Fu Yuanhui Breaks The Taboo Around Menstruation When She Speaks Of Swimming During Periods At RIO

Fu Yuanhui brings periods into the limelight at RIO, speaking about swimming during periods, and breaking the taboo on menstruation. 

From running marathons to posting menstruation related Facebook posts, the so called taboo topic – periods is no longer unspeakable. We see positive conversations happening around the topic in a healthy way. And quite recently the discussion happened in Olympics ground too with Fu Yuanhui, a Chinese swimmer talking about it openly.

Her team came fourth in the women’s 4×100-meter medley relay. A disappointed Fu Yuanhui commented, “I feel I didn’t swim well today. I let my teammates down” and added further, “It is because my period came yesterday, and I felt weak, but this is not an excuse.”

It also made people sit up and notice that using tampons was a safe way to swim. A tampon absorbs the blood flow and avoids blood leakage into the swimming pool.

Tampons have long been avoided by the Chinese women due to lack of awareness about the the product and the added fear of breaking the hymen and losing proof of their virginity. In fact, as this article testifies – women are routinely told to use tampons only after marriage, even though they can be so much more convenient.

Fu Yuanhui’s speech would have hopefully banished this fear. Her pragmatic comments have won her appreciation all over the world with many bloggers praising her frank and positive attitude.

Watch her speak in this video.

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Image source: youtube

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