Women are forced to endure the monthly red curse Mother Nature graced them with, but now it seems the government is pitted against their uteruses as well. In October of 2015, members of the United Kingdom Parliament rejected the Finance Bill amendment proposal to lower the tax on tampons. While some women took to humorous tweets to relieve the anger induced by the parliament members’ descriptions of tampons as “non-essential, luxury items” like this woman below….
….others decided to not mask their disapproval with humor. They showed their anger, like Charlie Edge and Ruth Nana Howarth.
Following Gandhi’s approach to political protest with nonviolence, only peaceful blood was shed. The two women stood in white pants and free bled outside of Parliament’s steps to oppose the tampon tax. In a quote on Buzzfeed News, Edge said,
‘”If people are grossed out by me not wearing a tampon then I think that emphasizes my point… They’re not ‘luxury items.'”
Edge’s point did not fail to emphasize itself, based on the number of dirty looks Edge said she received and a passerby yelling at her and her friends to “get a job.” The unanimous opinion of the United Kingdom seems to be that red crotches are gross.
Most news articles failed to mention that the freebleeders were not just out there to make a statement through stained pants.
‘We are also raising money to buy tampons for homeless shelters, women’s shelters and the refugee crisis.” Edge said. As usual, the world is obsessed over the fact that women bleed.
The tampon tax is another trait we inherited from our British forefathers. In America 40 states are taxed for feminine products, but not all women are bitter about the salex tax on their sanitary products. Samantha Allen from The Daily Beast argues that the government’s tax is not a personal attack on ladies, noting that important hygiene products like soap, toothpaste, and toilet paper are also taxed in New York. Allen also points out that changing the sales tax would be complicating, saying “…but that “top-down” message might not be so clear in an effort that would realistically require 40 separate statewide campaigns to sort out all of the weird inconsistencies in their respective sales tax codes…”
Would you hold a sign and let out your anger all over Parliament’s steps? Or are you more on Allen’s side, that people are overreacting to the tampon tax?