Why Do We Have To Pay For Tampons?

Why do we have to pay for tampons? We’re already bleeding—is that not enough?

When I was in high school, my period would always surprise me, and every time I was unprepared. I would have to whisper to my class mates, asking if anyone had a tampon I could borrow, ha-ha. After discovering that no one could save me, I would have to raise my hand and ask if I could go to the nurse’s office because I “felt sick,” even though I was bouncing off the walls five minutes earlier. I would walk slumped with a cramp, where I would ask for permission to have a tampon and would have to explain why I probably needed two. Do you think I wanted to raise my hand to clearly go get tampons when I was an insecure 13-year-old girl who had approximately six enormous crushes in the classroom? Do you think it was fun to beg the nurse for tampons? Yeah, I’m being dramatic right now, and I’m not even on my period—surprised?! I think there is something seriously damaging about having to go to the nurse for menstrual products. It sends the message that something is wrong with bleeding, as if our periods are a monthly illness.

Now imagine a world where there is no stigma or price attached to menstrual products! You could walk into any bathroom or store and walk out with a glorious handful of tampons or pads to save the day—no debit card needed. How normalized would our periods become if we didn’t have to pay for ways to control them? Plus, I don’t know anyone who enjoys the uncomfortable look served in stores when buying tampons; it’s almost as if cashiers think periods are infectious or homicidal. Maybe it’s the old wives’ tales that have created the stench around the topic of menstruating. Growing up, I heard countless assumptions about

periods. People would say that you smelled terrible when menstruating, that sex was impossible, and that we get MOODY as hell. Ever hear someone mutter: “Must be their time of the month!” Yeah, that sucks—stop saying that.

But back to the topic of paying for a bodily function that we can’t control: I think period products are equal to toilet paper, soap, and paper towels. If you disagree, please speak now. No one? Thought so. Getting your period is the same as going to the bathroom: inconvenient, but human and completely natural. Paying for menstrual products creates an idea that our periods aren’t natural. Some are lucky to be in a position where they can afford pads and tampons. However, many homeless people end up using rags when on their period, because when it comes down to choosing between eating and bleeding, eating is paramount. Likewise, for people in poverty who are forced to overuse menstrual products, they end up at risk of toxic shock syndrome, cervical cancer, and other dangerous health risks.

When I think of my own journey of menstruation, the money adds up. I got my period when I was 11-years-old, which means I’ve been using pads and tampons monthly for nine years. If I spend $7 on tampons per month, that equals $84 per year. For nine years that comes to $756, and that figure doesn’t include pads, panty liners, and new underwear; if I were to include them, the number would double. That’s a lot of money that I am paying for having ovaries. Now let me make this sum slightly more alarming. Tampons are taxed in many states in America; condoms are not. Safe sex is great, but doesn’t it seem odd that condoms aren’t taxed when tampons are? In a New York Times article, Cristina Garcia, a California legislator, said “basically, we are being taxed for being a woman.” This adds to the price of natural bleeding.

Nancy Crammer started Free the Tampons, a campaign designed to make menstrual products more accessible in the restroom. Free the Tampons found that 81 percent of women have gotten their period unexpectedly and didn't have the menstrual products that they needed. Crammer estimates that if schools and businesses stocked menstrual products, it would cost $4.67 per girl, per year. Crammer went on to say in a New York Times article, “Menstruation is a normal bodily function, and it should be treated like that.” Free The Tampons are making an amazing start to normalizing and raising awareness for what we should all consider to be a simple human right.

I currently study abroad at Champlain College in Vermont where there is easy access to tampons and pads. This was something that shocked me upon my arrival, since I had always paid for my period in New Zealand. At Champlain College, there are always tampons and pads with a simple note attached to the containers encouraging students to take what they need and leave enough for others. The reality is, unless we have one of those freaky period timer apps, our periods come and go as they damn well please. We can be anywhere when our periods arrive, and most of the time we aren’t prepared to save our underwear. There is the argument that if men menstruated we wouldn’t have this issue, and yeah, that’s true, but let’s have that conversation another time! Instead I will leave you with this: our periods aren’t dirty little secrets, so let’s have some bathroom equality and move on.