Pads and tampons cost women up to $120 a year—and that’s not counting pain relievers like Midol or Advil. Over a lifetime, it can add up to as much as $4,500.Nature is not fair, so if you are a man, consider giving $120 a year to a charity like the Alliance for Period Supplies.
ADDED: Nature is unfair to men in that they die, on average, 5 years earlier than the average woman (in the U.S. (worldwide, it's 8)). But one way to spend less, a lot less, is not to live. Why do men live less long?
Men tend to take bigger risks... have more dangerous jobs... die of heart disease more often and at a younger age... be larger than women... commit suicide more often than women... be less socially connected... avoid doctors....Note that some of those factors are things that will save you money before you die, notably that failure to go to the doctor. But some of those factors suggest that you will make more money — taking bigger risks and having more dangerous jobs. One thing will cost more: Having a larger body. You'll need more food for that, but perhaps men tend to buy less expensive food.
By the way, did you know that "Across many species, larger animals tend to die younger than smaller ones"? I'm not sure whether that means that the larger species have shorter life spans than the smaller species or just that within any species, the larger individuals have shorter life spans than the smaller individuals. It's very obvious that among dogs, the shortest-lived breeds are large and the longest-lived breeds are small. A chihuahua lives an average of 17 years and an Irish wolfhound only gets 7 years.
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97 comments:
Nature is neither fair nor unfair. She just is.
Economists have come up with this cool new idea called fungibility. Poor women can take the money they save from not having to buy their own food, and use that to pay for their plugs.
Is she going to chip in for jock straps ?
Men have ammo costs to keep up proficiency and have you priced Snap-On tools recently?
I would imagine TTR's annual tampon cost rivals the national budget of Burkina Faso.
This is, well, silly. It's not as though men have no need for "supplies" surrounding sexuality. Women don't generally supply condoms, for starters, unless they are prostitutes.
I'm with Pollitt on Midol and Advil, though those have many uses not related to menstruation. Hell, I've been post-menopausal for a decade, but I still like Advil for headaches and the like. That makes me a Traitor to the Women's Cause, or something. Thanks, Katha!
And Advil is absurdly cheap, now that it's gone generic.
"Over a lifetime" -- in my experience, first period at 12, last at 42, so thirty years x 12 = 360. Figure 5 or 6 pads per month. There is no way you get to $4500 with that.
As guys get older, their prostate goes, but not their sex drive, in many cases.
The cost of Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and similar medicines is a lot higher than menstruation products.
Medicare doesn't cover it.
Everybody has something to complain about. So what?
"Nature is not fair, so if you are a man, consider giving $120 a year to a charity like the Alliance for Period Supplies."
No. Next request?
Nature is not fair. Women outlive men, yet it costs the same to bury us. Consequently, a male must save $5.40 more each year of his life to buy the same funeral as a female. So, gals, pony up $412.56 for each man in America so we can address this egregious unfairness imposed by that bitch, Mother Nature.
Far left liberals are mentally ill.
"Men have ammo costs to keep up proficiency and have you priced Snap-On tools recently?"
LOL
In all seriousness though, buy Pittsburgh brand from Harbor Freight. Not as good, but same lifetime warranty, and cheap enough you can buy two (easily) for the price of one Snap-On. If (when) it breaks, just use the backup and return the broken one at your leisure. Menards in-house brands are good too, and still less than half of what Snap-On costs.
We await the Sandra Fluke of tampon subsidization!
"I would imagine TTR's annual tampon cost rivals the national budget of Burkina Faso."
And the Midol budget is probably up there with at least the GDP of Senegal.
Send the bill to God. He did it.
Or, if you prefer, send the bill to Mother Nature. She did it.
Periods shouldn't be embarrassing. Feminist blather should be.
Was Sandra What-The-Fluke not available??
OK, Ma Nature dealt youse dames a raw one with the bleedin' and rank insanity every three or four weeks. Granted. So you figure we owe you (ignoring, of course, that we're the ones who must put up with your monthly lunacy). OK, so let's parlay. Fork over two fifty for each of us guys and we call it even.
What say?
Something is wrong here- where does she get the $4500 figure, or even the $120 one? I just looked online, you can get a box with 18 tampons for $4 and a box with 46 pads for the same cost. How many of these does the average woman go through in month? Seriously, I have never tracked it closely for those women I know that intimately, but using an entire box of those in a just a month doesn't come close to my admittedly 2nd hand experience.
It's not menstruation that's embarrassing, it's the liberal belief that every goddam thing in life should be provided or subsidized by the government. Okay, providing tampons to prisoners makes sense, but people out in the world aren't prisoners. They have either ways of earning money or receive payments from the government. They can spend that money on things they need, like menstruation supplies for women and shaving supplies for men. Even the writers for The Nation should be able to understand that, were it not for their obsession with new and better ways for people to rely on the government instead of themselves.
I got nuthah one for youse. The bitches buy their own pussy plugs, and we keep using deodorant. Deal?
Perhaps Trump can create a Federal Bureau of Menstruation. I'd support Dianne Feinstein or Kamala Harris as director.
Imagine the public service announcements. We could have a menstruation "hot line". And a "MyMenstruation.gov" website. Congress could declare every month "Menstuation Month". Oh, the possibilities.
That's sexist...........
"To fight for pads and tampons for all, we have to talk openly about menstruation."
The levels of stupid and entitlement are staggering.
Menstruation is a bodily function that women have, for a while that is.....and NO we don't need to talk about our bodily functions in public. Shitting is also a bodily function that EVERYONE has and I don't want to hear about everyone's shits either. You can also stop talking about your sex life too. NO ONE cares. Some decorum please. It isn't about shaming, being embarrassing etc. It is about "shut up" and stop obsessing over yourself.
The idea that we should provide for free supplies for a bodily function is ridiculous. How about free toilet paper for EVERYONE!!! at tax payers expense. Everyone needs TP. Let's fight for that. Not everyone needs Tampons.
Equal supplies for EVERYONE!! BUT....what about those people who have heavy periods, less frequent periods, or have IBS and go to the toilet 10 times a day.....where is the equality. Plus. Prove your need :-) Don't be a tampon hog.
Most of the money men make or save goes to women.
One way or another.
So there.
Also, IIRC, having a few kids often clears up menstruation problems.
A woman expecting men to buy her stuff because she is a woman?
This is my shocked face.
How about this...if we decide that the government has to provide materials for women to use during menstruation for free, then I push for washable/reusable cloth rags like women used to use.
All that money? That’s some flow..
Sandra Fluke on an infertile day! Sexual prophylactic supplies were handed out to the military to prevent disability of military members from STDs. What benefit is society gaining if we hand out menstrual hygiene supplies to people unable or unwilling to supply themselves with pads or tampons or diva cups or clean rags? I'll wait here....
If you think femenine hygiene products are expensive now wait until they’re free.
What if I am a woman with a penis? Do I give or get money?
Men also pay for all the FMLA and breeding leave granted to women, not to mention the sick pay and the fact that lots of indolent women, whether widows, wives or ex-wives get a free ride on a husband's earned SS and Medicare benefits. Men in gay marriages will too, and men also get a free ride on a wife's earned benefits, but that is much rarer.
Justice requires that we un-recognize special "marital status" benefits and treat everyone as single in both taxes and benefits. That would do more to liberate women, especially from marriage.
The comments are better than the post. Not unusual, but much better for this one.
"Over a lifetime, it can add up to as much as $4,500."
Versus a low-ball estimate of the value of 5 more years, judging by various QALY measures: $1.5M
So, the article confirms that, even under the patriarchy, women have it unusually good.
Men need to eat significantly more food just to keep up their body weight. I expect women to subsidize us for this gross unfairness!
I have not gotten to the point where I stop feeling Katha Pollitt is embarrassing.
Let's just start with her name, OK? Katha. Like, Kathy isn't good enough for her. She has to have a special name, so everyone will know how special she is. And Boy, Howdy, that is not all she has to have. Not by a long shot.
What Rob & DBQ said: the embarassing part is the entitlement. The numbers upthread suggest maybe $5/month. In Canada, I think it may be $7. Damn exchange!!
There's no need for seeking a blanket/universal subsidy. It will only make the costs more expensive. Surely people know that. Nationalizing the industry does not make it cheaper for society. It may make it more individually profitable for the Tampon Coordinators of the World. But not the waitresses or the shop clerk, collectively.
There is, however, always a need for what used to be called brotherly or sisterly charity. But that cant be compelled. Thats on you, and not on you to force your neighbour to do.
Successful women of the world can drop a box or two every few months at the food bank or church outreach or whatnot, and feel like they are helpin a sister (specifically) out. There are 1,000s of intermediaries on the continent who already know poor people. No need to make a big deal. Ya dont need to tell nobody.
Here's another idea: help the women closest to you meet the costs. No middleman or organization required! Maybe you're a man, and you really would like a box of fancy cookies. But you gots a wife and daughter, see, so this week, it's either one or the other. You cant alway get both. So put down those oreos, and go get some pads you selfish bastard! You can have a godamned cookie next week
A chihuahua lives an average of 17 years and an Irish wolfhound only gets 7 years.
Ah, but who quaffs the mead of life to its fullest? Who are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars?
Sounds more like a chihuahua actually. Or a hummingbird.
At last, our long national nightmare is over....
more free stuff tax payers have to cough up for leftwing females?
F off leftwing females.
“Blogger Edward Bo said...
Men need to eat significantly more food just to keep up their body weight. I expect women to subsidize us for this gross unfairness!”
Not to mention beer. Itntakes the average man 3 beers to get the effects of one glass of chardonnay for the ladies.
Sounds like a great platform for the Democratic Party. Free Tampons for all Women!
I haven't clicked through to the article, but I would assume that Pollitt advocates that tampons be purchasable with SNAP or WIC. That seems a fairly straightforward policy goal.
Where's my dough for putting up with Billie Holiday and tears? It's not like it didn't cost me ...
Thank God I am not a woman. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Embarrassing? No but messy sometimes.
Men drive more. I demand federal subsidies of oil changes and 92 octane petrol.
Where do I get my compensation for having to perform hand jobs for 5 days every month?
(That one works for both genders.)
Men are cursed with a relentless sex drive. Could you imagine what we could accomplish if we weren't slaves to the pursuit of a woman?
So, no. It all evens out. Besides, like it was once said: If women didn't have a pussy, men wouldn't talk to them.
I knew a guy, in his 60s, never went to the doctor, was always fine. He had a couple days not feeling well. Really bad. Went to the emergency room, was eating up with cancer. Died two days later. I think it's a good idea to not go to Dr
I've never thought periods were embarrassing. Colons and semicolons, however....
Michelle Dulak Thomson wrote:
"Figure 5 or 6 pads per month. There is no way you get to $4500 with that."
That was it for you? I wasn't one for pads but I think I would have gone though 6 at least in just the first 2 days. Still, it never once occurred to me that someone else besides me should be paying for them, any more than I expected someone else to buy my pantyhose for me. I worked in offices where the women were expected to wear dresses and skirts and pantyhose, even if it was 100 degrees outside. I remember carrying hose in my purse during the hot, humid months and going into the ladies room at work to pull them on over sweaty legs. Yuck! How I hated that! And if they laddered you had to immediately go out and get new pantyhose - it was tacky to walk around with a run in your stockings and that stupid fingernail polish trick never worked.
Also I am tall and had difficulty finding hose that fit me right. You could end up either with comfortable hose that bagged at the ankles (which looked terrible) vs. hose that was too small and didn't fit on top,so the crouch was halfway between your hips and your ankles (which felt terrible).
How I hated, hated, hated that stupid damned pantyhose. Fie upon it. I'll never wear it again if I can help it.
I hated pantyhose far more than I hated having to buy tampons.
I hated pantyhose far more than I hated having to buy tampons.
If in the next few days, George Stephanopolis asks the Trump administration about freedom from pantyhose being a constitutional right, then we know it started here!!
Ann,
Men have vastly more dangerous jobs. Also, vastly dirtier ones. Get back to me when 50% of miners, construction workers, sailors, and trash collectors are female. Also, when 50% of child care providers are male. And nurses. And elementary school teachers. But none of these things are going to happen. Men will continue doing the difficult, back-breaking work, and women will continue in "the caring professions." Or, of course, government. I don't mean the upper reaches, but things like USPS and DMV, which have been majority female for ages.
Also: Men do tend to kill each other, much more than they kill women, although naturally it's the latter cases that get all the attention, unless you're at John Wayne Gacy level. Thirty corpses in your crawl space do tend to garner (!) attention.
Re: suicide: It was one of the more astonishing stats from Christina Hoff Sommers' book. The UUAW reported that more women than men attempted suicide. It said parenthetically that more men actually died. Five times as many men as women actually died. This isn't a trivial error.
But it still amazes me that no one sees the five-year life expectancy gap as any sort of problem. You know damn well that it would be another story were the sexes reversed.
Re: dog lifespans, ISTR Stephen Jay Gould saying that every animal gets about the same number of heartbeats per lifetime, but that would seem to put the big dogs ahead of the little ones re: longevity. I think it's more likely to do with inbreeding in the popular large breeds.
In the 70s the WSJ covered the hygiene growth area, getting women to wear pads even when not having a period. Light Days and stuff. A plan to raise the stock price. Huge market if you can pull it off.
I suppose you can do it for spotting, from IUDs and stuff.
And I remember the stock trading book describing some genius who noticed all the baby boom kids, and invested in Kotex for future growth. I hope he got out at the top.
I use maxipads (regular no wings) for bike helmet pads, but only one a month or so.
“Men are cursed with a relentless sex drive. Could you imagine what we could accomplish if we weren't slaves to the pursuit of a woman?”
I think the right answer is very little. If you weren’t motivated to get women, why would you go to all that trouble?
As Camille Paglia famously said, we’d be living in mud huts.
Nothing about Cherokee hair yet?
Women are strong and independent and need men to pay for their tampons.
Convert to an estrous cycle. It's less frequent.
"I'm not sure whether that means that the larger species have shorter life spans than the smaller species or just that within any species, the larger individuals have shorter life spans than the smaller individuals."
The latter. Elephants live a long time; mice don't.
As Camille Paglia famously said, we’d be living in mud huts.
It's a salient point, and agree with much of what she has written. However, men are competitive among ourselves. Out man each other, for lack of a better term.
I guess we're just stuck with each other. We get women tend to "bitch about everything" and accept it. In the Age of Wokeness, women bitching about their biology and demand compensation is too much to swallow, and will be rejected outright.
There is already a suitable arrangement: marriage. The male of the couple will typically earn economically fungible currency in order to pay for, among other things, taxes, born unPlanned penalties (e.g. Obamacare), and the female's period supplies. The need for redistributive change schemes follows with the feminists' normalization of women as taxable commodities, high-risk pregnancies later in life and following abortion, and progressive alienation of the couple in society. Ideally, the couple will divide the income equally after nondischargeable debts, progressive expense, as well as insurance for a liberal aberrations during life's chaos (i.e. "evolution").
Are menstrual cycles sinusoidal?....and does this prove string theory?
Discuss!!
How I hated, hated, hated that stupid damned pantyhose. Fie upon it. I'll never wear it again if I can help it.
I felt the same about neckties.
n.n. is correct.
Are menstrual cycles sinusoidal?....and does this prove string theory?
Film at 11.
If you weren’t motivated to get women, why would you go to all that trouble?
Well except for gays, of course, and where would we get women's fashions then ?
Like, do the math and shit.
Say a woman has her period for, like, five days every month. So that's two months every year, for the thirty or so years she has them. So then she spends maybe five years of her life on her period. And women live about five years longer then men.
So the chicks get the extra time, but they spend all of it, like, on their period and shit.
Which is pretty fucking funny, how God does math.
Which is pretty fucking funny, how God does math.
Somebody is going to be stealing your shit!!
The technology today allows you to have your ovaries removed cheaply. There is a great advantage in this, in that your chances of dying of ovarian cancer are very low. If I was a woman, and 21, I'd not put up with ovaries.
If you want to hedge your bet about not having kids, they can suck out some eggs from the removed organs and put them on ice for 20 years, and some future lover can sploosh on them.
Since when is $10 a month an enormous burden? And that is the high end. A box of tampons is about 6 bucks. It probably takes me four or five months to go through a package of pads. I completely understand how women in 3rd world countries might need assistance, but complaining about women here is just silly.
Men get drafted to fight wars. Shut up about how it's not fair that women have to buy tampons. Buy yourself one of those reusable plastic cups if it's that big a deal. You can explain away the smell by describing yourself as an environmentalist.
(When I was young and single men bought me dinner, flowers, show tickets - "he'd end up blowing all his wages for the week/all for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek", as the Kinks once put it. And I was not exceptionally good looking. Why do feminists make such a point of being deliberately blind to any advantage to being female or any disadvantage to being male?)
Everything should be free because democrats exist in a constant state of discomfort and entitlement.
I only had one period for about 4 years not too long ago. Think about how much money I saved because of pregnancy and nursing!
No one buys me a razor.
Buy your own damn pads!
Equality means you pay for your own stuff. But Feminists seem to treat it like a buffet.
Just be glad we are subsidizing your hypochondria, ladies.
Also,to add to her point about diapers. My congregation held a diaper drive for low income families awhile back. I found it interesting that their biggest need was for large size 5 or larger diapers. Those are for 3 or 4 year olds. Is it too much to expect that one might potty train their child if they couldn't afford diapers? (So judgemental)
"NO we don't need to talk about our bodily functions in public."
This is what gets me. Why does anyone assume menstruation is different from any other bodily fluid? The rule is flat across the board: if you aren't going to keep that stuff inside your body then control its release & dispose of it properly, and don't talk about it in public.
"Men do tend to kill each other, much more than they kill women, although naturally it's the latter cases that get all the attention "
That is because women are exempt from fighting their own battles. That is why it is traditional to insult a man by insulting his mom's honor as well as (or instead of) his own.
Imagine if we actually had equality. Men would hit women as easily and as frequently as men hit other men, and nobody would care (as long as the rules governing how and when and whether to fight are otherwise observed).
Birches asked ... "Since when is $10 a month an enormous burden? "
When people started paying a lot more for cell phones and cable TV.
It will all be free under Bernie.
Then it will be really expensive.
Dear Katha Pollitt:
I have no interest in your vagina
I don't want to think about it, about what (and who) has been in it, and / or what has come out of it.
"My body, my choice"? Fine, but "he who pays the piper, calls the tune." So "your body, your bill."
You don't buy my condoms, i'm not going to buy your pads. You don't like that? Go to your doctor and have an operation to have it all pulled out. Then you won't have to pay for pads any more.
tl;dr: take your socialist bullshit and FOAD
There are many truths in life that don't make great conversation unless you're with your besties/buddies. Situational awareness would be a wonderful thing for Katha to practice.
Why are so many women fascinated by their biology and why do they think it's some kind of test for men to share their fascination?
"Why are so many women fascinated by their biology and why do they think it's some kind of test for men to share their fascination?"
Here is a thought - what defines a woman, and distinguishes her from a man? At one point, maybe you could say that it was the ability to be a mother. But in a time of decreasing childbearing, esp in middle class white wome, that is of lesser importance these days. We now have women by courtesy - transsexuals. Guy wakes up some morning, thinks that life would be easier if other people opened doors for them, puts on a dress, and voilà , they are now a woman, entitled to all of the benefits therein. Except, not having female plumbing, transwomen wouldn't be entitled to this benefit - mostly just ciswomen. ("Mostly" because some transmen still have female plumbing).
This needs an ‘Equality Bullshit’ tag.
"As Camille Paglia famously said, we’d be living in mud huts."
You say that like its a bad thing...
The reality is that men would live in well engineered trailer homes with beer tappers in every kitchen. Except gay men who would live in fancy "tiny homes".
By the way, did you know that "Across many species, larger animals tend to die younger than smaller ones"?
I didn't know that because it's generally not true, dogs being an exception:
"Speakman et al. measured the energy demands of different dog breeds and found a positive association between energy metabolism (per gram) and lifespan, which also confounded the traditional pattern of larger individuals living longer. This anomaly has been established for dogs for some time."
I'm not sure whether that means that the larger species ... or ... larger individuals
That awkward sentence was incorrect for both cases, unless you take "many" to mean "a few exceptions, but not most".
Larger species tend to live longer than smaller species. Look at the graph in
http://www.senescence.info/comparative_biology.html
It's a very big range. lifespan ranges from about one year to about one hundred years and mass from one gram to a billion grams.
I only had one period for about 4 years not too long ago. Think about how much money I saved because of pregnancy and nursing!
I've often wondered how the math works out with having been pregnant 5 times and nursed each baby an average of 18 months, so little menstruation for me, but having had mostly girls who have all started around age 11. We are definitely still buying our supplies at Costco.
“Bitcoin is a revolt against fiat [government-backed] money, and an all-meat diet is a revolt against fiat food,”
"Fiat money" is backed by nothing; therefore, could be said to be faith-based currency (it has value because, and only because, practically everyone has faith that it will have value).
Et tu, Bitcoin? Lacking any intrinsic value it, too, can only be a faith-based currency. Yet absent that "government-backed" part, it's more difficult to maintain faith in it. Especially since the number of sovereign governments is somewhat limited (and so, too, the supply of Bitcoin), yet the potential number of competing cryptocurrencies is unlimited.
As for "fiat food," it's a poor analogy as even the junkiest junk food contains real nutrition (aka nutrients that can keep you alive). It's not food just because someone says it is (although it may be poor quality food).
And, yes, we evolved as omnivores, not carnivores. You won't see a lion munching on arugula. And, yes, there are health risks associated with excessive protein consumption. Because even if you burn all those calories, you've still got to rid yourself of all those amino acids you took in but couldn't utilize.
I know this is late, but clearly not a single commenter actually read the piece. She is not arguing that the state pay for menstrual supplies. She is arguing that sales taxes on menstrual supplies are unfair. Sales taxes are only supposed to apply to 'luxuries', and there's no woman that sees tampons as a luxury. Only women need them, therefore the tax is unfair.
So the same people who demand that I pay higher taxes, that the rich do not pay their fair share, want a break on their own taxes? Life is unfair. Leftists need to pay their fair share, and I, for one, and sick to death that they do not pay their fair share.
"Note that some of those factors are things that will save you money before you die, notably that failure to go to the doctor."
That was my father. Never went to the doctor, until he had to. A grapefruit sized tumor in his colon. Dead 13 months later, despite surgery. He was basically eviscerated. Needed a colostomy to shit. For 13 miserable more months. But he did save money all those years!
Medicare paid the hospital. Which means you and me. Thanks, Dad.
I have to pay extra for tall shirts. Where's the justice?
Fine, as soon as Social Security, Medicare and regular defined benefit pensions recognize that women's benefits should be less, or their contributions greater, because they tend to live longer than men.
Do that on an actuarially sound basis, and I will listen to the arguments for this one.
Until then, this is just the worst kind of rent-seeking and I have no interest in playing that game.
If it's cosmically unfair to have to be a woman, and if men should act in conscience to remedy that, wouldn't it make more sense for them to contribute to a fund that pays for hysterectomies?
Why do men die first - because they want to....
" Henry said...
"I would assume that Pollitt advocates that tampons be purchasable with SNAP or WIC."
"Ginna said...
"She is arguing that sales taxes on menstrual supplies are unfair."
Actually, Pollitt is too cagey to identify her own preferred policy solution. Instead, she presents a rose-colored roundup of other's suggestions: (1) eliminating the sales tax on menstrual products, (2) letting SNAP and WIC be used for menstrual products, (3) setting up a charities to provide menstrual products for either (a) poor women or (b) everybody, (4) creating flexible spending accounts for menstrual products, and (5) providing free menstrual products in every public restroom, paid for by -- she doesn't say, but the owner of the restroom, I guess.
Her only explicit directives are to donate and to use hashtags a lot.
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