Period Poverty and the Pink Tax — Musings of a Modern Mermaid

Welcome back lovelies! Hope you all had a great week and stayed home, wore a mask, and continued to fight against police brutality and systemic racism!

Today we are diving into a topic most of us are familiar with: periods and how those of us with periods cope every month. There has been a push the last few years to make feminine hygiene products safer for women as well as better for the environment and while these are important topics, we also need to be focusing on the fact that so many women live in period disparity. This is a topic close to my heart and something I am very passionate about, specifically when it comes to developing nations, but for today we have to stay in America and the industrialized nations since this post is already a million miles long. So let’s start with the basics: what is the period disparity? It is also known as period poverty which just means that a large portion of women in America can’t afford period products at all. Not sometimes, every couple of months, or once and awhile. Some can’t afford them ever, and therefore if they have a daughter, they won’t be able to provide them with period products either. 1 in 8 women is facing poverty here in 2019; I couldn’t find any more recent data but with the pandemic laying off millions I can only assume it’s gotten worse. When you have to pick and choose between buying food for your children or buying tampons, which would you choose? (CBS)

This is partially done to something called the pink tax. Now if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you probably don’t have a period so it is a luxury you don’t have to think about. The pink tax is something that makes it so all women products (period products, female razors, literally anything markets towards women in a personal care way) costs more than the male equivalent. Birth control can cost so much, while condoms are given out for free at most clinics. A razor for women costs $0.33 more than a men’s razor, as do most other products that everyone uses, regardless of gender (The Street). Now the pink tax doesn’t just affect products everyone uses, it also affects period products, making them more expensive than they need to be. There are a bunch of products that are deemed essential and are exempt from being taxed. Things like medicine, most prescriptions, medical equipment, water, some grocery items, certain clothing items, and even ridiculous things like copy paper or exempt from sales tax because they are deemed essential and therefore it wouldn’t be ok to tax. But apparently, it is ok to tax period products even though people who menstruate have no say in the matter. I live in Oregon where there is no sales tax at all, which means by extension we do not have a tampon tax. The only other state in the US without sales tax is Montana, but counting these two, there are only 12 states in this country that do not tax their period products and have banned the pink tax altogether. Only 12. A little over half the population gets a period every month and this is how things are being handled.

It’s hard to see how in states with a large cattle population, cowboy boots are exempt from being taxed, but somehow products women need to survive are taxed and can be unattainable for some women. CBS wrote a great story about this as well as including a video of a formerly incarcerated woman speaking about how periods are treated in prison. Rather than me explaining the video, just watch it here, and then tell me if you still don’t believe that there is an issue in this country.

I believe that period products should be free. At least pads and tampons should be free and accessible to all women. If you wish to use a menstrual cup or disk, and you have the money to do that, then go for it! But basic hygiene necessities like pads and tampons should be available to all women. If this also strikes a chord in you as it does in me, take a quick peek at the internet to find a local homeless shelter in your area and see if they need period products for the women who frequent it. Donate what you can. Keep some handy in your car so if you see a homeless woman you can give her something. Look at your local jail and see what they do for period products. Work with your local legislators to make a change for incarcerated women. There needs to be change at the federal level, but it has to start somewhere, so why not in your town?

The last thing I want to say up here on my period soapbox (tampon box?) is that while access to period products is a problem, and period poverty is a real thing, period product brands do not have to disclose what chemicals are used in their products. Yes, you read that correctly. While woads and tampons are made from cotton, there are often pesticides used in that cotton while it’s growing that becomes part of the product. There are a bunch of things in there as well, such as dioxins, furans and undisclosed fragrance added. None of these are required to be disclosed by the FDA to you as a consumer on the box (MadeSafe). On top of that, period products are often under-researched. There is no mandate by any governing body to make sure that before they go out to consumers, they are researched thoroughly. Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) which can be caused by leaving a tampon in too long, has also barely been researched. It is understood that at the base level it can make you sick because bacteria grow on the tampon and inside of you, but beyond that, there is a range of symptoms and possibilities you could get from it because it has not been researched hardly at all. The FDA has some basic guidelines and suggests that you do not wear the same tampon for more than 8 hours at a time and do not use scented products, but from there the research differs and is incredibly uneven (Bustle).

Thanks to science and some badass women who were tired of all of the above, we have some brands on the market that make organic, chemical-free, fragrance-free period products that also give back to those who cannot purchase their own. Cora is a brand that you can sign up for a subscription for, but they are also sold at Target! Cora gives back to women and girls all over the world by providing period products and period education in impoverished areas. They are all organic and have none of the nasty stuff in them listed above. Lola is another brand that is subscription-based and gives back substantially to those living in period poverty and is actively helping to try and make this no longer an issue. Again, they are all organic. The last brand I will mention today is Thinx, which is a period underwear company that designs underwear in all sizes and styles to catch the blood from your period without having to wear a period product. They wish away moisture and odor so you can wear them all day with no worries. They have sets for however heavy your flow is, and with every purchase, they give back to women and girls living in period poverty.

For those of us not suffering from period poverty, we need to be putting out money where it matters so hopefully all menstrual product companies take a look at what they are doing, and how they could be doing better. Take some time to research how you could be helping the women and girls in your community who may be suffering, Pay attention to local, state and federal elections and make sure you are electing those who are here for the less fortunate and those who are suffering. Your money has power, put it to good use.

Madey