I'm going to be perfectly honest: it's my time of the month and, as such, I'm constantly being reminded of how expensive it is having a uterus. Not only that, I'm suffering. I'm truly, truly suffering.
The worst part of it all? Tampons are still taxed. Not in my home state, no; Maryland had the decency to decide that, well, we don't choose to bleed every month, so it's not really a luxury, unless employers, public transit officers and janitors want to clean up blood every day.
For women, there isn't a choice. No one wants to bleed (and I mean no one). The problem? Most law makers who make up these stupid laws are, well, old men, and, as such, they don't bleed once a month.
In the state that I go to college in, North Carolina, sales tax peaks at 7%. Let's just say that tampons are about $8 per box (and the boxes are tiny). If we add 7% sales tax to that, all of the sudden I'm paying $8.50. I know that it doesn't seem like a huge amount of money, but let's look at it this way:
A woman bleeds once a month (I started at 10, so I'll use that as the starting age). The average age of menopause in the U.S is 51 years old. That's 41 years of bleeding for me!
Then, if you take 41 and multiply it by 12, that's 492 months, which, for me, means 492 weeks of bleeding in my life time. I usually have to buy a new package of menstrual supplies each period cycle, so, let's see how that adds up.
Without tax, I would spend about $3,936 over my life time on menstruation supplies.
With tax, I would spend about $4,211.52.
Although you may say that it's not a big deal, it's also simply the principle. Men can get free condoms at any campus health center or doctors office. Women can't get free pads at those places. (In fact, I don't know of any place that I can locally get free menstruation products.) If men can get supplies for sexual relations for free, why can't we get supplies for bleeding? Sex is a choice, bleeding is not.
Of course, I'm a very huge advocate of free bleeding. It's healthier for your vagina. Pads and tampons can each cause yeast infections, UTIs or worse: toxic shock syndrome.
Ladies, if you want to save some money on pads and tampons for public outings, I would suggest picking up a diva cup, or the new period underwear that's been trending online (available on etsy).
At home? Just free bleed. You can sit on an old towel or an old sheet and best of all? It's free!
So I ask this simple question: Why are we still buying pads and tampons at such high rates? Why don't we free bleed? Try other methods?
And most of all: Why do our law makers keep feminine hygiene products taxed?
The answer is that they just can but we can fight it by looking for other reusable, healthy and safe products in order to provide an alternative, healthier lifestyle for ourselves and our vaginas.
