Editorial, Opinion

EDITORIAL: Feminine hygiene products must be made more accessible

“A pad for every period” is the motto New York is moving toward with its new feminine hygiene practices. New York homeless shelters will now be able to use federal grant money to provide visitors with tampons, CBS New York reported.

New York Rep. Grace Meng convinced the Federal Emergency Management Agency to move forward in this effort, CBS New York reported. The new, tampon-positive development comes months after free tampon dispensers were installed in the High School for Arts and Business in New York City, according to The New York Times.

States like New York and California have also introduced legislation to eliminate a tampon tax, according to the Times. Wisconsin has even introduced a bill to make tampons free in all state buildings, including schools. The United States is finally making an effort to recognize the difficulty in obtaining tampons.

Currently, feminine hygiene products are largely inaccessible in the United States. Using products like tampons and pads is a human right. But even though the U.S. is not a developing country, some of its citizens currently don’t have access to basic hygiene products.

Putting free tampon dispensers in school bathrooms helps eliminate the stigma of using tampons early on in girls’ development. No longer do girls have to slip a tampon up their sleeve and run to the bathroom or have to ask the school nurse for a tampon. Now, they have a safe, private space where they can obtain and use tampons without embarrassment.

Girls are taught at a young age to talk about their periods in hushed voices and only to other women. Planning when to bring tampons to school, when to covertly use a tampon and how to ask for tampons is too much pressure for 12-year-old girls. They need to be free from being embarrassed about their bodies.

In the adult world, the supermarket tampon aisle is the equivalent of the nurse’s office. Tampons and pads are hidden in far store corners, across from the condoms and sex toys, when they instead belong next to the toilet paper. Their nondescript black boxes and flowery lettering disguise that they’re actually products to be put up a vagina. Women shouldn’t feel shame shopping for something they need.

The fact is that there are no practical alternatives to tampons and pads. When homeless women without access to feminine hygiene products are in need of them, they use rags or the clothes they happen to be wearing at the time, Meng told the Times. No human being deserves to go through that.

Nobody should have to choose between buying food and buying feminine hygiene products, either. But unfortunately, many Americans do. That’s why the homeless shelters that give out tampons and pads are so impactful. Even though tampons are expensive for the average American woman, they’re a necessary luxury for people who can’t afford them.

Feminine products are so expensive. Condoms aren’t taxed. Sunscreen isn’t taxed. Tampons and pads are. Having sex is optional. Standing in the sun is optional. Menstruation is not. Tampons and pads are considered luxury items even though there’s nothing luxurious about walking around with wads of cotton in a vagina. Feminine hygiene products are taxed in all but five states, according to The Washington Post. Women are essentially taxed for having a vagina.

At Boston University, people essentially throw free condoms at each other. But for a free tampon, students must venture into the Center for Gender and Sexuality Activism in the basement of the George Sherman Union. Preventing STDs on campus is important, but so is handling periods.

Tampon accessibility must be put on the public agenda. Women don’t need men to tell them periods are hell. They already know. But feminine hygiene products must be discussed in front of men, and they must be everywhere. Through open discussion, the shame some women feel about their periods can be eliminated.

The only way for this problem to be fixed is for the price of tampons to be lowered and the stigma surrounding them to disappear. The cycle can be broken by conversation and improved accessibility.

Whether you’re a homeless woman or a middle school girl, feminine hygiene products are necessities. Hopefully, everyone can have access to tampons and pads in the near future without feeling shame for using them. All this country needs is a little more period positivity.

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