It's recommended to change a tampon out every four hours, therefore a uterus-owner uses six tampons in a day. A period generally lasts between four to seven days. At the most, one goes through 42 tampons a period. That's a lot of cotton and plastic (or cardboard for the eco-friendly).
Cristina Garcia, an assembly woman from California, also noticed this problem. Through an anger-fueled investigation, she noted that: "on average, according to Garcia's office, women in California pay about $7 per month for 40 years of tampons and sanitary napkins. Statewide, it adds up over $20 million annually in taxes." According to Garcia, these items are a necessity and should not be taxed, especially with women already dealing with being on the short-end of the wage gap.
The map below shows which states tax tampons/pads as "luxury items":
The map below shows which states tax tampons/pads as "luxury items":
Garcia is attempting to pass an assembly bill to end the tax in the United States.
"Basically we are being taxed for being women. This is a step in the right direction to fix this gender injustice. Women have no choice but to buy these products, so the economic effect is only felt by woman, and women of color are particularly hard hit by this tax. You can't just ignore your period..." stated Garcia.
Canada's feminine hygiene tax was lifted in the summer of 2015 and British women protested fall 2016. Hopefully America will soon follow suit.
Why is this topic relevant? Over half of the world's population has a period. We shouldn't have to spend more than we already do to simply exsist.
How does this relate to HIST420? This topic reminded me of condoms being available to only the affluent population when it was first produced.
Why is this topic relevant? Over half of the world's population has a period. We shouldn't have to spend more than we already do to simply exsist.
How does this relate to HIST420? This topic reminded me of condoms being available to only the affluent population when it was first produced.
I agree that taxing tampons is similar to condom usage in the Victorian ear; however, I do think there are differences in terms of marketing and availability. The obvious is that condoms were on the black market while tampons are totally legal. Where your argument that tampons are a “luxury” and condoms during the Victorian era were not makes the distinction between the two even more polarizing. While condoms were widely desirable, sex was thought to be a moral choice that was supposed to happen in the confines of marriage. For periods, as you rightly point out, they happen whether you want them to or not. It seems that condoms should receive the luxury tax, not tampons.
ReplyDeleteWhere the distinction may be more narrow is the use for the products. While both have arguably different purposes, tampons and condoms essentially perform the duty of cleaning up a messy bodily function. While you certainly go without a condom and suffer the consequences, the same can be said for tampons. While I agree that they should not be taxed as a luxury, I can also see how they are not essential to life, but are actually a matter of convenience.
This issue of convenience links Victorian condom usage and tampons even closer. You mentioned condoms only being available to the affluent population, but that wasn’t necessarily true. Working class and poor could get condoms, but they risked the quality of them. The price-tag on condoms then essentially marked the difference between the most effective condoms and the defective ones. Tampons work in similar ways; though you don’t risk STDs and pregnancy if your tampon fails, you do run the risk of failure just like condoms. Cheaper options are not always 100% effective and that’s why there is a large market of choices at various prices.
I also see vastly different discourse between condom usage and tampon usage. Women are expected to essentially hide their periods because they are “gross” or make people uncomfortable. During the Victorian era condoms were all the rage and women openly discussed the best forms of birth control; condoms were advertised in the media and openly distributed in the black market. Tampons today seem to be some underground phenomenon that everyone knows about, but doesn’t want to discuss. Sure there are commercials about tampons and pads, but they are euphemistic and don’t cut to the chase. Aunt Flo, really?
Sex and periods are the same side of the coin, given they both deal with reproduction. However, women’s sexuality and reproduction is specifically targeted by taxes and in common discourse. Even though tampons and condoms are marketed similarly, are used for somewhat similar purposes, and both deal with reproduction, it is the product geared specifically toward women that is scrutinized the most. It just goes to show that there needs to be more open discussion about female reproduction.
This is one of the post interesting blog posts I have read. I suppose because it is so relevant to me and I had never really thought about it before. I cannot comprehend how tampons could possibly be considered a luxury item. As necessary as they are to female existence, it is comparable to taxing groceries on the same basis. Taxing pads and tampons seems an archaic form of shaming. In days gone by, and in some cultures still today, a woman on her period was considered “unclean”. Even touching her was strictly forbidden. In the book Burned Alive by Souad, a young woman who gets her first period is told that she should hide it at all costs. Speaking from personal experience, buying such feminine products can seem extremely awkward, especially when girls first start their period. You feel the need to rush through that part of your shopping and hide the products in your cart at the store and blush at check-out, almost as if you are buying an item of extreme taboo. This taboo is reinforced when young teenage boys exclaim in disgust anytime a girl’s menstrual cycle is mentioned. It is ridiculous that such a natural part of a woman’s life is met with such feelings of indignity, an indignity that is reinforced by the use of a “luxury” tax.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of price, feminine hygiene products can be extremely expensive, and tampons and pads can sometimes be difficult to purchase in the “bargain brand”. Inexpensive products can be unreliable at best and disastrous at worst. In addition to the cost of ruined clothes, having such accidents also causes a great deal of embarrassment, another example of how a woman’s monthly cycle is still considered shameful. The woman also must be considered when purchasing such products. Each woman is shaped differently and had different strengths of flows. Different brands, types, and sized of tampons and pads work best for different women. An inexpensive brand of tampon could have a shape that actually causes pain in one woman, even if it is comfortable for another, while this same woman may find a more expensive brand more comfortable. Adding a tax to these products is an unnecessary addition in price to an already expensive product.