If you haven’t heard by now, the UK has put a luxury tax on tampons, pads, and other period related products. What does this mean? It means that people with vaginas have to pay a 5% levy on their tampons and pads because they are “luxury items”. Nothing about having a period is luxurious. In an article on this topic by Natasha Preskey for independent.co.uk, she says the following:
“The average woman buys, uses and throws away 11,000 tampons during her lifetime. In my local Tesco, a box of 20 regular Tampax costs £3.14. This means that someone earning minimum wage must work approximately 38 full working days to pay for her lifetime’s supply.”
Items like tampons and pads are essential. They are not something that one with a uterus can go without every month. Preskey also makes another excellent point, stating that:
“Brushing over the fact that many people also use sanitary towels at the same time as tampons, five per cent of this cost is tax. Both are taxed as luxury, non-essential items – you are, quite literally, being tolled for having a uterus.”
Having a uterus and getting your period is not a choice, it is something one is born with, and bleeding out of your vagina for three to seven days non stop doesn’t exactly scream luxury. Oh, I’m sorry, does talking about bleeding from a vagina make you uncomfortable? Then you should check out the women protesting this tax in front of parliament- by wearing white pants and free bleeding.
Yes, you read that correctly. Charlie Edge, a 22 year old woman from Berkshire, took two of her friends and protested outside of parliament. Their signs had slogans such as “No uterus, no opinion.” and “Does your tax make you feel uncomfortable?” She says that:
“If people are grossed out by me not wearing a tampon then I think that emphasizes my point… They’re not ‘luxury items’.”
Not luxury items indeed. People with uteruses can’t just stop bleeding every month, and thinking that tampons and pads should be more expensive because having a period is a “luxury” is a serious delusion. This “tampon tax” was a decision made by mostly cisgendered men, all of whom do not have uteruses. If you don’t have to buy tampons and pads, bleed out of your vagina for three to seven days, and do it all again the following month until you reach menopause, then why should you be making decisions about the products needed by people who do?
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