By: Katrina Penaflor Managing Editor
The United Kingdom has renewed their tax on tampons, keeping them marked as a “luxury item” after a recent vote on Oct. 26, 2015.
The result of the remaining tax, which is 5 percent, has led to women free-bleeding outside of British Parliament in an effort to protest.
Free-bleeding is the forgoing of feminine hygiene products while menstruating, to show the visual results of a period without tampons, pads, or the alternatives.
One of the protestors, a woman named Charlie Edge, recounted her feelings in a Facebook post: “People are so quick to tell people that the tampon tax is something we shouldn’t be upset about […] But then they get upset when I show them the reality of the necessity of sanitary items.”
Edge also went on to write about the negative backlash she and fellow protestors received from free-bleeding.
“We’re getting lots of dirty looks and someone just shouted at us to get a job,” Edge wrote, adding “Taxes are necessary, I get it. So are tampons/pads.”
The argument behind the protestors is that feminine products should be viewed as essential items to a woman’s health and sanitation, and should not be taxed as a “luxury item.”
This is especially important when there are women who struggle to afford tampons in the first place; the additional tax only adds to the issue.
British Labour M.P. Stella Creasy spoke to Parliament about how the tax shows inequality among society, and it fails to take into consideration the necessary hygiene products a woman can need.
“Tampons and sanitary towels, even I’m struggling with the words tonight it seems, have always been considered a luxury. That isn’t by accident, that’s by design of an unequal society, in which the concerns of women are not treated as equally as the concerns of men,” Creasy said.
UK comedian Russell Howard addressed the absurdities he saw with the “luxury” marking, calling to attention a number of items that are not taxed and considered by Parliament to be more essential than tampons.
“Well here is a list of some of the things that the taxman thinks is essential more than tampons: helicopters, bingo, Twiglets, adult nappies, flapjacks, toffee apples, edible cake decorations, a ticket to the zoo and crocodile meat,” Howard said on his talk show.
The protestors hope the free-bleeding will raise enough attention to the topic of menstruation and what should and should not be considered a luxury item.
Edge went on to tell Buzzfeed, “If people are grossed out by me not wearing a tampon then I think that emphasizes my point […] They’re not ‘luxury items.’”
