Wondering what to give your loved one this year? How about a Costco-sized mega pack of Tampax?
This week in the UK, the British House of Commons voted again that tampons, pads, and other period supplies are “luxury items” and should be taxed appropriately.
That’s right – apparently getting to walk around with anything other than a wad of bloody toilet paper between your legs is right up there with treating yourself to that Hermes bag you’ve been saving up for. If you don’t want to go out with bloody show running down your legs, the UK government is going to keep on charging you 5% for that right. (Men’s shaving supplies and pita bread, however, are necessities and are not taxed. Makes sense….)
This is just the latest battle in Man’s War Against the Period… not the actual period itself, but against anything that might help a woman survive Aunt Flo’s monthly visits.
Even NYC residents aren’t safe. You want to run an ad campaign on the NY subways hocking 34DD implants….you go right on ahead. You try and put up an ad for period-proof underpants that only very vaguely make reference to the “fluid” nature of the problem, well, you gotta get special permission for that. The Metropolitan Transportation Agency chief was so personally offended (OFFENDED?!?!) by the ads (which, by the way, don’t show anything bloody or blood-related at all ) that he felt obligated to come out publicly against them.
Last but not least is good old Instagram. The site is long famous for being the head of the anti-nipple police. Earlier this year their war against all things women expanded out to include period stains. I’m still trying to figure out why it is okay to show your bare ass, but not okay to explain why teenage girls everywhere are walking around with a sweatshirt tied around their waist!
All this makes me, a lowly woman who has birthed two more women into the world, wonder what in the ever loving fuck is going on? When will this war against women, against the very thing that nature gave us, the very thing which enables us to continue to produce future generations, when will it end?
When can girls stop being mortified to pop into the tampon aisle?
When will vending machine companies stop charging extortionate rates for a single pad because Auntie Asshole popped in a few days early?
When will it stop being okay to write off every female complaint as her “just being hormonal”?
And men still wonder why we turn into raving bitches every 28 days.
A few months ago a women ran a marathon with period blood running down her legs. I have to admit that I thought she was bonkers. Now I’m not so sure. I wonder if we all left those tell-tale red marks on chairs, on bedding, on stairwells and sidewalks, would we finally be able to get the sympathy we need?
Until then. I guess I’ll go back to putting Always Ultraslim with Wings, Aleve and maybe even a Diva Cup on my Christmas list. Fingers crossed Mrs. Claus can slip something into Santa’s sack for me.