Menstrual Public Infrastructure

Menstrual public infrastructure is the idea that menstruation requires public access systems, not only private preparation. 175.女性卫生用品的社会史：比想象中更精彩！ opens from arguments over whether Chinese high-speed rail should sell sanitary pads and uses that dispute to show how much basic infrastructure is still shaped by Menstrual Stigma.

The concept covers availability in transit and schools, store interfaces, toilets, waste disposal, emergency purchasing, tax treatment, standards enforcement, and social permission to name the need. It links Menstrual Product Social History to policy and everyday operations rather than only to product innovation.

Key Claims

• Emergency access matters because menstruation cannot be scheduled or “held in” like a voluntary purchase.
• Public access is not solved by private market existence if the product is absent from travel, school, work, or low-income settings.
• Infrastructure includes speech norms: a system is not fully accessible when users must hide the need or risk ridicule.
• Tax, safety standards, and disposal rules decide whether products are treated as necessities or optional private consumption.

Connections

• Period Poverty - affordability and access extension.
• Menstrual Stigma - social barrier to stocking and requesting products.
• China and Japan - public and historical contexts in the source.
• Menstrual Product Social History - product-history setting for future infrastructure sources.