Lifestyle June 18, 2018
Insert flushing sound here.
There’s a war happening between our wallets and our periods. We’ve come to know it as the tampon tax.
Tampons aren’t directly taxed, but they are excluded from tax-exempt categories. They are categorized as “luxury” items in many areas of the world. In the United States alone, 36 states still tax menstrual products as luxury items.
If you menstruate, tampons are a necessity, not a luxury. People with vaginas are demanding equality in product taxes everywhere. Art and ad campaigns are revolting against this unfair tax. Here are six artists that are taking on the tampon tax.
London based illustrator Alice Skinner depicts a tampon as a £10 banknote in #Freeperiods. The work demonstrates not only the high financial cost of tampons but also the high social cost. Some students in the U.K. are skipping school because they can’t afford menstrual products, like pads and tampons.
Skinner created the illustration in order to promote Amika George’s #freeperiods campaign. The campaign’s purpose is to eradicate the tampon tax in the U.K. so everyone, including students, can afford period products. George’s petition has over 150,000 signatures. Similar petitions in the U.S. are following suit, creating a global movement.
Skinner continues to point out the problematic cost of tampons in her illustration “Luxury.” By juxtaposing tampons with diamonds, Skinner makes the point that the two are far from the same thing, yet both are considered luxury items. However, tampons and diamonds might as well be the same because young people cannot afford either of them.
Soofiya Andry is a 23-year-old graphic designer and student. She created the zine “Bloody Hell” to de-stigmatize menstruation through an intersectional lens.
Soofiya embraces the blood and pain of menstruation. “Bloody Hell” confronts the taboos surrounding menstruation by illustrating and discussing the truth of periods.
One of these truths is that our transgender friends may still experience a monthly cycle. People of all genders menstruate. As a result, the zine is also a commentary on intersectionality.
“Often there’s a lot of exclusionary language when it comes to period talk. The discussion is dominated by cisgender women, but there’s people of all genders who menstruate,” Soofiya said in an interview with Metro, “I have non-binary and trans friends who have uteruses and menstruate but don’t define as ‘women’.”
The tampon tax is more than just a women’s problem. It is a human rights issue.
Hazel Mead is a period positive artist who also advocates for body and sex positivity. Mead created this illustration as a cover to a dissertation entitled, “From taboo to activism: How menstruation has been put on the political agenda.”
The image depicts four diverse feminists standing together to protest against the tax on tampons. One sign reads “End Period Poverty,” while another reads “Periods Are Political.”
Menstruation is a taboo topic. But not anymore! Menstruators are banding together to create a political conversation. As Mead suggests, maybe we’ll start our own period political party…
Mead writes in one of her Instagram captions, “It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century Britain young people are stuffing their underwear with tissue or socks because they cannot afford sanitary items.”
Bleeding is not shameful, and young people should not be afraid to leave their homes because of it. Bleeding is not a privilege, it is a fundamental right to have access to period products.
One Minute Briefs and @BloodyDisgrace launched a competition for artists to create a campaign against the tampon tax. Their goal was to raise the issue of the tampon tax to the United Nations.
Sarah Long’s winning poster for this campaign says what we’re all thinking. Bleeding is a monthly cost for those of us with a uterus, and that’s unacceptable.
According to a news release from the office of California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, women in California alone “still pay over $20 million annually in taxes on tampons and sanitary napkins, paying on average $7 a month, for an average forty years.”
That’s just in California. Imagine what women pay on a worldwide scale!
Christiann MacAuley is a Washington D.C. cartoonist who infuses humor into her illustrations. Among all of the harsh facts behind the tampon tax, there’s still room to laugh.
MacAuley breaks down the ridiculous aspects of the tampon tax as a luxury in this illustration. Because we all know that tampons are gold plated and handwoven (NOT) it’s all too relatable but hilarious at the same time.
Since tampons are taxed as luxury items, they might as well be made of rainbows and butterflies. Why would tampons leak if they are so luxurious?!
Are there any solutions to the absurdity of the tampon tax? New, reusable products are popping up every day. For example, Thinx makes period-proof underwear. Companies like Thinx are tapping into alternative solutions to tampons and pads.
This illustration campaign shares the facts of menstruation and tampon tax. As this campaign points out, the amount of menstrual products we use in our lifetime adds up. The average woman uses around 11,000 period products in her lifetime. This affects not only our bank accounts but our planet.
“The environment also suffers when it comes to period shaming.”
It’s enough to make menstruators turn to reusable underwear, cloth pads and other sustainable products like Thinx. Not only do these products bypass the tampon tax, but they also help the environment. These products also move towards ending period poverty because they are a one time purchase.
Take that, tampon tax!
