I was going to write an article about periods.
And tampons and pads.
And Midol and cramps and bleeding all over everything.
And all of the strange stigmas that go along with being a healthy, normal woman.
But, I realized that there is no one to write this article to that will read it that experience all of these things already. Because men run as soon as they see the word “blood” in reference to a vagina.
Ignore the appeal of blood in violence and ridiculous horror movies – the most scary blood is the kind that helps to produce life inside a woman’s body. We can talk as much as we want about women’s breasts and how sexy their outfits are, but for some reason, periods are just too shocking and gross for men’s weak hearts and stomachs to handle.
So, because men are unwilling to discuss periods – and all the fun stuff that goes along with them – there is really no point in writing about the problems that women are still facing, in relation to their periods.
So here I am, writing a feminist rant to no one that needs to hear it. If that’s not a huge indicator of my life, I don’t know what is.
I was planning to write about how insane the costs of having a period are, over a woman’s lifetime. That we pay for tampons, pads, liners, Midol, new underwear, new sheets… endless things to keep us from ruining everything we love with droplets and puddles of maroon blood flowing from our cervixes.
Like the women in the UK that stood up against the tax that considers tampons a luxury, I could choose to do nothing to prevent the sticky splurge from between my legs. In white pants, I could make everyone around me acknowledge the exciting fact that my reproductive system is still working and that one strong sperm hasn’t found its way to one of my eggs.
Shocking people with that visual feels oddly satisfying but not quite loud enough for what I want to accomplish.
And besides, the debate of whether tampons are a luxury is fine, but I’m here to get much more done. Tampons and pads are absolutely vital in a civilized society that covers petty papercuts up with a skin-tight band aid.
It doesn’t matter, though. Because we have been taught to be embarrassed about our periods – being told by our mothers not to make dad go to the store to get tampons and hiding the wrappers from our younger brothers so that they can live in a blissful world of other women’s vaginas being a place for their pleasure, rather than a bloody warzone once every month.
I have white sheets and that actually makes me feel very bad-ass. Because at any time, they could be completely ruined. It also makes me feel extraordinarily anxious that one morning I will wake up and they will be red and blotchy.
Do you know how much money a woman is expected to spend on pads and tampons in their lifetime?
$3,000.
$3,000 to ensure that we don’t bleed all over everything or make men uncomfortable seeing a stain on the back of our pants.
Therefore, I propose more than eliminating the tampon tax. I propose making tampons and pads a free resource for all women.
But the economy!
But supply-and-demand!
It’s an industry!
You want to take away people’s JOBS?!
Simply, yes.
At the same time, I have no faith in this actually happening, because the people that rest at the top of these companies are predominately men. And they are never going to sacrifice their new, shiny cars for women’s comfort.
We should speak up.
We, the women of the world that have periods, should continue to yell.
I recognize that it gets old. And annoying. And is embarrassing. But our solidarity with each other is not enough. Or hasn’t been, thus far.
At some point, after desensitizing everyone in the world to the blood of our periods the way that they have been over-exposed to the blood from violence in the world, it will be a topic that can be discussed with grace and lack of blushing.
We are not there yet. And, until we get the producers of tampons and pads to realize that we could all be spending our $3,000 on several month’s rent or to make a dent in our college loans, we would all benefit.
It is so easy to be discouraged. Most of the time, I feel that the people that I need to have this conversation with are the ones that are not listening.
I will continue to write if you continue to speak up.
It’s not just about paying for tampons. It’s about being taxed because of the way that I was born. And the fact that even now, in our theoretically-equal world, there are still men in power that make it difficult to be a woman. Level the playing field. In all ways. We are not there yet.
This conversation is such a small example of the problems that exist in our world. Which is why I am so frustrated in trying to write about them. I know that even if I magically convince Tampax to give their products away for free, my classmates of color still have much worse discrimination to deal with.
So slowly, maybe we can chip away at little things that will eventually lead to making the big things better, too.
If men had periods, you know tampons would be free. If people all experienced the world the same way, so much would change. Look around and support each other. Speak not only for yourself.