Editor’s note: This article is also available in Romanian.
If feminism has taught us anything, it’s that if you’re a man, you are oppressing all women. Ever bought tampons for a woman? Well it doesn’t matter, that was a trick question, either way you’re oppressing all women. You see, tampons are a patriarchal tool that men have devised to get women to rape themselves. If a man buys tampons for a woman, he’s fanning the flames of hatred and oppression against women.
However, if men don’t buy women tampons and give them to women for free, they are oppressing them by infringing on their basic human rights to their basic health care needs. This oppression is clear proof of misogyny, hatred of women’s bodies and oppression by a lack of caring for women’s needs. Sanitary products are an undue financial burden on women, why should women be punished because of their basic needs? Men must pay taxes for a government tampon fund to buy tampons for women, anything else is proof of institutional misogyny, the world wide systematic hatred of every single woman.
It makes sense if you don’t think about it. Yet, you’ve likely noticed something. The government tampon fund to give away free tampons to women, if we remember right, is a misogynous patriarchal conspiracy to oppress women. It’s should be clear by now how devious men are, no matter what, men are absolutely determined to oppress women!
It brings us back to Hobby Lobby oppression. Hobby Lobby tried to not cover contraception for women for free, as required by the Affordable Care Act. Misogyny writ large! Fought hard for by feminist, it requires companies to provide free contraception and contraceptive surgery for women. And only women. Men were specifically excluded from the HSA contraception mandate. Tubal ligation, mandated , vasectomy, not mandated, the pill, mandated, condoms for men, not mandated. We can see how clearly misogynous our country is by siding with Hobby Lobby. Treating women like men, the lowest of the low? Equality is just another kind of misogyny.
These deep undercurrents of misogyny in the workplace go even deeper. There’s a long debunked misogynous belief that women are unable to perform on the job the same as men, because of their menstrual cycles. This is rooted in the misogynous idea that women need to be coddled, and are unreliable workers when their on their period. Treating women differently in the workplace is wrong and proof of misogyny.
Yet, there’s another deeply misogynous epidemic of employers refusing to provide menstrual leave to female employees. Feminists have established that cramps and migraines can make women unable to perform on the job the same as men, because of their menstrual cycles. The denial of this obvious fact is rooted in misogyny. The needs of women need to be accounted for and are often unable to function when on their period, the shouldn’t be punished for that fact. We must provide paid menstrual leave for all women.
Yes. Another example of the patriarchy rearing it’s ugly head. Treating women differently because of their period reveals men’s disgusting hatred of all women, failing to account for women’s periods also reveals men’s hatred of all women. You may simply say there is no winning, and all possible scenarios will be taken as proof of misogyny. That mentality itself is proof of misogyny. Imagine if this problem were facing old white men, how fast it would be solved. Imagine if men ever faced workplace problems, the patriarchy would see it were solved instantly.
I hope this education of tampon oppression has been enlightening. If you’ve bought or not bought tampons for women, you hate every single woman on earth. If you treat women equally or not, you hate every single woman on earth. If you account for menstruating women or if you don’t, you have every single woman on earth. #EndTamponOppression
