Should my choice as a woman of being sanitary really be taxed as a luxury?

Many women would say NO!  You can tax my shoes but you cannot tax my body!
A young girl in middle school rushes to the bathroom after immediate blood rushes to her face, and to her underwear. She’s excited at the thought of “finally being a woman,” but terrified of the thought of death. How could anyone consider having a period a luxury?

DEATH?! Yes. Tampons not only scare young girls, but also have the potential to cause diseases because of buildups of bacteria. One disease that could ultimately cause death is known as Toxic Shock Syndrome. TSS is a buildup of toxins and bacteria like staph and strep and has symptoms that include “high fever (greater than 102°F [38.8°C]), rapid drop in blood pressure (with lightheadedness or fainting), sunburn-like rash that can be anywhere on the body, including the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, vomiting or diarrhea, severe muscle aches or weakness, bright red coloring of the eyes, mouth, throat, and headaches, confusion, disorientation, or seizures, kidney and other organ failure.” (TeensHealth, Toxic Shock Syndrome) If these are the consequences you sign up for for using tampons, why would it be considered a luxury?

To many young girls around the world, a period is a frightening thing to experience. Many don’t know what’s happening, and many know exactly what to do. Either way, it’s a natural occurrence that cannot be controlled completely, even with the help of birth control. Even though this is true, men are still frightened and uncomfortable with the thought of blood from “down there.”  Many people are uncomfortable with the topic of periods in general. Immature men try to find ways to make a period sound more “mature” by calling it menstruating because they are uncomfortable on the topic. No matter how you say it, it’s the same thing.

No woman asks for a period. It is by no means a LUXURY to have. For many women, having a period means a week of bleeding, cramps, hormones, sicknesses, and just downright misery. In the United States, women who menstruate are not granted leave from their work. Other countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and more have passed laws to let menstruating women have a leave for work, whether it be one, two, or three days. Arguments that support men more than women like “Some have criticized the laws as unfair to men, or furthering the mistaken belief that women are weak and controlled by their hormones,” (CTV News) are completely sexist and misogynist.  By promoting men’s rights based off of the limited rights of women, it already gives them an unfair advantage. Why should complete misery to women be taxed? It would be like saying men being sexually aroused should be taxed too!

Condoms, although a form of birth control, are not a taxed item because they are seen as a necessity instead of what tampons are seen as, a luxury. 50%-60% of teens by their 18th birthday have had sex. (Guttmacher). Where as, most women between the ages of 13-50 menstruate. The birth control pill available to women is in most cases, free, but it’s a form to stop pregnancy from occurring (not 100%), regulating periods, and controlling hormones. A period is a signal to women that they are not pregnant. Yes, birth control regulates them and can sometimes delay them for a longer cycle time than normal, but there’s no stopping them. Therefor, to tax a natural occurrence of the woman’s body would be almost equivalent to taxing a thunderstorm, but bloodier.

It is our right as women to chose to be hygienic, and should not be taxed. According to Natasha Preskey, a freelance journalist and student at City University London, the average woman will use and throw away about 11,000 tampons in her lifetime (The Independent). If a box of tampons is about $5-$7 at popular drug stores like CVS, and there are about 14-18 per box depending on the one you buy, you’re spending about 43-50 cents each on a single tampon. This means that the average woman spends roughly $5,500 on tampons in her lifetime, plus tax. Though the tax on tampons has severely dropped in the last twenty years from 17% to 5%, (The Independent), tampons should not be taxed at all.

Items that should not be taxed, or actual necessities, are things such as food, water, and basic health needs. Tampons fall under the category of basic health needs for women. Throughout history, women have always had a limited amount of rights. These rights restricted the allowance of voting, possessing land, and even marriage, but to restrict a natural occurrence is absurd. The thought of a period may gross many people out, but that’s not going to stop it. There are only tools to make it less horrible. To tax these tools and call them “luxuries,” even though they are basic sanitary devices, is against any rights for women. There are many petitions to sign to convince or even force the government to lift the tax on sanitary products for women. There are websites and blogs that allow one to vote. The government sees tampons as a luxury. If the government wants to tax a period, then they should develop a new tool to eliminate it completely, but that would be against basic human nature, and without extreme technology, impossible. To tax the basic human nature that is a period, is to tax a women on something she cannot control. Feminine hygiene products should not be taxed whatsoever.

Work Cited
Preskey, Natasha. "There's Nothing Luxurious about My Period so Why Is the Government
Taxing Tampons as If There Is?" The Independent. N.p., 16 Feb. 2015. Web. 24 May    2015.
Mayo Clinic. Toxic Shock Syndrome. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Mayo Clinic, 8 May 2014. Web. 22
May 2015.
Mulholland, Angela. "Should Women Be Offered Paid Menstrual Leave?"CTVNews. N.p., 10
Dec. 2014. Web. 24 May 2015.
"Toxic Shock Syndrome." KidsHealth. Ed. Larissa Hirsch. The Nemours Foundation, 01 June
2014. Web. 22 May 2015.
Sanghani, Radhika. "Stop Period Tax." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 6 Aug. 2014.
Web. 22 May 2015
Guttmacher. "American Teens' Sexual and Reproductive Health."American Teens' Sexual and
Reproductive Health. Guttmacher Institute, May 2014. Web. 26 May 2015.