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The whole tampon tax issue has been in the press for a while now and it isn’t going away. After much lobbying and petition signing last week the government narrowly won a vote to block a call to remove the 5% tampon tax.
Currently, tampons are still subject to the EU tax; meaning that us women are being charged a government fee to purchase them. And as absurd as it may sound, sanitary products are still classed as “luxury items” despite the fact other products, which are considered essential, avoid the tax. I mean of course Jaffa Cakes, helicopters and exotic meats are essential items…duh!
According to statistics, the average woman buys, uses and throws away approximately 11,000 tampons during her lifetime and research suggests that our menstrual cycles are costing us in the region of up to £18,450 during that time. I’m as outraged as the next person at the fact we are being taxed simply for being born female and I couldn’t help but think about all the other charges our lady gardens incur.
Add up all those lotions, potions and painkillers we have to purchase to keep our nether regions in tip top condition, throw in the cost of our the monthly waxes, money spent on razors and trimmers and hair removal creams. And don’t forget about thrush. One in 20 women have to deal with bouts of thrush up to four times a year and let me tell you Canesten is not cheap! All of this plus tampons and it’s beginning to look like we might have to pick up some extra shifts just to be able to be a woman.
Buddy Loans, a loan guarantor company recently took a look into the world of female spending and the figures are high; £849.00 to £1369.00 a year is the average ballpark figure to keep everything in shape and for this sum of your hard earned cash you can expect to buy yourself a years supply of tampons, feminine anti-itch creams, painkillers for those retched cramps and a decent(ish) wax.
Now of course I understand that you are in no way obligated to buy the above. You don’t have to trim your bush, you could just forgo that Vagisil in favour of some masculine ball scratching behaviour and you could swear off the expensive painkillers in favour of calling in sick to work because the cramps are just too much today. But somehow I don’t think that ones going to fly. The pressure for women to keep that porn star look means that many of us will undergo painful and pricey procedures to ensure a well groomed look at all times. We will continue to knock back copious amounts of over the counter painkillers to keep those cramps at bay, because lets face it the boss waits for no one and they will refuse to scratch themselves raw in public because, well that’s just gross!
Charlie Edge and her friend bleeding outside parliament.
I can appreciate that a Brazilian and some max strength co-codamol aren’t essentials but telling us females that sanitary products fall in the same category is ludicrous. Feminine hygiene should be a right, not a privilege and it should be free – because we didn’t choose to be women and it seems utterly immoral to be tolled for simply having a uterus.
