Scotland has become the first country globally to make period products completely free. While this sounds like an amazing change of legislation, it seems like multiple groups of people have not taken very kindly to it. Why is that?
It's simple: people have Capitalist Stockholm Syndrome. We are so used to having to struggle and pay for basic amenities such as food, clothing and water that when it gets offered to us for free, we are perplexed and feel the need to defend having to pay for such things. We simply cannot see ourselves having a better life.
I have seen many people say "A box of pads at Poundland is just a pound", and not only is this statement ignorant, considering the fact not everyone lives near a Poundland, it's simply classist. Every person who bleeds deserves the best quality sanitary products going near their genitals, not pads that come off, rip, or do not hold much fluid at all. Comfortable living should not only be available to people with more money in their hands.
I believe that at the very least, all basic needs should be met free of charge. It is worrying and very frustrating how this is even a topic that needs to be disputed. Nobody should be paying to exist.
Now, will other countries follow suit? As much as I hate being pessimistic, it is unlikely that other countries will follow suit organically, and even if they do in the end, it will probably be an incredibly slow process. That is why the United Nations must step in and declare period products as a human right and enforce these policies in other countries. Or maybe we just have to wait until the inevitable revolution. Who knows?
