Periods and why I won't "just get over it"

So, periods, huh! Couldn’t have picked a better topic, I know. It’s not like it was a decision influenced by current circumstances *cough cough* . Thank Pri for last Thursday’s beauty tips, as my skin takes me back to my teenage years. Make sure to check it out!

Usually, articles about periods start with the author’s story of how she discovered that she got her period for the very first time. I’m not going to go down that road, because 12 years later and every single month I STILL freak the fudge out. I mean… take this time around. I knew… I KNEW that I was going on my period. I sensed it, my calendar confirmed it, I felt the cramps, I had the PMS, and yet, what was my initial reaction? “Omfg.”

Today’s post isn’t so much about the “joys” of being on your period. No, our bodies aren’t blossoming like a beautiful lotus on a clear lake. It’s more like: my private parts are directing the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 4D! Instead, we gon’ talk business. Particularly, the cost of being a woman (or part of the cost). Let me explain.

Every year a woman spends £18,450 on her period over her lifetime. Yeah, nearly twenty freaking grand! So, why the hell aren’t tampons and pads free?! Why do we not have a standard brand of sanitary products that is FREE?! I mean, it’s not like girls are missing school because they can’t afford to buy sanitary products, right?!

A huge reason behind the exorbitant amount women spend to… be women, is the Tampon Tax. In 2016, David Cameron came out in full force and announced, like a proud man making decisions impacting women bodies, that the Tampon Tax will be scrapped!

Yeah… it didn’t happen. To be honest, I don’t think any of us fell for it at the time.

So, why are we paying tax on tampons and pads, you say? Because, tampons/pads, my love, are “luxury items”.

Now, it’s time for my bestie, the Oxford English Dictionary, to make another appearance and this is what she has to say about the term:

Luxury: [mass noun] A state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense. [count noun] An inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain.

Honey, if you’re reading this and you’re thinking: “Yeah, I can see why you might think a tampon/pad qualifies”, then… sorry, but you are most likely a man. If that’s not the case: girlfriend, what the eff?!

Let me break it down.

1. The only “state” a woman reaches when on her period is that of damn despair. Despair because… CRAMPS! Despair because there is no position that feels comfortable. Despair because your brain is playing yo-yo with your emotions: up, down, up, down. There ain’t no state of great freaking comfort or elegance. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

2. Describing a tampon/pad as desirable is like saying Trump’s haircut is sexy. It’s wrong. It’s just wrong!

Desirable?! What kind of grown ass person would DESIRE to feel like they’re wearing a nappy?! And don’t even get me started on tampons. If by some sort of twisted, messed up thought process you think that having a tampon in your vagina is pleasurable, please… cut down on the porn and the masturbating. Stop sexualising everything related to the female body! Ya nasty.

3. Inessential?! Oh… you think sanitary products are inessential? Aw, boo, you cute. Cool. Next time we go out and I’m on my period, I might just “forget” to wear a tampon. I mean, it’s not like I need it to not be judged, ridiculed, bullied, sworn at and be entirely rejected by society.

Unfortunately, but predictably, it gets worse. As I was saying… After being led to believe that the Tampon Tax will be abolished, on International Women’s Day, Chancellor Hammond proudly announced that due to Brexit complications, the above amendment has been postponed until April 2018. But that’s not the “best” part. Oh, no no.

The cherry on top of the sexist cake was this: alongside £20m allocated in support of the campaign to End Violence Against Women and Girls, a further £12m were allocated to support women’s charities (wait for it), money raised from… the Tampon Tax.

Let that sink in. We are telling women who have gone through excruciating pain, who bare permanent, yet invisible scars, who have been stripped away of their identities that: “Hey, it’s cool. You can pay for support with your vagina.”

2 women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner. That is 1 woman every 3 days.

This is just not good enough. Redirecting women's money back into their own pockets is not the same as financially supporting women's issues! How is that not obvious!? I can put £100 every day in my piggy bank and yeah, in a month I’ll have £3000. When I break it I can tell myself that I won the lottery, but it doesn't make it true, does it!?

Portraying the recycling of women’s money as a step towards gender equality on International Women’s Day is… something. But this is why… This is why, I urge people to speak up. To proudly call themselves feminists. It isn’t a dirty word. It just means having humanity.

If you do one thing today to make a change, then let it be talking about this issue. Discuss it with people around you, even those who don’t want to hear about it. Debate it, disagree with each other, just TALK about it and keep an open mind.

Sign this petition to call on world leaders to support menstrual hygiene management: http://glblctzn.me/2nSHQRW

Love,

Ilinca xo

Food for thought: “if women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long?” Gloria Steinem

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