads are one of the essential items in the daily lives of women. In Chinese capitalist society with Confucian characteristics, due to the extremely low economic and political status of women, sanitary pads are not only of poor quality and expensive, but even harmful substances that could endanger women's health have become a luxury that many cannot afford.
Poverty forces many Chinese women to buy extremely low-quality cheap sanitary pads
In November 2024, the topic of "sanitary pad collapse" quickly topped Weibo's trending searches, with over 200 million views in a short time. A Weibo blogger measured almost all domestic sanitary pad brands on the market and found that over 90 models' actual effective length did not match the marked value, often differing by 10-30 millimeters. Well-known brands like Sofy, Seven Space, Always, Kotex, ABC, and others are among them. Some netizens found that the effective length of certain brands' sanitary pads differed from the marked length by as much as 50 millimeters—a 350 mm pad might only have 300 mm of absorbent part.[1] Even according to the extremely low national standards set to benefit the bourgeoisie, the deviation of the actual effective length from the marked value should be within ±4%. However, brands with deviations exceeding five times the standard still exist in large numbers.
This cutting corners and reducing quality behavior causes great inconvenience to women—shorter lengths, pads that do not fit physiological curves, significantly reduce absorption, and lead to menstrual leakage along the thighs. Moreover, the sanitary pad industry under the so-called "revision" not only cuts corners but also sets alarmingly low quality standards. According to the national standard GB/T 8939-2008 "Sanitary Napkins (Including Sanitary Pads)", the pH value range for sanitary pads is 4.0—9.0, which only meets the basic safety technical specifications for textile products class C, suitable for products that do not contact skin directly. Products used on the most sensitive parts of women’s bodies are held to the same standards as curtains and wall fabrics, which clearly shows how little regard the revision has for women. Since women’s vulvas are generally weakly acidic, alkaline sanitary pads can irritate the skin, greatly increasing the risk of infection and gynecological diseases.
Once the low quality of sanitary pads was exposed, it immediately aroused the furious anger of women. They found that using sanitary pads often caused front leaks, side leaks, back leaks, and symptoms like itching and allergies—not because of their own reasons, but due to the extremely poor quality of Chinese sanitary pads—these capitalists producing sanitary pads can "save" enough length to circle the Earth three times through corner-cutting.[2] Angry women contacted customer service of major brands to seek justice. However, the latter were fearless, all claiming that their products meet national standards, and that the marked length includes decorative lace which has no real function, thus still "within the margin of error." Among them, ABC Hygiene & Care flagship store's customer service openly stated that it is reasonable for actual length to differ from the marked length, and if customers cannot accept it, they can choose not to buy. To sell products, capitalist commerce has always promoted the idea that "the customer is king," but when women, as consumers, defend their rights, they are met with such cold treatment—this clearly shows that Chinese capitalist society does not regard women as independent individuals!
As the incident fermented, major media—mouthpieces of the bourgeoisie—also jumped out to create reactionary public opinion, sending so-called "experts"—such as Wu Yinglan, director of Women’s Health Department at Hunan Maternal and Child Health Hospital—to explain. Wu Yinglan insisted that "the acidity or alkalinity of sanitary pads does not cause discomfort during menstruation"[3]. The outbreak of this incident was not due to the greed of sanitary pad manufacturers, but because "many women have fallen into misconceptions"—in other words, due to women’s ignorance and unreasonable complaints! However, such bourgeois defense voices only focus on the pH value issue and avoid the core problems of capitalists’ corner-cutting and government collusion. They even promote the idea that women "can prioritize big, well-known brands."
This is a typical "why not eat meat gruel" attitude! Regardless of whether these so-called "big, well-known brands" solve the quality issues, the huge expenses of buying such "famous brands" are already unaffordable for most working women. High VAT is one of the main reasons for the high prices of Chinese sanitary pads. Although for women (aged 10-49, nearly a quarter of the total population), sanitary pads are a daily necessity, the so-called "revision" government still imposes heavy taxes—its VAT rates are divided into six tiers: 13%, 11%, 10%, 9%, 6%, and 0%, with sanitary pads falling into the highest tier. Before 2018, the VAT rate for sanitary pads was as high as 17%. The revision not only promotes Confucianism and materializes women’s identities through "second dimension" culture but also uses its police, courts, and other violent organs to oppress women, making them eternal household slaves and sexual objects, and finally squeezing their last drop of sweat and blood. Heavy taxes on women’s products like sanitary pads are used to fatten officials’ pockets and fund a growing reactionary army to suppress the people—an act of shamelessness and reactionary nature! Besides heavy taxes, monopolized prices and circulation costs also contribute to the overall high prices of sanitary pads. Currently, "high-end" sanitary pads (about 40% manufactured according to the so-called "revision" standards) are controlled by seven monopolistic companies—Sofy, Seven Space, Always, Kotex, ABC, Lereya, Free Point—who exploit their monopoly position and the fact that sanitary pads are essential for women to set exorbitant prices. Meanwhile, the commercial bourgeoisie also greedily profits from women’s blood and sweat, adding layers of markup during circulation, with sales costs accounting for about 23% of sales. Under the combined effects of the revision government, monopolistic enterprises, and commercial capital, the final retail price of a single sanitary pad even reaches three times the factory price!
Over the past decade or so, the price of Chinese sanitary pads has risen repeatedly—from an average of 0.49 yuan in 2009 to 0.9 yuan in 2023, an increase of 4.79%.[4] On supermarket shelves, the average price ranges from 1.3 yuan to 3.74 yuan; even online shopping does not significantly reduce women’s expenses—on Taobao, a Sofy pad of 250 mm length costs 59.9 yuan for 36 pieces, with a unit price of 1.67 yuan. The high price of sanitary pads directly correlates with women’s enormous demand. Women’s menstrual period lasts an average of 4-6 days, and they need to change pads every 2-3 hours. For Chinese working women, just purchasing sanitary pads each month is a significant expense. Rural and township women, unable to afford the cost of well-known brands, often resort to buying 0.2 yuan loose sanitary pads. These made from recycled fluff pulp and other raw materials are of even lower quality, sometimes containing cigarette filters, cockroach legs, and other foreign objects, severely harming women’s health. China also faces a "menstrual poverty" affecting about four million impoverished girls, who often have to use rags, toilet paper, or scrap paper instead of expensive sanitary pads.[5] On one hand, vast numbers of working women suffer from "menstrual poverty"; on the other, the bourgeoisie earns huge profits—average gross profit margins in the sanitary pad industry reach 45%, with Seven Space even reaching 72.2%.[6]
Raw materials for producing inferior sanitary pads—recycled fluff pulp
Despite the arrogance of major brands and the helpless excuses of the so-called "revision," women are not convinced. They have launched a new wave of spontaneous resistance against monopolistic sanitary pad companies. For brands with the worst quality and producing pornographic advertisements like ABC, many women have collectively returned products after bulk ordering, forcing some sellers to remove ABC sanitary pads from shelves. Ultimately, under intense public pressure, ABC founder Deng Jingheng publicly apologized, announced the withdrawal of all products, and promised to improve quality. Other brands also refunded customers for problematic products. While these spontaneous protests have achieved some results, they have not fundamentally solved the problem. To date, no sanitary pad company has been penalized, and ABC sanitary pads soon reappeared on the market with even more distant new standards.
China’s sanitary pad quality issues are not news. As early as April 2013, media exposed a counterfeit industry chain worth over 1.5 billion yuan. This incident once caused a public uproar but ultimately was left unresolved—until November 2024, when more unscrupulous raw material factories for sanitary pads continued to be exposed. From this widespread "sanitary pad collapse" incident, affecting nearly all companies, we see that corner-cutting and poor quality in sanitary pads are not just the result of a few "ruthless" capitalists, but are tacitly approved by the so-called "revision" government and are a common phenomenon across the entire Chinese sanitary pad industry.
In fact, it’s not just sanitary pads—many other women’s products also face the problem of "low quality at high prices." For example, menstrual cups, which are also women’s sanitary products, often contain heavy metals that could cause chronic poisoning. Even common daily necessities for both genders show disparities: women’s pants have smaller pockets than men’s; women’s shoes use less material; women’s down jackets have less filling than men’s... The most absurd is that even men’s sanitary pads, designed for a very small minority, are much more reasonable—wide rear wings with cotton cores, all-around "small guards," adjustable elastic bands on the sides, even called "cost-effective." Clearly, women’s consumer dilemmas are not limited to a few products, and they cannot be solved simply through government penalties or revisions of quality standards. The root cause lies in Chinese capitalist patriarchal society.
Same size, different materials
However, to cover up various social gender oppressions, some male chauvinists jump out claiming women "control the household finances" and are the "main force of consumption," even inventing a "consumption ability ranking"—women are the strongest consumers, followed by children, then pets, and finally us men who earn and support the family but are "miserable" and "powerless." They feel unfairness for themselves and their compatriots, shouting: "Men are worse than dogs! Men are worse than dogs!" Meanwhile, the so-called "she-economy" concept is created by the so-called "revision" mouthpieces to plunder women’s last penny. In their words, women’s social status and consumption ability have greatly improved. Correspondingly, women’s products on the market have not only improved in quality but also diversified. Moreover, various "statistics" and "survey results" seem to support this view: Yintai Department Store's "Household Consumption Decision-Making User Survey" shows that in family consumption led by the "post-70s" and "post-80s," women act as the so-called "decision-makers" and "implementers." In cities like Hangzhou, Hefei, and Xi'an, 70% of users say household consumption is "decided and led by women." According to research data from Boston Consulting Group, over 60% of Chinese families are "led by women" in consumption. Thus, the so-called "theoretical basis" makes male chauvinists ecstatic—they wave around "statistics" to criticize women, condemning the "wasteful women" who "spend men's money"—men who have long suffered are finally able to lift their heads!
In fact, whether it’s "statistics" or "survey results," they cannot truly reflect the high "status" or "consumption" of Chinese women. First, due to severe discrimination in the workplace or being completely excluded from social production, women’s income is extremely low—by 2023, only 33.1% of women earn more than 40% of the household income. Under such conditions, women have no capacity for large-scale consumption. Moreover, in China’s Confucian patriarchal society, the claim that "wives spend their husbands’ income" is even less likely. Second, most of women’s limited consumption is not for themselves but for children and family—ultimately for the household head, the husband. This is evident from the main categories of women’s consumption today: women aged 24 and below mainly buy beauty products; women aged 25–35 show a clear preference for maternal and infant products; women over 36 mostly buy food and toiletries[9]—both of which serve men and husbands. The so-called "she-economy" that claims to serve women is actually a "he-economy" serving oppressors! Furthermore, the so-called "leading household consumption" just highlights women’s low status, because purchasing consumer goods for the family is itself part of the household chores they are forced to do. This kind of "leading household consumption" is actually a disaster for women—working tirelessly for the family, yet the result is only to "ensure men dominate the household"[10].
Finally, those male chauvinists have no right to criticize women for "wastefulness." As previously mentioned, women mainly consume daily necessities, cosmetics, and the right to purchase expensive items like cars and houses is almost entirely controlled by propertied men. Data from 2023 shows that among the total driving population, male car owners account for 71.21%, while female car owners only account for 28.79%.[11] Moreover, a large portion of female car owners buy low-cost, small-space Mini models designed for grocery shopping and school runs—four out of the top five "most popular" models among women are Mini cars. Regarding housing, 55% of households in our country belong to the husband, about 24% are jointly owned by the couple and other family members, and only about 20% of homes are owned by wives.[12] This is what male chauvinists call "frugal living" and "saving on clothes and food"! Men's luxury and wastefulness are about "showing off" and "saving face," characterized by "extravagance" and "carefree style." Women, even if they spend just a penny, not for themselves, are immediately accused of "losing money" and "being wasteful." Women are merely slaves, and they shouldn't spend a single cent—this is their logic! These "real men" boast about the "uselessness of women" while comfortably enjoying the household chores women perform—statistics show that married women in China spend an average of 120 minutes daily on housework, more than twice as much as men; they also bear almost all daily care, homework tutoring, and school runs for children aged 0-17.[13] Such shameless remarks still go unchallenged because they are supported by the bureaucratic monopoly bourgeoisie. The "Reform" faction vigorously promotes reactionary Confucian ideas, advocating for the "revival of traditional family virtues." Its leader, Xi Jinping, personally promotes the idea that "virtuous wives and good mothers, supporting husbands and educating children, diligent and frugal"[14] are part of the so-called "excellent traditional Chinese culture." The purpose of the "Reform" faction is to consolidate and expand its rotten ruling base, uniting the powerful bourgeoisie formed during decades of capitalist restoration and the stubborn petty bourgeoisie, satisfying their "vested interests" as family oppressors under feudal patriarchy, and ensuring their conscious support for the capitalist patriarchal order.
In short, the poor quality and high prices of feminine products like sanitary pads merely reflect women's low economic and political status in capitalist patriarchal society. To fundamentally change women's status, a socialist revolution to overthrow bourgeois rule and eliminate capitalist systems is necessary. Engels pointed out: "The first prerequisite for women's liberation is that all women return to public labor; to achieve this, the nuclear family must no longer be the economic unit of society."[15] Only in socialist society where the means of production are socialized can social production benefit the broadest labor masses, and the family as an economic and property-owning unit will gradually disappear. Domestic labor, previously belonging to individual families, can then truly be socialized. Only on this basis can women participate extensively in all social production sectors, achieving personal independence and comprehensive development.
- Southern Metropolis Daily: "Multiple brands of sanitary pads accused of shrinking, ABC: Will extend," https://epaper.oeeee.com/epaper/A/html/2024-11/22/content_20306.htm. ↑
- The Paper: "Night-use sanitary pads longer than male celebrities' height, false," https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_29274139. ↑
- Xiaoxiang Morning Herald: "After the 'length' controversy, the pH value of sanitary pads sparks renewed debate, experts: Misunderstanding," https://www.ctdsb.net/c1659_202411/2306218.html. ↑
- Yicai: "Cost of sanitary pads at 2 cents 'traps' women," https://www.yicai.com/news/102377704.html. ↑
- BBC: "Menstrual poverty: Are there still Chinese women unable to afford M pads?" https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-54012392. ↑
- Zhitong Securities: "In-depth report on the sanitary pad industry," https://m.zhitongcaijing.com/content/detail/221856.html. ↑
- Engels: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State," Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume IV, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Engels: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State," Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume IV, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Huatai Securities: "Consumer Insights Series: Mining the 'Her Economy'," https://xueqiu.com/6695901611/290011659. ↑
- Engels: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State," Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume IV, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Autohome: "What is the total number of vehicles in China?" https://www.autohome.com.cn/ask/10586575.html. ↑
- Cui Can, Yu Shan, Huang Youqin: "Discussion on Property Ownership Differences Between Spouses," https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20230315A00XN000. ↑
- China Women's News: "Main Data of the Fourth National Women's Social Status Survey," https://epaper.cnwomen.com.cn/html/2021-12/27/nw.D110000zgfnb_20211227_1-4.htm. ↑
- Xi Jinping, quoted from People's Daily: "Xi Jinping on Family Style Construction." ↑
- Engels: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State," Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume IV, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑