Meet Ayaka Yoshida; The Japanese politician who received 8,000 death threats over a call for free sanitary products in public toilets

In such a world of equality and women empowerment , dare you put forth a proposal to provide sanitary products free of cost in public toilets ! Because if you do, you’re probably going to have your inbox bombarded with back-to-back death threats !


At least, that’s what happened in Japan.


What happened?

A female Japanese politician, Ayaka Yoshida , has received about 8,000 emails containing death threats after proposing free sanitary pads in public toilets, after she shared her experience of not finding sanitary napkins at a prominent city hall on social media last week.


The 27-year-old member of the Mie prefectural assembly and the Japanese Communist Party sparked the backlash after posting on social media on March 25: "Like toilet paper, I want sanitary pads to be provided everywhere."

“I was caught off guard by my period and was in trouble as there were no sanitary napkins in the restroom at Tsu City Hall. I hope menstrual pads can be provided like toilet paper,” Ms Yoshida posted on X.


The aftermath:

The message quickly provoked angry responses, with one message sent to the secretariat of the Mie assembly stating, "At her age, she should know to carry emergency sanitary napkins."

The responses soon became more threatening, however, with the assembly receiving nearly 8,000 emails - about one a minute for nearly four days from 8pm on March 28.


As reported by Kyodo News, the emails threatening the life of Ms Yoshida, who is a member of the Japanese Communist Party, were sent between 8 pm local time on Friday and 3.50 pm on Monday, at roughly one-minute intervals.

More interestingly, the thousands of emails were reportedly all sent from the same email address.

One of the threatening emails was titled, "I will kill assembly member Ayaka Yoshida who doesn't bring emergency napkins with her while being old enough to know better!" Japanese daily The Mainichi reported. The text of the email also referred to her murder.


Yoshida’s response:

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the 27-year-old lawmaker said such emails carried the “effect of intimidating me and suppressing my activities as a prefectural assembly member.” She said, “I'm very scared. I have been engaging in my duties to fulfil my responsibility as a prefectural assembly member, and these emails intimidate me. I hope the police will conduct a thorough investigation.”.

According to a survey by Tokyo consulting firm Deloitte Tohmatsu Group, about 44% of women in Japan do not take any time off during their period even when they are in serious pain. At least 5,000 people participated in the survey that was conducted in 10 countries from October 2022 to January 2023.


In which countries do you find free sanitary products ?


While Scotland became the first country to legally ensure free access to period products for all, with the Period Products Act coming into effect in August 2022, New Zealand announced in February 2021 that all schools in the country would start providing free tampons and pads from June. In 2018, the Australian government announced a plan to provide free pads and tampons in all public schools, and Victoria became the first Australian state to implement the scheme in 2020.