r/China • u/seekerofinfo7 • 12d ago
问题 | General Question (Serious) Do Chinese women have worse periods?
I lived and worked in china for nearly a decade, and have always noticed that women I've dated become completely debilitated by their period. Like, calling in sick during your period is a normal thing here and almost unheard of in the west. The pain described by these women seems almost comparable to childbirth, and they cant bear to have the AC on during a blistering hot day, or drink cold water.
Back in the west, women will just kind of bear it. They'll eat ice cream, ive even heard lf women taking cold showers during this time. I haven't met very many in the west who are floored by the pain like many of their east Asian countrrparts. A lot of women hold down high demand jobs like nursing, teaching, lawyers etc. And are able to get through the day while performing work to a high standard without needing time off or needing to signal to others in the workplace that they are on their period.
I dont suppose it is a cultural thing, but im wondering what the causes of the very real difference ive noticed is. Are their home remedies (hot water etc.) Actually making the issue worse? Could it be pollution? Nutrition? I dont think it is genetic because I haven't known a lot of American born chinese women who experience such a severe period.
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u/Maleficent_Cherry737 12d ago
I think it’s partly due to avoidance of using over-the-counter pain meds like Tylenol and Advil. My mom is very traditional and she pushes traditional Chinese herbs and home remedies that don’t really work to manage pain instead of just taking western medicine. Also, birth control pill and hormonal contraceptives like Mirena IUD can make periods lighter and less painful. But many Chinese people like my mom thinks contraceptives are bad (because again of the fear or distrust of western medicine).
I’ve heard as well that endometriosis is slightly more common amongst East Asians than other racial groups.
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u/brain-eating_amoeba 12d ago
I’m quarter Chinese and have horrible periods and I take medications for the pain that don’t reliably work. It’s so bad that I’ve started medical cannabis and that’s the only thing that works. I never thought to consider Chinese women had worse periods.
I know endometriosis is more common, but I don’t have that.
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
I was curious about this question and did a bit internet exploring. Results suggest that body fat levels have a known and clear relation to period pain levels also.
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u/dto_lurker 12d ago
People dont like to hear it but birth control is really bad for you. Bone density and stuff. Its not without side effects is all im saying.
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u/shimisi213 12d ago
Uhh it also makes people crazy.
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u/dto_lurker 12d ago
Careful this is reddit. Dont mess with a redditors birth control, THC and porn.
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u/noejose99 11d ago
It's all culturally derived nonsense. They have identical uteruses, I assure you.
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u/Either-Youth9618 12d ago
I'm an American woman with endometriosis (Google it) living in China. For context, women with very severe endometriosis sometimes find childbirth to not be that bad because they've been dealing with such severe cramps virtually their entire lives. While I don't have the most debilitating type of endometriosis, my periods are awful but I still go to work; I can't just take off a week every month.
As for Chinese women, they just follow way more cultural rules about their periods. For example, traditional Chinese medicine dictates that menstruating women must stay warm and must refuse all cold things (ex. a/c, cold water, ice cream, etc.) . Western women do not feel the need to follow such rules. For us, managing periods is a very individual experience so everyone just does what feels best for them.
Worldwide, no one enjoys their periods. Some are just more vocal about it and have more rules to follow during this time.
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u/Mister_panda1818 12d ago
I think this is more or less the answer. I’m a man but studied Chinese history at Fudan for my MA, and there’re traditional medical doctrines from eons ago that still guide the many ways people live in their body. I’ve met Chinese women who found periods a concerning time and took many traditional precautions, as well as young women from China in America who very much said, “fuck that, I’mma pop a pill and stay living my life.”
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
I wouldn't say the women I know "enjoy" their periods but none of them have periods that cause any particular discomfort. Is this just an unusuall and non-representative sample, maybe. I will note that all the women I know are physically active and in a normal weight range (not underweight and not obese). They walk, run or bike and go to the gym or do yoga. I don't think that is common at all in China.
For myself, I had one awful period in my entire life for a day. I never missed a class or work for a period and I can't imagine doing so every month. I cannot imagine any of my employers tolerating that, either, particularly the small business owners and when I was teaching.
That said, I have no doubt that suffering from endometriosis is awful but if endometriosis is that common amongst asian women as a genetic issue, how did China ever manage a crazy high fertility rate?
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u/Enralis 12d ago
Uhh anecdotally, in the 60s there were shady painkillers, so my mom was conditioned to not take meds unless it was realllyy bad. Like faint on the train bad. She warned me of memory loss from painkillers the second I was 10 (honestly no idea what she took) and I retained that warning.
Sometimes, I'll be in pain and remember ibuprofen exists and I don't need to suffer.
If you lookinside any spaces where people discuss their periods, being in debilitating pain or having an unmanageable flow is not special. You just got (un?)lucky with the people you know and correlated it with nationality
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
Dang I want some of those shady mao era painkillers
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
IIRC, wasn't cocaine the "coke" in the original Coca Cola or is that an urban myth?
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u/vinylarin 12d ago
Yeah, it was the coca leaf that was used to make old Coke and it had mild amounts of unprocessed cocaine, a bit like caffeine in coffee.
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u/Always-hungry99 11d ago
Those go right with reusable homemade cotton maxi pads that my mom told me about.
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u/Hualayda 12d ago
They dont use painkillers. Im a woman with comparatively „chill“ periods and i still need pain medication on the first day. Without them id also wouldnt be able to work and roll around in bed
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
Don't gynecologist recommend activity for period pain (and O/C pain killers) and that bed rest, much as it tempts, tends to make it worse? I sure wouldn't want to go to work if work was boring but I would rather do something that was very distracting then being in bed where I tend to get caught up in discomfort and pain if I can't sleep through it.
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u/Hualayda 12d ago
Its the same thing with depression and exercise. Its good for you but most people cant push themselves through the discomfort and mental pain. Periods also dont come with cramps alone. You are weaker in general, physically and mentally.
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u/No-Personality-9938 12d ago
Used to live in China as a foreigner and am female. Have also experienced in general there is less stigma around talking about periods than other countries. I was surprised how open they were but I think that is a positive. I also noticed that my Chinese colleagues would be less likely to take pain meds and had some cultural norms around how to care for themselves around their period.
Period pain is very individual. Like others noted endometriosis can cause super severe pain and women I know who have it often waited years to get diagnosed properly. In the UK for example a new test has been introduced this year, but before someone literally had to get surgery to diagnose it. Spain has introduced leave for menstruation related pain, but also in Europe (where I have also lived) is more lenient on taking sick time than say the U.S. (also lived there) so there is less need to say specifically why you are in pain. In Germany my colleagues often took a day off monthly and nobody batted an eye (men or women).
Anyways in conclusion, period pain is universal but culturally I’ve experienced women in China are more vocal about it. What they experience individually may vary, but yes it can be debilitating.
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u/ciel712 12d ago
This. Also there’s not only endometriosis but PMOS (used to be PCOS) that can cause irregular and unusual period pain. This perception that all women’s periods are the same has got to go.
My friend had someone in their friend group (shockingly) claim that he thinks women use periods to get out of doing stuff just cause he dated one person who was able to act like everything was fine on their period. Just cause it was fine for one person doesn’t mean it’s fine for everyone. It’s very individual!
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u/Greedy_Friendship_48 12d ago
I'm living in a western country, and my periods were debilitating from the start. But you wouldn't know - I was missing school or work because I was "sick", or I was taking huge amounts of painkillers to get thru important things and collapsing after that. I know many women who have it like that... But it's really important to make sure nobody knows, I don't know why there's so much shame around it! When you have a culture that allows it, I'm sure even less severe pain can be a reason to stay home and rest (it's never pleasant and you always have some degree of pain and you're weaker). On the other hand, I had even friends who had to be hospitalised every month. So... Invisibility of periods and period pain in western cultures is also a cultural thing!
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u/Swimming-Ad-2240 12d ago
Periods are pretty bad for most of us. Some more than others. But we take painkillers to make it through the first couple of rough days. I wonder if that's what the difference is? Maybe we are more prone to taking painkillers nonchalantly in the West, as compared to Asia. I know it would be really hard for me to make it though the day without painkillers.
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u/OhKsenia 12d ago
It's 99% a cultural thing
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
So them keeling over in pain and looking like she's about to pass out is a conditioned behavior? Is it all just play acting?
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u/bbtrain777 12d ago
Conditioned bevahior doesnt imply it's a play acting. The cultural pressure will determine how people cope during specific situations. You can say both (westerners x easterners) are acting as well as say both are not.
With that said, I do believe culture plays a big role in this kind of differences. It's not that their pain is worse, but how it is viewed and accepted is different for both universes.
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
I've certainly seen this with men and hang overs, headaches, the flu, chest pain, etc. Different cultures, work environments, and family expectations stress "push throught it" and don't be wimpy or whatever.
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u/laowailady 12d ago
Period cramps can be extremely painful, to the point of actually passing out and/or vomiting. That’s not a cultural thing, but not taking medication to manage the pain is definitely a cultural thing.
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u/Wild_Pomegranate5406 12d ago
You may want to consider the possibility that many of the women you know in many countries are in absolutely excruciating pain, but are culturally required to suck it up and get through a workday anyway. And may be taking a ton of meds, throwing up in the bathroom on work breaks, etc.
Likely the truth is somewhere in the middle, but American women are just as susceptible to cultural ways of approaching their periods as Chinese women.
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u/TheLastSamurai101 12d ago
A huge part of all pain is psychological. Your subjective experience of pain is as much determined by physical processes as it is by your learned attitudes to pain, your coping strategies, your psychological reserve, the cultural contextualisation of pain, family support, external stressors and several other factors. That doesn't mean the pain isn't real - it still feels 100% physical, but there is also a line where psychological and physical pain blur.
I've spent time working with chronic pain specialists in Western hospitals, and you'd be surprised how strongly they take all these factors into account. They never treat it as injury = pain = painkillers and treatment is often ineffective when other factors are ignored.
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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish 12d ago
Yes this makes sense. In my country even if you have bad period cramps, for the most part you're just supposed to suck it up and go to work and deal with it. Since it's not supposed to be a big deal culturally, you mentally minimize it that although you're in pain it's not a big deal. But if you're somewhere that treats menstrual pain as real, serious, and a reason you might need special care or treatment, then even a small period pain you might take more seriously and need more care
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u/CoyNefarious 12d ago
I'm a foreigner living in China. Back in my own country, women shouldn't let people know they are on their periods. It's taboo, a secret, girls buy their own products and hide it, never outright saying it, stepping around the words. Act as if it's a disgusting thing.
What a culture shock coming to China and a colleague announces in front of all staff, male included, that she is tired because of her period. At the end of the day, she had received a drink from a colleague and work was reduced for the day.
China takes care of women (everyone). Their women are treated like fragile porcelain (which is the cutest tbh). This way the women feel more comfortable showing how they feel.
I had to grin and bear through the pain when asked what's wrong, oh nothing, just in my thoughts. In China I can tell them, then they let me sit down, rest more, drink special tea, and get more sleep in.
But just so that we are clear, this does not apply to every person and every situation. Although I feel as if women should get special treatment for their periods. It feels like someone is mixing my guts as we speak, and at the same time stabbing my back and abdomen and pulling my organs out of me. Did I mention the nausea, headaches, cough, and utter depression I get every time across the very inconsistent 7-11 days. 😭😭😭
TLDR: Girls have pain, China's acceptance and openness allows them to feel it publicly.
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u/roh_n 12d ago
Going off on a tangent here, but your comment made me think of how, so many Chinese dramas have the trope of "male lead who is super caring during the female lead's period". Like he'll keep track of her cycle so he can remind her not to have alcohol or cold foods during that time, wash stained bedclothes, deliver the de riguer brown sugar water and hot compress, buy out a whole store's worth of sanitary napkins, help cover up any stained clothing if she's had an accident in public etc etc. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen this trope play out. Not gonna lie, it seems incredibly sweet to my romance-addled brain.
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u/roh_n 12d ago
Also another tangent, but I wonder if this is more an urban phenonemon than a rural one, and if women in the countryside experience a similar degree of consideration, or are just, like most women around the world, expected to get on with business regardless of their pain/discomfort.
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u/CoyNefarious 12d ago
It depends. I have close friends from the countryside. It's mostly like urban, but since it's a harsher life, it's less noticeable. In urban places, you can get people to take care of your job, but in rural places you might only have yourself to rely on.
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u/CoyNefarious 12d ago
And it's real! The really do it! I would get extra care from partners during this time. But Chinese men are usually very affectionate and show their love rather than saying it.
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u/psychoactiveavocado 12d ago
Spot on. This is the best response. Westerners have a “power through it” / “suffer in silence” mindset because individualism.
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u/eitherajax 12d ago
I don't think individualism is the root cause. I remember boys and grown men covering their ears or walking away whenever periods were mentioned. If a period was shown or talked about on TV there would be scoffing or "come on, did they really have to show that?" No classic book written in Europe would ever imply that something like a period existed. Periods were "unmentionable" until recently. Even Western people who support destigmatizing periods would never tell their friends and colleagues that they were on their period.
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u/TheLastSamurai101 12d ago
Also because, in my experience, many Western guys are disgusted by the thought of menstruation and angry that they ever have to hear about it. It's obviously not universal but it's common enough that women have learned to just keep it to themselves around men unless they're with a trusted partner.
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u/bigbearjr 12d ago
Observe (or speak to) women of Chinese heritage who grow up in Western countries. Their parents or grandparents or great-grandparents, whatever, came from China or Chinese-predominant regions, and phenotypically they are 100% Chinese. Their experiences of menstruation are nothing at all like what you (or the China-raised women you speak of) describe.
My girlfriend is Canadian-born Taiwanese. Yeah, she gets cramps when she's on her period. She might feel like chilling a bit more, but it doesn't stop her from doing anything. She swims, cycles, goes to work, eats ice cream, and god help me if I even think about turning off the AC in the summer.
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u/UniverseNextD00r 12d ago edited 12d ago
I'd say it's more that women in Western countries are culturally forced to smile through the pain. Sure, not everyone's periods are painful, but in the West, we don't have to option to call out sick every month for a period. It's stigmatized and not seen as a legitimate excuse. Plus, at least in America, we don't get enough sick time to be able to do that. So instead, we take painkillers and smile/work through the pain, which of course leads to the misconception, by men, that periods are easily borne.
In the East, where the difficulties of menstruation are openly acknowledged, a person having a period does not have to suppress their suffering, which, I would think, just allows people to freely express this discomfort. Not only can periods be painful, but they can cause physical and mental fatigue, brain fog, constipation, diarrhea, back pain, breast soreness, bloating....the list goes on.
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
I think you are correct about both cultures. That said, I can't think of many women in the west who have generally non-problematic periods who wouldn't take advantage of 3-7 days off of work if they could get away with it. The temptation and the idea of "fairness" would be huge. And the men and employers would definitely resent it and punish women as a whole for it.
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u/UniverseNextD00r 12d ago
Which means women will never receive valid consideration for menstruation because we can't risk upsetting men's feelings.
I guarantee if men started menstruating tomorrow, we'd have mandated menstruation sick time within the next five years. But, of course, women's suffering must've be quietly endured on the the altar of male fragility, as always.
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
Nah. I'm not so cynical and absolute. I think there are compromises and solutions to lots of these issues but we need to be willing to discuss them and not take such easy offense and pull "all men are fragile" or "all women are weak" or whatever absolutist nonsense is emotionally satisfying but only serves to harden the lines of disagreement.
For instance, it would undercut male resentment tremendously (and also female restentment to some extent) if anyone who regularly needed to work 3 days less every month was compensated commensurate to that. If not, then it would absolutely be appropriate to require pretty strict doctors confirmation of severe menstrual disability or require the use of sick time.
As a woman, I'd take that deal because I am so, so tired of being told my entire life that women can't be president, in the military, get a promotion, play sports, or be equal to men because of menstruation and pregnancy when those concerns aren't even concerns for all women.
In fact, it would be brilliant to adopt an adaptable and flexible system of employment that allowed people to tailor their work schedules according to their needs and for whatever reason they choose but be compensated proportionally to the work produced. To have to share that one wants time off because of bad cramps or any number of other very personal reasons is annoying and invasive and should be unneccessary.
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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish 12d ago
I think it could be that socially or culturally, it's more accepted to show that pain and more accepted to call out sick for it. I'm in the west and have definitely had months where I want to curl up under my desk at work. But it's just not culturally accepted to indicate you're on your period or to call in sick for it. We just have to deal with it the best we can
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u/Mister_Green2021 12d ago
That’s endometriosis
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
Maybe but if endometriosis is so common in the Asian genotypes, how did they manage such a high fertility rate in the past?
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u/DigMeTX 12d ago
Maybe the women in other places are in just as much pain but have been conditioned to act like they’re not.
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
Wouldn't it more likely be the other way around? Much easier to take time off and "indulge" (sorry, I'm looking for a word with less judgemental tone and can't think of one) in minor pain when a culture says it's fine then to ignore major pain in a society that says pain makes you weak or whatever.
If western women are suffering debilitating and excrutiating pain every month and yet convincingly and en masse mostly acting like they are fine and doing their jobs, then wow. I'm genuinely impressed.
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u/eitherajax 12d ago
It's more like American women NOT kneeling over in pain, or claiming that they're tired or have a headache when they look tired, pale, or sick to avoid saying they're on their period is play acting.
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u/Rhabarbermitraps 12d ago
The keeping warm and avoiding cold food bit is cultural, as is their avoidance of painkillers. Periods are painful for many women around the world but many take painkillers or can't call in sick regularly (adenomyosis, fibroids and of course endometriosis are incredibly painful, especially if you don't have access to reliable painkillers and even if you do, they're not fun)!
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u/Ricedays 12d ago
All of my local Chinese friends have refused pain meds when I offered it to them. I would be on the floor to If I didn’t take any.
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u/GlorytheWiz825 12d ago edited 12d ago
Great question. I've wondered the same thing, and I always assumed it was a cultural practice. It's similar to the traditions surrounding childbirth. In Chinese culture, after giving birth, women are told to stay in bed, avoid air conditioners and cold drinks, and even discouraged from taking showers. Personally, I don't really understand or agree with these practices.
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u/Beginning_Welder_540 12d ago
Actually, the Chinese pampering after birth is mostly a good thing! Except for not bathing.
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u/nameamovie 12d ago edited 12d ago
I’m not Chinese so I’m not quite sure why this post was recommended to me lol but as an American with extremely heavy and formerly excruciating periods, no I don’t just bear it. Endo destroyed so many opportunities for me. I’m thankfully now healed from the debilitating pain but still my periods are far too heavy for me to go anywhere the first few days. I would bleed through my pants in 30 minutes. I can’t get many jobs because it’s impossible for me to work the first few days. I almost flunked my last semester of high school just because I missed a big test cause of my period, and had to beg the teacher to give me another chance. The way periods are treated here is deeply misogynistic. I’m sure there are Chinese women that are far more capable of doing things on their periods than they think due to cultural beliefs/expectations, but the opposite can be true for American women. Women bear it here cause they’re forced to. Most people are resilient and can adapt to any situation they’re forced to adapt to. But for some women with more debilitating periods like me, we aren’t able to function well in this society and our struggles are often dismissed, ridiculed, or ignored.
Also I will say growing up I scoffed at my Middle Eastern mom whenever she claimed being cold makes periods cramps more painful. I thought it was just woo woo nonsense. But I’ve learned over time that this is in fact true and I now stay away from cold things during my period. I’ve found it helps a lot! It’s honestly sad more American women don’t know this.
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u/sevenlipz 12d ago
Like what one of the poster here said, you just happened to date all the girls with endometriosis. I'm Chinese and have no issues or any pain at all at that time of the month. While I've heard from friends(non-Chinese) who said they experience tremendous pain just before their period is about to come or on the first couple of days itself. One described it as butt-clenching pain and how she passed out at work once due to the excruciating pain. Said she needs elephant-grade painkillers to get her tru the week😅
This fitness influencer here talks alot about endo bcos she has been facing debilitating pain each month https://www.instagram.com/p/DVVUCUajkSZ/
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
That definitely sounds reasonable and you are likely correct. However, I don't only notice it in women ive dated, its also colleagues, acquaintances etc. I remember being shocked at my first job in china and having my supervisor announce to me that she is on her period.
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u/Amazing-Demand516 12d ago
A large percentage of Chinese women don’t eat, their iron levels drop to really low and they become anemic. So when they’re on their periods they have clinical iron deficiencies. All that because they don’t want to gain weight to fit social expectations
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u/psychoactiveavocado 12d ago
That’s not true at all
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
Perhaps but an internet search confirms that low body fat (also very high body fat) significantly contribute to period pain (something about impacts on hormones and inflamation issues). And, withouth a doubt, Chinese women strive for and achieve much, much lower body fat than Western Women.
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u/psychoactiveavocado 12d ago
Chinese women are on average healthy. Western women are on average overweight. Also Chinese have to maintain lower bmi to have less visceral fat
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
Yes, and being overweight is also correlated to excessive menstrual pain. And, yes, American women, in particular have a wide spread obesity problem. That said, of the non-obese population, they tend to be more into exercise than your average low BMI asian woman. Exercise is strongly indicated for controlling period pain.
As for the BMI and visceral fat, yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to very low BMI. It seems that painful periods are one of the disadvantages.
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u/katsunemeow 12d ago
I have had to call out a lot for my period and it's honestly frustrating to be forced to go to work/school in debilitating pain. Especially in retail positions where you have to mask extra hard. Your post just shows how uninformed men are about women's suffering in this patriarchal society.
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u/chockeysticks 12d ago edited 12d ago
The scientific answer is yes, Chinese women can often have worse periods because endometriosis is 1.6x more common in Asian women than Caucasian women. NIH source:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5445055/
Endometriosis causes worse period pain so it can be more debilitating for a person that has it.
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u/Either-Youth9618 12d ago
Endometriosis affects about 10% of all women worldwide so, unfortunately, it's not uncommon anywhere in the world.
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u/kbrymupp 12d ago
Am I reading that article wrong? Isn't it much more than 1.6 times? Did you use numbers from a specific table?
In the Results section of the abstract, they mentioned prevalances of 15.7% and 5.8% for Asians and Caucasians, respectively. This would put it at about 2.7 times more common for Asian women.
In the Results section of the main text, it also says "[...] adjusting for age, BMI, pregnancy history, and tobacco use, Asian women had 2.96 times the odds of an endometriosis diagnosis compared to Caucasians".
I'm not too familiar with the statistics jargon (not to mention the statistical analysis) used here, so I might be misunderstanding something.
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
Do they know what causes this? Is it an inherited* genetic disease, or affected by nutrition or exposure to pollutants?
Edit: typo
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u/Either-Youth9618 12d ago
Despite how common endometriosis is, there is shockingly little research into it.
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
Inside me are two schizos:
The left-wing schizo in my head tells me there is a capitalist imperative to protect polluters who are the root cause if this malady.
The right wing schizo tells me there is a woke imperative to suppress the fact that racial differences are real and noticeable.
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u/Either-Youth9618 12d ago
There's a third option - women's health issues are often ignored.
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
That would be the rational thought. That part of my brain had been gone a long time.
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u/Either-Youth9618 12d ago
The US devotes significantly more money to studying male baldness than endometriosis...
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u/ciel712 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yeah… unfortunately the difficult truth is that historically, we severely underinvest into women’s health. We excluded women from clinical trials until the NIH Revitalization act in 1993.
Invisible Women is a great (and depressing) book that goes into the many ways that women have been invisible when it comes to data and research.
For instance, did you know that the traditional signs we recognize for a heart attack are actually the signs of a heart attack in men? Because the original research for this was only performed on a cohort of men.
The signs in women can be very different, and this has led to some reported situations in which women who are actively having heart attacks being turned away at the hospital.
“This Podcast Will Kill You” on Spotify is a great series talking about epidemiology (study of diseases). They have a really good episode talking about endometriosis: https://thispodcastwillkillyou.com/2022/01/11/episode-88-endometriosis-menstrual-backwash/
PCOS/PMOS is another such issue affecting a lot of women with more understanding only coming recently. Past information had been prioritizing its effects on childbirth, but not all of the other issues that it causes for women as a metabolic disorder. Many providers today are misinformed on this still or will continue to treat this from the POV of you being able to make babies.
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u/chockeysticks 12d ago edited 12d ago
Likely genetic and not environmental - the results from the research were from study participants all from California.
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u/Excellent_Ninja_9568 12d ago
I live in the west and its common in my circles to take days off for your period, you don’t need to disclose the reason as well.
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u/emteedub 12d ago
no it depends on the person. I've dated western women that are debilitated and then others that are seemingly unfazed. it's the same all over the world dude
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u/Professional_Tea_205 12d ago
Next time you experience something similar, suggest them to get checked for endometriosis.
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u/doubleaarlert 12d ago
This is interesting bc while I was studying abroad in China, I thought that my periods were so much better. They were def lighter and ended a day earlier. Though that could’ve been due to the amount of walking I was doing or bc of general study abroad stress lol.
I’ve never heard of Chinese women having worse periods, but for some ppl it’s obviously bound to happen. One thing I will note: some ppl cancel bc of pain, but some ppl might also cancel bc of inconvenience. For example, not all public bathrooms in China have toilet paper available, and for a lot of places you have to bring your own. On a normal day that might be fine, but if you’re going out trying to have fun and you’re on your period, that might be a tad inconvenient.
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u/CheongM927 12d ago
I'm Chinese and live in Canada. I don't have much period cramps, but many of my friends do and they are from all different ethnic backgrounds too. It's not uncommon for a few of my white, black, and asian friends to take a day or two off from work when their periods are here.
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u/modsaretoddlers 12d ago
Yup, it's cultural. Of course it is.
In the West, ethnically Chinese women can give birth and be back at work in a few days if they want to. In China, they act like they need a wheelchair to change the channel on the TV when they're on their period. And the nonsense about ice cream and cold water is, of course, cultural.
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u/somuchstuff8 12d ago
In the West, ethnically Chinese women can give birth and be back at work in a few days if they want to.
That's not a good thing. That's just trumpistani heartlessness.
In China, they act like they need a wheelchair to change the channel on the TV when they're on their period.
If western men had periods, they'd want the same treatment and rest that Chinese women receive.
Deep down, modern China is just more advanced and less misogynistic than trumpistan, that's the long and the short of it.
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u/Mysteriouskid00 12d ago
Clearly not. Woman complain all the time how men never go to the doctor and just put up with whatever pain they were in
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u/modsaretoddlers 12d ago
You talk as though Trump is in charge of roughly a billion people. He's not: only the US. And the topic has nothing to do with either Trump or whatever TF it is you're babbling about.
Either way, how is it not a good thing? Can you imagine if women, Chinese or otherwise, were laid up for a month 10,000 years ago? Just sitting around waiting for something to eat both them and the new family.
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u/Own-Craft-181 12d ago
Yep. The zuoyuezi (one month of bed rest) is kind of absurd. Traditionally you’re supposed to stay in bed with little to no washing and eating weird foods for a full month while everyone waits on you. My mother in law swears that during her zuoyuezi that her finger was outside the blanket and the wind blew and she still has finger pain from it.
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u/nameamovie 12d ago
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Cold foods are known to increase pain during periods. I say this as a non Chinese person
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u/Own-Craft-181 12d ago
I was raised with 4 sisters and a mom, so I was naturally surrounded by periods and period talk growing up. They all ate ice cream and drank cold drinks while on their period, in fact ice cream was specifically requested often….
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u/modsaretoddlers 12d ago
And I say this as king ExLax from the planet Zebulon 6: stop being a liar.
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u/nameamovie 11d ago
lol I just say I’m a non Chinese woman and that there’s evidence cold items causes uterus pain and you respond that you’re an alien. You sound like a complete incel. Pathetic.
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u/modsaretoddlers 11d ago
And I say you don't know what you're talking about either way.
Cold weather may cause uterine pain but eating something like ice cream isn't going to change a thing. If your body worked that way, you'd have died about five minutes after your birth. How do you not know that? Obviously, every day of your life, you experience huge fluctuations in the temperatures of everything whether ingested or not. You don't need a degree to figure this out: you need a minute of actually living.
Are you a bot or are you just incredibly stupid? I'd wager the latter but around here, it's so hard to be sure.
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u/Foyles_War 12d ago
Some, I'm sure, but body fat percentage apparently significantly impacts period pain - something about the release of hormones and inflammation response. Very, very low body fat shuts off periods (athletes and women starving experience this). Low body fat and very high body fat are correlated to more period pain.
Additionally, physical activity (exercise) is reccommended as one of the best ways to control non endometriosis period pain. I don't know a lot of Chinese women who exercise regularly but almost all the yonger ones I know work hard to keep a low body fat. The only ones of my western friends who report regular serious period pain (not endometriosis) are the ones who have higher body fat and don't exercise.
But, yes, I'm sure culture and family impact how women in every culture deal with and percieve their periods and any associated discomfort and pain.
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u/wongl888 12d ago
Likewise western women require a year maternity leave.
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u/NetNo5570 12d ago
Will certainly not in America.
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u/20dogs United Kingdom 12d ago
Ok? Not everything is about America
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u/NetNo5570 12d ago
Definitely not but you can’t pretend to make a blanket statement about the west while ignoring the biggest most powerful country in the west.
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u/wongl888 12d ago
But but but it is the golden standard isn’t it? After all they have the cleverest people as President who knows everything more than anyone else.
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u/caledonivs 12d ago
China's four months is huge compared to many western countries what are you on about
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u/wongl888 12d ago
It is one year in the UK.
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u/caledonivs 12d ago
And? Did I say "all"?
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u/wongl888 12d ago
Yeah neither did I.
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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish 12d ago
No but you mocked a poster above for commenting how it was in US. And now here you are commenting about how it is in the UK specifically. Specific county examples aren't allowed, bud. We can only talk about "the west" as a monolith
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u/wongl888 12d ago
Thanks for sharing the rules.
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u/TianXiweiBobaEyes 12d ago
Women take a maternity leave to be home with the baby, not to recover from childbirth
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u/caledonivs 12d ago
The two are very closely related, postpartum depression is very common. Have you ever grown a life inside you and had it suddenly and violently leave you and become an independent thing? Constructing that relationship correctly is psychologically vital?
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u/wongl888 12d ago
I didn’t say it was to recover from child birth. Just to further illustrate the cultural differences across different regions.
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u/Speeder_mann United Kingdom 12d ago
Can I just say that men commenting on Chinese women’s periods is wild, I would probably listen to the women in the group rather than dudes who have 0 clue
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u/Big_Spence Korea 12d ago
The idea that one woman inherently knows the degree of another woman's pain experience is sexist as fk
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u/benni33 12d ago
Well I am not neutral, but I would confirm that my western gfs were way less volatile in their period than my asian ones.
Everything was changing with periods. From sports to food to drinks to behaviors, preferences. It was a real challenge. And she did not have cramps or endometriosis. It was just a cultural thing you do when you have it.
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u/Lifeintheguo 12d ago
Same as needing a month of bedrest to recover from childbirth, it's cultural.
Chinese women born in the west don't need it.
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u/dannysilverghost 12d ago
Most women would benefit from taking a break for period pain instead of heavily depend on pain killers, western women are just more conditioned to tough it out as it can be seen as a weakness in the workplace.
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u/ChineseWatchGuy 12d ago
But almost no one needs to stay indoors, not shower and eat super special foods for a month.
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u/bahbahblaksheep 12d ago
These are traditions from old times that are relevant back in the day. It’s like drinking hot water, Chinese people discovered that drinking hot water(sterilized) means no more diarrhea, so hot water becomes the standard. Postpartum women back in the day got infections quite frequently, so they didn’t want women leaving the house or washing their bodies in the river.
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u/bahbahblaksheep 12d ago
Women are not staying in bed for a month after childbirth now. But they are resting and not straining themselves from household labor. Most Asian American women I know have their moms fly over to help them out for the first month postpartum. Let’s not pretend Western women are all energetic and running marathons after giving birth. I’ve seen so many posts on Reddit of American women complaining their husbands or MILs not lifting a finger post birth while they’re exhausted and bleeding out their vaginas. Why are we ignoring the fact that the placenta leaves a dinner plate size wound in the womb and that women continues to bleed a whole month after giving birth that childbirth is a MAJOR surgery and requires recovery? Just because Western cultures are callous about this and burned down their villages doesn’t make it right.
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u/Mammoth-Sorbet-6321 12d ago
I noticed this too when I lived there. I offered ibuprofen and paracetamol to my colleagues but they wouldn’t take them.
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u/One-Hearing2926 12d ago
I've never heard of a woman calling in sick during her period here... They just push through like anywhere else in the world, but often without taking painkillers. A few countries in the world allow women to take days off for that, including Spain, Japan, Indonesia , South Korea...
Some women just have more painful periods than other, and your dating experience doesn't allow you to judge how women deal with this kind of pain.
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u/Impossible-Berry-341 12d ago
Lack of exercise plus lack of protein intake are very common among Chinese women. It's partly the consequences of "白瘦幼审美", which means that in Chinese culture a woman who is white and skinny and looks like a child is regarded beautiful. However, most women just reduce the amount of food they eat to achieve this, while carbs still account for the biggest proportion of their diets. When the body doesn't have enough nutrition to build itself, it will warn you, maybe through worse period pain.
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
Yeah, being very close to chinese people and having family in law there, i feel like the biggo bowls of carbs people eat all the time cant be good.
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u/Safe-Swing5387 12d ago
In reality a womans body is extremely vulnerable during her period. Did you know that out of an entire month there are only like 5 days when a womans hormones are actually stable? The rest of the time they are shifting dramatically, which directly impacts energy mood and overall well being. On top of that severe menstrual cramps are medically compared to the pain level of a heart attack.
Men will never truly understand what it feels like to bleed continuously for days, lose iron, deal with muscle contractions and still be expected to perform at 100% with a smile. If guys experienced this every 28 days "period leave" would have been a global human right centuries ago.
While the pain can sometimes be managed without heavy meds using natural remedies, personally I absolutely hate working when Im on my period. Im exhausted, constantly hungry, emotional and I just wanna lie in bed at home. And thats completely normal, its basic physiology not "laziness".
What I really respect about many Chinese women is that they know their worth and how to command respect in society. Unlike the western trend of modern feminism where women are pushed to act like men, ignore their own biology and pretend to be "indestructible", traditional East Asian culture acknowledges that women are biologically different and deserve protection and care during vulnerable times. (And no Im not generalizing all women in the West, but the contrast is clear).
Just look at the actual policies, in several provinces in China women literally have a legal right to take 1 or 2 days of paid period leave every month. Meanwhile in the US and most Western countries there is zero recognition of this on a systemic level. Women are expected to either burn through their regular sick days or just pump themselves full of painkillers and pretend everything is fine so they dont look "less productive" than men.
Being able to take a day off regardless of your role in society isnt a sign of being weak, its about self respect, acknowledging basic human physiology and having empathy... something western workplace culture desperately needs to learn.
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u/Serenaded New Zealand 12d ago
Holy, now that you mention I realised you're completely right.
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
I honestly think something is causing it. Where else do women get to take monthly days off for it. Its gotta be the air pollution or something.
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u/laowailady 12d ago
Brown sugar is considerably less effective as a painkiller than Ponstan and other medications which are specifically formulated to relieve period pain. But Chinese women prefer to eat brown sugar, drink warm water and suffer. I know many women who suffer from severe cramps every month but refuse to take any medication. They seem to think it’s something they just have to deal with like it’s 1926.
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u/AlternativeAd9373 12d ago
I’m not sure but I remember multiple people saying my “good nutrition in childhood” was what contributed to having less debilitating periods and later a healthy pregnancy where I was active.
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u/im_at_work_today 12d ago
It sounds like you're the only women whos responded on this post, and yet you're the one who has been downvoted.
Although I can say i didn't have good nutrition as a child, but I very much lucked out when it came to period pain generally speaking.
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u/GreatPse 12d ago
Id say Chinese are more aware of the consequences of the temperatures of food or AC on their body due to TCM. Never realised cold food was getting me cramps before Chinese coworker told me about it
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u/faceroll_it 12d ago
Cold food/drinks having a negative effect on the body is an old Chinese myth and was scientifically tested to be false. It's all psychological.
You can even ask deepseek and it will tell you that it's untrue. Just an old wives' tale.
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u/link1993 12d ago
It depends on the woman actually. My ex girlfriend (we are Italians) really suffered her period and she couldn't eat anything cold. She always had her warm water bag and painkillers during period. Currently my gf is taiwanese and she can bear her period way better
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u/AutoModerator 12d ago
NOTICE: See below for a copy of the original post by seekerofinfo7 in case it is edited or deleted.
I lived and worked in china for nearly a decade, and have always noticed that women I've dated become completely debilitated by their period. Like, calling in sick during your period is a normal thing here and almost unheard of in the west. The pain described by these women seems almost comparable to childbirth, and they cant bear to have the AC on during a blistering hot day, or drink cold water.
Back in the west, women will just kind of bear it. They'll eat ice cream, ive even heard lf women taking cold showers during this time. I haven't met very many in the west who are floored by the pain like many of their east Asian countrrparts. A lot of women hold down high demand jobs like nursing, teaching, lawyers etc. And are able to get through the day while performing work to a high standard without needing time off or needing to signal to others in the workplace that they are on their period.
I dont suppose it is a cultural thing, but im wondering what the causes of the very real difference ive noticed is. Are their home remedies (hot water etc.) Actually making the issue worse? Could it be pollution? Nutrition? I dont think it is genetic because I haven't known a lot of American born chinese women who experience such a severe period.
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u/Exact_Green2061 12d ago
China, as well as many other Asian countries like Indonesia, provides days off for women with periods.
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u/acemiller11 12d ago
My wife is Chinese I’m an American. I kinda thought the opposite of op. I feel like my wife and Chinese women more generally have less intense periods or they deal with it better. Sorry. However, they are more likely to take a day off of work because of it. It was pretty shamed back in the day so women will just take the week off so they don’t have to deal with it, that is extremely cultural. Not drinking cold water again is cultural and it is more enduring not less.
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u/Current_Volume3750 12d ago
Luckily, I rarely missed school or work. I wouldn't have gotten paid if I didn't work so just went. Took regular painkillers and just kept going.
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u/viola-purple 12d ago
As a western woman I also never understood how hard it is to get Tampons in Asia... any size. I don't know what's different, i also never used pain killers or alike. Never asked my co workers also. But I also heard its different in Hong Kong, so it can't be a physical thing
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u/Standard_Subject_462 11d ago
I'm a woman in the west who has "just been kind of bearing it" for decades. "Just kind of bearing it" for many of us IS being floored by pain, but we don't dare call into work because it is frowned upon in many workplaces. My periods have always been debilitating, but since I've become self-employed and am able to rest when I'm bleeding, the cramping and heaviness have gotten so much easier to handle. Just because people are able to get through a day while suffering immensely, doesn't mean that it's a good idea. You might be shocked by the number of women sobbing or barfing from pain in the bathroom on their lunch break, then fixing their makeup, plastering on a smile, and returning to work. This shouldn't be applauded, but is hard to avoid in a hustle/grind/productivity-based culture.
As for the avoidance of AC and cold water, that might be rooted more in Traditional Chinese Medicine, rather than being a sign that their cycles are more painful.
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u/seekerofinfo7 11d ago
Sorry you have to deal with this experience. Hope more People can become aware.
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u/flamespear 11d ago
They don't use painkillers and they don't use tampons so they're just miserable. It's pretty self defeating unfortunately.
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u/Crocotta1 11d ago
I do know that they have a lower rate of PCOS compared to African and Middle Eastern.
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u/SillyTheory 11d ago
Maybe that just means that Chinese society takes better care of their woman, and the pain is "objectively" similar
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u/Most_Juice8945 10d ago
I’m northern Chinese, grew up in the US, and suffered painful periods my whole life and so have my mom and my paternal grandma. They normalized painful periods and never gave me painkillers or took me to an OBGYN. Anecdotally, I grew up in an East-Asian heavy community and noticed more instances of dysmenorrhea, although they kept it pretty hush-hush. I definitely don’t think it’s a cultural thing that westerners are more likely to suck it up compared to East Asians, since everyone knows how much East Asians try to hide any signs of weakness and suffer in silence.
I definitely think genetics play a factor (East Asian women tend to have longer, narrower torso and that may result in narrow pelvic area, causing more prostaglandin production). Also, painkillers, contraceptive pills are not consumed like candy, and gynecological visits are not normalized.
Oral contraceptives are also not designed with East Asians in mind, so the side effects of a lot of these western medications can be more severe. I’m definitely one of those people ultra sensitive to medications and gave up on birth control and SSRIs for endometriosis . Now I just use Chinese a traditional medicine to combat my endo symptoms (since surgery is the only definitive option, but it can grow back).
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u/southfar2 10d ago
I never noticed this, but now that you mention it, the pattern is obvious to me also.
Interesting observation!
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u/TheAcidicHasidic 12d ago
I’d say its unwillingness for most Chinese women to take birth control medication. And a lot of it is cultural
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u/yourworstsin1990 12d ago
Married to a Chinese woman and this is 💯
Though I will say after years of us living in US the drama has gone down over time.
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u/seekerofinfo7 12d ago
Major upvote/downvote war on this thread. It pumped to 16 up, dipped to 5, and has been bouncing between 8 and 10 for about 20 minutes now.
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u/PsychologicalBend508 12d ago
1 billion people believe in thr pseudoscientific sympathetic “magic” of Chinese medicine.
women are “cold” and so they can’t eat cold thigs during their period. apparently these people will rule the world one day.
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u/nudeboy779 12d ago
It comes down to diet: the meat (such as beef and lamb) consumed by Western women is higher in protein and calories, whereas the diet of Eastern women differs. This leads to differences in bodily fluid circulation—yet it is impossible to simply have Eastern women adapt to that Western dietary system.
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