When I wrote a piece for my college newspaper, I assumed only the eyes of (some) people on my small campus would see it. I can’t imagine how UCLA senior Zoey Freedman feels after an article she wrote for the Daily Bruin arguing that women should be given tampons for free has gone viral. Unfortunately for her, they don’t agree with her stance. Freedman has faced taunts labeling her as “pathetic” and “idiotic.”
In her article, ‘Free tampons would slow flow of gender inequality,’ Freedman suggests that the government needs to “recognize that even the most basic health care needs to start subsidizing the cost of tampons and pads for women, or covering the cost completely.” She argues,
The provision of tampons, or at least a subsidy, would give many women, especially those living on the streets or living paycheck to paycheck, access to these necessary items and the ability to change them often without the fear of running out. Not changing a tampon frequently enough can lead to complications like toxic shock syndrome or blood poisoning, among other things, which can lead to permanent damage in women’s lives.
Almost immediately, readers slammed the suggestion that women deserve free access to tampons and pads. They argue that by Freedman’s rationale, toilet paper and other health care products should be provided by the government and call her argument “regressive.”
IMO, Zoey’s idea is a terrible one. Sure, I roll my eyes every time I hand over $12 for a box of tampons, but we can’t just expect them to be given away, paid for by taxpayer dollars. This would never work and is far from helping gender equality, which is the whole point of her argument.
Another talking point is the article’s Editor’s Note.
Editor’s note: This blog post refers to individuals who menstruate as women because the author wanted to highlight gender inequality in health care. We acknowledge that not all individuals who menstruate identify as women and that not all individuals who identify as women menstruate, but feel this generalization is appropriate considering the gendered nature of most health care policies.
Huh? Talk about unnecessary. Even if a transgender person identifies as a man, I doubt that person would be offended by referring to people who menstruate as women.
Zoey responded to the commenters in a second post:
But I didn’t know so many men also felt so passionately about women’s access to tampons. Quite honestly, I was blown away by the number of men who took the time out of their day to voice their opinions on this subject. I was particularly impressed by how many men focused their insults on my gender, obviously missing my point – or maybe proving my point – about the gender inequality still present in such basic areas.
I voiced my opinion on equal health care and I was told to get a hysterectomy or to get married so a man could take care of my needs. I was told to drop out of school because it seemed apparent that I wasn’t learning anything anyway. I was called a colorful array of degrading names aimed directly at being a woman. My opinion was even stated by some to be great supporting evidence to the reason for the income gap between genders.
What she’s missing in her response is that she thinks people are criticizing her because she’s a woman. Zoey’s argument was ridiculous, and that’s why people are speaking out.
Is it okay for people to hate on a college-aged girl for voicing her opinion? It’s pretty lame – these are things that they only say because they’re veiled by an anonymous username on the Internet. But for Zoey to blame the hate she’s receiving on being female is cringe-worthy. If a man had written the exact same article, he’d get the same amount of hate.
At least Freedman is learning an important lesson in journalism – not every is going to agree with you, and they’re going to let you know it.
[Lead image via]
