First of all, as any woman can tell you, buying health or beauty products at any grocery store sucks. For me, personally, it's a chore that I avoid as long as possible because it's so expensive. If you've never taken the time to compare prices between shampoos, conditioners, shaving creams, razors, deodorants, and any other number of products in a grocery store you might not have noticed the appalling price differences in men's and women's products.
For example, any regular blue razor could be priced at $1.99 and then a pink razor in pink packaging might cost $2.50. They're most likely the same razor, and the women's version might even be lower quality, but because it's pink and pretty it's taxed more than regular products that do the same thing. This is also true with hair products and body wash, which are generally priced $4 higher than ones marketed towards men. Companies have even been known to shrink packaging sizes, so the consumer gets less product, but still charge a higher price than a bigger bottle that isn't marketed towards women. So why are we expected to pay more for products that are of equal quality to men's? Probably because we are more willing to spend the money, considering we're under so much pressure to look a certain way. But does that mean we should have to spend more money, due to taxes on female products? I don't think so. We should pay the same amount of money for products that do the same things as men's products.
While we're on the subject of ridiculously priced feminine items, let's talk about periods. It's no secret to any girl that's walked down a feminine hygiene aisle that pads and tampons are ridiculously expensive. That's probably because they are taxed as a luxury item, which is the most outrageous thing to call a pad or tampon. They're more like necessities, actually, and a box of tampons usually cost around $6-$7. Then add in the tax and that $6-$7 turns to $8-$9, unfortunately. Also, I don't know a single woman who wouldn't voluntarily give up their period in a heartbeat. The fact is, women spend hundreds of dollars a year on something that they can't stop nor can they afford to ignore.
I could understand a high end product being priced significantly more than other products that are similar, but unless my body wash has sprinkles of gold in it or my razor is made of diamonds, you can bet that I'll be shopping carefully from now on.
