Bleeding isn’t Luxurious [OPINION]

The number of issues women may encounter within their lifetimes is astronomical. From cat-calling to the wage gap to being unable to appease societal expectations of how we live our lives and who we should be, the list of obstacles is endless. If you are a female living in Wisconsin, you can also understand the added weight of womanhood that is present within the state’s tax laws. Wisconsin is one of the 37 states within the US that considers feminine hygiene products a luxury item and taxes them as such. 

How is it that here in Wisconsin gun club memberships are tax exempt, according to New York Times, but tampons aren’t? So, everyone has a right to shoot a gun, but not everyone has a right to adhere to their body’s biology in a safe and affordable way? Only 13 of the 50 states have eliminated the tax on feminine hygiene products, while the rest continue to take advantage of menstruation by considering feminine hygiene products to be a luxury. Wisconsin applies a tax of up to five percent on these products, Fox News reports. While products such as condoms and Viagra are considered pharmaceutical products, and are protected from being taxed as they are deemed necessary.

 Food and medical products are exempt from taxation as they are considered important for the well-being and health of the population, so it is hard to understand how feminine hygiene products are compared to be different. Tampons and pads remain excluded from being considered a medical necessity when these products are important to the well-being and health of half of the population. This imbalanced classification of products poses the question of whether misogyny is prevalent within our system of taxation. Being female is not a choice that we get to make, and menstruation isn’t a mere hobby. As women, we have to go through menstruation an average of 12 times a year for about 40 years of our lives, and it is generally not a choice we make. Periods aren’t a fun event in the lives of many women out there as they are accompanied with the negative aspects of cramping, irritability and breakouts among incessant bleeding.

The purpose of purchasing these products isn’t just for fun or to simply make the lives of women easier. Feminine hygiene products are substantially expensive as their going rate averages to about seven dollars a box. The added sales tax almost plays as an insult added to injury. Tampons, pads and other feminine hygiene products are constructed for the sole purpose of allowing women to go about their day just like anybody else. It’s kind of hard to function as a contributing member of society when you can’t afford to safely control the influx of blood leaving your body once a month. Classifying tampons and pads as a luxury is implying that not bleeding through your clothing and onto any chair or surface is a luxury.  These products aren’t a ‘luxury’, they are a medical necessity. 

Lawmakers are unwilling to dispose of the tax due to the fact that states, such as California, accrue over $20 million dollars from the taxation of tampons, says The Washington Post. In Wisconsin, the taxation of feminine hygiene products is costing women upwards of $2.4 million dollars annually, according to Fox 6 News. The tax revenue that has been acquired through the mislabeling of feminine hygiene products may seem lucrative and too much for states to discontinue, but having women be the ones to take the financial hit and calling it luxurious is unjust. As Wisconsin Rep. Melissa Sargent said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “There is no other example of a product where men are taxed for something woman are not taxed for. In this case, women are being penalized simply on the basis of being a woman.” If condoms and Viagra are considered medical necessities, then how can the basic necessity of tampons and pads not be?

Deducing feminine hygiene products as anything less than a medical necessity is a perfect example of gender inequality and how its systematically present within governmental systems. Periods are bad enough and portraying the use of such products as optional and luxurious is wrong and unfair to the millions of women in America.