Warning everyone, this wacky feminist is about to talk about...menses!
So, I don't know if you're aware of this but every single month, the average woman has this thing that happens to her body without her having any right to choose how, when or for how long it happens. It's the menstrual period and every year women spends between $4 and $15 (before tax) a month on menstrual products like tampons, and pads to wick away this problem. That's somewhere between $48 and $180 dollars a year. Now, figuring that the average woman starts menstruating around 12 years old, and continues to have their period until they are at least 45-55 (and more than 60 for some!), that can be as much as $8640 per lifetime on feminine hygiene.
Okay, so that doesn't really seem like that much money in the long run, especially spread out throughout 40 to 50 years, but it does represent a very problematic inequality that of late people are starting to take note of.
Tampons and pads in Canada are now GST free (as of July 1st). In some ways this is a huge victory!In others, it makes absolutely no effing sense. Fist, just throwing it out there people: I love taxes and firmly believe that if we want to live in a better country that gives a shit about its people we have to stops thinking of "taxes" as a dirty word. We should tax everything, including groceries. This would increase government revenue and with the right leadership, lead to better public services! Second, taking away the GST on tampons is one of those things that the government can do relatively easily without risking too much moo-la. The largest portion of the population are the baby boomers, and guess what, they aren't menstruating any more! The proportion of the population that are menstruating adult women is the smallest its been in...well, I don't know how long. But it's been a while. This is still a minor moral victory, but its not the huge victory that we need.
But this victory did not win us the war... Yes, this saves the average woman a little bit of money, and begins to address the problem, but when it comes down to it its a bit absurd that women have to pay for tampons at all. Canada has free healthcare for everyone, and any necessary medicine, product or procedure that cannot be done without should be funded by the government. In the same way that I can just decide tomorrow to get an ultrasound f my hip, I should also be able to walk into any publicly funded wash-room and grab some free feminine products when I'm in need. (And for you conservative budget-minded naysayers, here's a little tip, if we stopped seeing taxes as burdens then the government could afford this no problem!)
The big problem is that we think of this as dirty talk. We're not supposed to talk about things that come out of our vaginas, unless we're talking about a cute baby. We are supposed to go about our days pretending that we're not in horrible pain from menstrual cramps, and we're supposed to pretend that we don't have to wear a diaper sized maxi pad on heavy days to avoid any accidental leakage. We're supposed to ignore the obvious discomfort it causes to get infections and allergic reactions to certain low quality feminine products that are the only ones we can afford while we're in university or taking care of our families, or working a dead end job to try to make a better life for ourselves.
Don't talk about your period. It's gross. Oh, I'm sorry, is this natural thing that happens to me and is beyond my control offensive to you? Suck a lemon.
But we should talk about it more. We should scream it from the rooftops - if you'll excuse the cliché - and we should demand that the government fund high quality, preferably organic and chemical free, feminine hygiene products to menstruating women.
It just makes sense.
Happy Tuesday!
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