Commentary

For my commentary stage, I have chosen to review this blog post.

I found your blog five to be very informative. Being a woman as well, I was aware of the price increase on certain products just because they are being marketed towards women. However, I was not aware there was an actual term for it. Women in my life, including myself, often have the conversation about how retail gouges women for their money by doing things like making clothing thinner and lighter than men’s so we have to buy layers, or making pants with small or sometimes no pockets so we have to buy purses and bags. The “luxury tax” on menstrual products has always been appalling and laughable.

I would disagree with your opening sentence stating, “this issue is not the most significant controversy…” As you went on to say, it “affects all women every day.” Women make up 50%+ of the population. This is simply indicative of all the ways women are treated unfairly and disadvantaged by our patriarchal society. There will always be other significant controversies but that doesn’t have to diminish this one.

I loved that you took this opportunity to also point out the pay gap between genders. It truly doesn’t make sense that we should have to pay higher prices on top of needing more products simply because of gender. As well, I appreciated that you offered solutions to this problem and pointed out that we shouldn’t necessarily give in and start buying the less expensive men’s option. Additionally, it was nice to see that you included the struggles of women in third world countries regarding access to menstrual hygiene products.

The only other comments I would offer is that I would consider giving your blog post a title besides “Blog Five”. It would have been helpful to have an idea of what the blog post was going to be about. I almost didn’t click on it for this reason but I’m glad I did. I might also suggest some links or in-text citation regarding where you got some of the statistics and information from. From a reader’s point of view, it would have been cool to click on “#Axthepinktax” and be taken to the calculator you mentioned.

All in all, I enjoyed your post. It was informative and relevant. It was also to the point but with plenty of information to back up what you were saying and point readers in the right direction if they wanted to investigate this topic themselves.

The US in Uterus Doesn't Include Politicians

Why should birth control be free? I think the better question is why shouldn’t birth control be free? Come on, America. We can’t have it both ways. There are Americans that don’t want their taxes to pay for other people’s babies through state or government funding and at the same time they don’t support abortions or places that provide abortions. The foster system is deeply flawed and is already home to way too many children who are also lacking proper care, love, and safety. We already know that abstinence-based sex education is a dud. So why do we refuse to help women of all ages protect themselves from unwanted and/or unplanned pregnancy?

Let’s look at the facts.

First, condoms are 98%* effective at preventing pregnancy.

Did you notice the asterisk? Because I did. 

*when used perfectly every time you have sex.

Yikes! So, what if people don’t use them perfectly every single time they have sex? (Which let’s be honest. Most people make mistakes and accidents happen and we probably shouldn’t assume we’re perfect.) Well, that number drops to 85% (1). For many people, that 85% is not enough. That means there’s a 15% chance of pregnancy despite having used protection.

Many birth control options are highly effective and there are quite a few to choose from. Let’s take the IUD for example. Alone, the IUD is 99% effective. Imagine combining that with a condom! Of course, no method is 100% but the higher the percent, the better. (And we do want to be sure we’re using condoms for back up pregnancy protection as well as because they are the only way to protect against STIs!)

Now, think about this. Women from low-income families have a disproportionately more difficult time with access to healthcare and birth control. Low-income women are also more likely to have more children than middle- or upper-class families (2). Low-income families are more likely to need government assistance to survive. But there have also been studies that show accessible healthcare and birth control reduces the rate of unplanned pregnancy as well as abortion (3).

Let’s also consider that according to bedsider.org Medicaid covers around 41% of births costing around $10,000 minimum for a complication free, natural delivery. Medicaid can cover birth control for one person for one year at the price of around $250.

Free birth control = less unplanned pregnancy, less abortion, less assistance, less stress.

You do the math.