In a move that combines strategic genius with a profound misunderstanding of both gynecology and battlefield medicine, Myanmar's military regime is expanding its ban on the distribution of period products. According to local activists, the military claims sanitary towels are being used to treat wounded resistance fighters, because apparently, the People's Defence Force is running its field hospitals out of a teenage girl's bathroom cabinet.
The ban is thought to be part of a broader effort known as 'four cuts,' designed to deprive insurgents of basic supplies. It began in August in certain areas and has since expanded. Transporting pads across the bridge connecting Sagaing with Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, is now completely prohibited. Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a director at the women's rights collective Sisters2Sisters, notes the expansion is likely more widespread than many think, thanks to the enduring taboo around talking about menstruation.
Medical professionals, however, are calling the military's justification medically illiterate. Meredith Bunn, founder of the medical aid charity Skills for Humanity (SFH), stated that anyone who has ever worked in combat medicine knows sanitary pads are useless for treating gunshot wounds or lacerations. She blamed the policy on 'completely uneducated, misogynistic fools within the military.'
The practical result is that women are now forced to use unsafe alternatives like rags, leaves, or newspaper, exposing them to urinary tract infections and reproductive tract infections, according to Henriette Ceyrac of the now-closed period education organisation Pan Ka Lay. For those who can afford it, a hidden market has emerged where prices have tripled from 3,000 kyat (£1) to 9,000 kyat per pack - a sum that exceeds the country's minimum daily wage of 7,800 kyat.
In a country where the health system has collapsed, this creates a vicious cycle. Thinzar Shunlei Yi says Sisters2Sisters regularly fields requests for antibiotics to treat UTIs. The discomfort is so severe that some women are opting to stay indoors during their periods rather than participate in 'political activities.' Ceyrac suggests this restriction of women's movement is likely the regime's intention, calling it 'basically gender-based violence.'
Bunn believes the ban is a military tactic designed to target female fighters, control civilians, and victimise the more than 3.5 million people displaced since 2021. Aid groups are trying to distribute reusable pads, but without access to washing water, even these can cause health issues. More sophisticated alternatives like menstrual cups are rare in a culture where, as Ceyrac notes, 'It is frowned upon as a woman to seek information and to be knowledgeable about these things.'
Local groups have now alerted the United Nations to the situation, calling the ban of such a basic commodity a human rights violation. It seems the regime has discovered a new weapon of war: weaponised misogyny, with a side of profound anatomical confusion.