TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Chinese writer’s comment that a quarantining Xi’an woman pleading for a feminine product was “pretentious” and “acting like a princess” has sparked outrage among Chinese netizens.

In an article titled “The Rubber Glove Tied onto Long Hair,” Xi’an Writers’ Association Chair Wu Kejing (吳克敬) mentioned a viral video in which a woman could be heard tearfully asking a quarantine staff member when she and her children would get food and who could help her obtain sanitary pads. When the worker said there was nothing he could do about the sanitary pads, she asked: “So, what? So should I bleed a river of blood?”

Wu discussed the woman’s predicament, writing, “Whether or not you have sanitary pads, when you use sanitary pads, do you not know yourself? Yet in such important times, you berate others for not delivering them to your door! Now, this is your fault… In the face of the pandemic, whatever pretentiousness, whatever princess-like behavior, they are useless; others will not spoil you and allow you to shout!”

Wu was immediately criticized for lacking empathy, and the article was subsequently removed. Wu responded to the criticism by saying what he meant to convey in the article was that no one has it easy during the pandemic, and it is indeed difficult to provide sanitary pads in this situation.

He was quoted by The Paper as saying he hoped everyone would “stop complaining” and stop being “so pretentious.”

The top comment under The Paper’s Weibo (China’s Twitter equivalent) post read, “He forgot that his mom gave birth to him, too.”

“I hope that in your next life, you get your period and suffer from cramps every day; remember, don’t be pretentious!” wrote one netizen. Another suggested, “Let this man try soaking his butt in watery poop for seven days straight Don’t give him paper to wipe it off. I want to know if he would still call others ‘pretentious.’”

Wu’s comments, along with recent reports of pregnant women suffering miscarriages after hospitals refused to admit them, have added to the controversy surrounding the Chinese government’s lockdown policies in Xi’an following a wave of local COVID-19 outbreaks.

A topic that began trending on Weibo during the controversy, “being pregnant is actually not that tormenting,” garnered further criticism. Netizens were quick to point out that the topic was government propaganda encouraging citizens to have more children.

One Weibo user listed the three trending topics in the same post: “Xi’an Writer’s Association chair criticizes woman crying for sanitary pads for being pretentious"; "pregnant woman in Xi’an has difficulty going to hospital, eight-month-old fetus dies in belly"; and "being pregnant is actually not that tormenting."

"Don’t you think this is pretty sad?” the user asked.