Alright ladies, listen up, because we're gonna talk about something that a majority of us deal with, regardless of race, body shape, sexual orientation, and age (unless you're fifty or older).
Periods.
Ah yes, periods. When we all have our own personal, monthly visit with Satan himself.
Now, if any of you pay attention to the news, it was decided in the past week that the Chicago City Council will stop the city sales tax on tampons.
Tampons.
Now, maybe I'm just oblivious when I'm swiping my card while at my local CVS and buying my tampons, but I had no idea that there even was a tax on tampons! (And I'm assuming a majority of you didn't know this either.) Apparently, since tampons are considered luxury items, they are not included in the group of health products that aren't taxed.
I forgot how luxurious my tampons were. I mean seriously, it's not like they're made of Egyptian cotton and are dipped in gold. For those of you who don't know what a tampon actually looks like, here's a reference:
Such. Luxury.
We clearly don't need these for any natural bodily functions. Women are just about that fancy living.
Nothing more fancy than tampons.
As if all the feminine hygiene products, including tampons/pads, didn’t cost enough already; I learned that only ten states don’t tax for the purchase of tampons, and five of those states just don’t have sales tax in general. Each state also has it's own sales tax, so you could be paying more for your tampons in California in comparison to in Alabama.
According to an article posted on MarketWatch.com by Emma Court, “Women [generally] spend about 40 years of their lives buying menstrual products. That translates to an up to $800 spend over the course of women’s lives on sales tax on period products alone.”
There are eleven states that don’t have sales tax for soda or candy. Yet, ten out of these eleven states do have sales tax on tampons. These states include: Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming.
“We are being taxed for being women,” California state legislator Assembly Member Cristina Garcia stated as she made moves to push a bill against the taxing of feminine hygiene products in the state of California.
But ladies, this isn't the first time that we've been screwed financially for being women.
Vogue writer Patricia Garcia stated in her own article (also regarding the tampon tax) that "products sold toward women are charged a higher cost than those same items targeted toward men — think razors, deodorant, toys, even clothing. This hidden 'pink tax' ultimately means personal care products marketed to women cost an average of 13 percent more than those marketed to men."
Our neighbors of the north continue to look better and better since they stopped the taxation of feminine hygiene products back in July. Just another reason to seriously consider moving to Canada ... besides Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling.
Long story short, you beautiful goddesses, it's time to bring yourselves out of the dark and realize there are things going on in the real world that seriously affect you. We, as women, should not have to pay a tax on something that we cannot control ... let alone a bodily function that is in charge of preparing our bodies to produce human life and is also just showing us that we have a healthy, gorgeous body.