Tampon tax: Does being female in the US carry unfair costs?

The pair are among five New York City women who filed a lawsuit last week arguing that it was unconstitutional for the state to levy sales tax on tampons and sanitary napkins while offering medical product exemptions to many other items used by both genders, like lip balm, foot powder and dandruff shampoo.

Sick of the social taboo, and frustrated by a lack of access for some to a staple, these women and others are talking very publicly about menstruation and gaining political traction that would have been impossible a generation ago.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, a vice president at the NYU School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice, said she began writing articles and op-eds on "menstrual equity" when she discovered food pantries were desperate for sanitary napkins and tampons because poor women can't afford them.

At the end of the day, the tampon tax movement is one small way to challenge the broader sexism that still persists.

Because that's the real taboo here.

"Having one's period is not a luxury," state Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Democrat who has proposed abolishing the tax.

Because of our biology, we bear this extra cost, and the state should not compound it.