Always Isn’t So Stay-Free

Please stop taxing our vaginas.

I’m all about making statements but can someone please explain to me where there is a naked young woman with newspapers hiding her flower and pads hiding her melons?

Her name is.. Okay, I have no idea what her name is. I spent thirty minutes on Facebook trying to find out more about her and I’m  pretty sure people thought I was watching soft core porn. But I digress..

Approximately 3,770,514 young girls miss school every month because of their inability to buy sanitary pads or tampons. And the ones who can’t buy it, brave school by using the latest edition of The New Age as a pad. They’re using newspapers ladies and gentlemen.. NEWSPAPERS! 

And as for us who are lucky enough to go to shops and buy feminine products, it is taking everything in our body to not throw them into the manager’s face. Why are we being punished for having a bleeding vagina?

The cheapest pads are R11.95 and each packet contains 9 pads which are hardly ever enough which leads to girls having to use either socks, rags or the latest edition of the Daily Sun. This type of personal hygiene can lead to urinary tract infections as well as other vaginal infections.

Many women view having their periods as a cleansing process and some even look forward to it(for various reasons but who am I to judge?) yet when majority of South Africans are living below the poverty line, you can bet that the menstrual cycle is something they dread.

I mean…

I’m sorry but the government gives out free condoms even though sexual urges are things that can be controlled and yet with something that we have no control over.. And people say we don’t live in a patriarchal society.

The free condoms that the clinics give out aren’t platinum, Durex colour-coded but I’m sure that they work just as well(I hope) so no, I’m not asking for Always to come out with a rosebush-scented, Victoria Secret endorsed ultimate panty pad of pads but come on..

Furthermore, clinics give out free condoms but people still buy condoms so don’t tell me that giving out free pads will have a dent in Always‘ income. It wouldn’t hurt for the manufacturers to put aside pads and have them distributed at schools and rural villages now would it?

And it sure as heck isn’t going to hurt you to put something aside, now will it?

REFERNCES

Jeynes, K, 2016,  Do 7 million SA girls miss school every month due to lack of sanitary pads? – Africa Check. viewed 31 September 2016,   https://africacheck.org/reports/do-7-million-sa-girls-miss-school-every-month-due-to-lack-of-sanitary-pads/

Makinana, A, 2016,  MPs want government to drop VAT on sanitary products, viewed 31 September 2016, http://city-press.news24.com/News/mps-want-government-to-drop-vat-on-sanitary-products-20160414. 

PriceCheck South Africa. 2016. Sanitary Pads | Price | PriceCheck South Africa, viewed 31 Spetember 2016, https://www.pricecheck.co.za/search?price-from=0&price-to=12&search=sanitary%20pads&shop=3090.