“Control your bladder.”
“Hold it.”

Okay, no. First off, let’s get one thing straight here. Periods come naturally to every female including YOUR mother. YOUR sister. YOUR daughter. Every female has one, and it isn’t anything we can just stop. If we could control it, believe me, we totally would. Unfortunately, the female body does not allow for that to be an option. After all, it isn’t like we choose when we have our periods.

While periods come naturally, they also come unexpectedly. Let me repeat this for the guys in the back: THEY ARRIVE UNEXPECTEDLY. We don’t ENJOY cramps or blood or anything else that comes with having a period, but it’s there, and quite frankly, it’s not all that bad. It tells us information about our body, and things women need to know. To say that tampons shouldn’t be free because we should be able to control our bladders is like saying that food shouldn’t be necessary because we should control our hunger. We can’t help some things, and it isn’t really our choice. Men, just like you can’t control the growth of your facial hair, or can’t control how much food you need, or can’t control other natural occurrences and human needs, we can NOT control our periods. Oh, and menstruation isn't from the bladder. It's from the uterus.

It isn’t like I chose to be a woman, and chose to have a period. Therefore, why should we, as women, have to pay $7 for a box of 36 tampons? The money truly adds up. These items are not deemed to be “necessities” in stores, so we are taxed on them on top of it. This is absolutely ridiculous, because tampons and pads are something about every female uses EVERY month, so how is that not a necessity? Of course it is. To tax us on tampons and pads is to tax us SOLELY on being a female and having a specific body part, which is as sexist as that can get. While some of your guys roll your eyes, it’d be like taxing YOU for having a penis. So let’s be fair here, okay? Don’t act like you wouldn’t complain.

According to the Jessica Kane’s article on the Huffington Post, a female has her period for 6.25 years straight out of her life altogether. That’s insane. Imagine how much money that must cost us in tampons and pads alone, not including sales tax. Tampons and pads need to be changed about every 6-8 hours. That’s 3-4 a day. Altogether, Kane did the math and it equals well over $1700 in JUST tampons for women. This does not include pads, panty liners, new underwear, birth control, pain medication, or anything else that comes out of having a period. Underwear is another expensive factor, as every female leaks when they begin their period every month if not every time they need to change a pad or tampon. Tampons and pads only hold so much blood, and you can’t stop the rest. Underwear is pricey. Kane uses $5 underwear at Target as an example and added the numbers up to over $2,000 in JUST ruined underwear. If you’re like me, though, and buy EXPENSIVE underwear (Victoria’s Secret, for example) then we can easily switch the numbers around and it’d cost ME (one single female) double the price at over $4,000. Sorry, but why lower my standards on what I wear just because I have specific bodily functions? That’s not fair either.

It’s not easy being a female to begin with because of periods. During menstruation, we feel pain, unbearable at times even. We lose blood. It’s not a fun feeling, to the point where at times, we are limited to what we can do on our periods. Tampons and pads make menstruation easier because it allows us to carry on with our daily lives while we are going through menstruation. If we don’t have those items, it’s not easy to carry on through the day.

I simply ask for those of you that do not understand that you take a step back and look into what you honestly believe. If you believe in equality, this is something you should care about. If you have a female in your life you care about, this is something you should care about. If you are a taxpayer, this is something you should care about. Tampons and pads are necessities, and should NOT be taxed, yet alone not be free.