Code Red Position Research Paper

Code Red Position The unnecessary tax on feminine products make women spend an unbelievable amount each year, for simply being women. They spend enough as it is with the normal price of pads and tampons, but with a high tax in most states, it can become excessive. “...The tax ranges from 2.9 to 7.5 percent, according to the Tax Foundation”(Citing Gender Bias 3). With taxes that high, fifty cents or more can be added to each purchase. This may seem like a small amount, but over time it can add up. “Recent estimates by Euromonitor International, a market research firm, suggests that American women between the ages of 12 and 54 spend $17.60 on average on tampons and pads last year”(5). So from the time a women has finally ended the era of having

Depending on the woman, this can add up to over seven hundred dollars in one lifetime. These numbers don’t only affect the working class, they also include low-income families and homeless women who simply can’t afford spending that much money on these items. “Of the 1.3 billion people worldwide in extreme poverty, 70% of them are women or girls”(Hunter 2). This means for 390 million girls, tampons are completely unaffordable. Therefore, public restrooms and school restrooms should have free tampons and pads, just like they have free toilet paper. Even at the store, when girls are purchasing tampons and pads, they are charged extra for no apparent reason. These products need to be made cheaper, because they are a medical necessity and women have no choice but to buy them. They are forced to, even, because if women stopped using these products for one day in the U.S. it would become a national outrage. If these products were discretionary or a choice, then the tax would be acceptable but they simply are not. The price of feminine hygiene products may be affordable for middle, working, and high class women, but for those going through hard times, it

“Physically, menstrual blood is viewed as an abomination; it is unclean, disgusting, and more aversive than other bodily fluids. Visible marks of menstruation, such as leakage of menstrual blood, are a characterological flaw that discredits femininity and signals poor judgement”(Hunter 2). Girls who have access to these products are taught to be ashamed of this bodily function that they can’t control, but for women who don’t have access, the humiliation is even harder. They must walk the streets, struggling to obtain feminine hygiene products, or even toilet paper. “‘From doing things like makeshift supplies such as using toilet paper, even though again, for someone who’s under-resourced, having toilet paper is actually pretty significant, and oftentimes our clients don’t have anything, so they may be bleeding in their clothes,’ she says”(Pfeffer 1). Bleeding through their clothes and not having anywhere safe to shower or change, is damaging to a women’s self-esteem, but it also can become dangerous for her. She can get an infection from the blood, or she can risk herself by changing and cleaning herself or her clothing in unsafe areas. When these products aren’t free and accessible, it leads to several problems for these women. Homeless women begin to face a hard decision: in which way should they take care of their bodies. They