FTPT (fuck the pink tax)

The pink tax: a form of gender-based price discrimination.

Do women pay more for products as consumers? Should we as women consider products marketed towards men to save money? I have a million questions but here’s my take:

Women are paying more money than men as consumers in America. But this isn’t entirely because of the pink tax ~ historically, women have more to “maintain” than men: bras, birth control, menstrual products, etc. So great, we have more products to buy but why are products that are marketed towards women typically more expensive than other products? And let’s not forget, on average, women are still getting paid only $0.82 to every dollar paid to men and that number is even less for women of color. I can’t answer the why but I can lay out the facts.

Let’s start from the beginning shall we?

Baby strollers: now I’m not saying boys can’t be in a pink stroller or you have to buy your girl a pink stroller buuuuuut the pink stroller $20 more than the black!

Razors: no surprise but women get the short end of the stick here too. Luckily brands like Billie provide products for women that are realistic, effective and affordable. I recently tried their razor starter kit and was pleased with how easy shaving my underarms were. Practically one swipe and the hair was off - also, I like how their ads have models who actually have hair on the area they’re shaving in their ads! Anyway, see below for difference in price for basic disposable razors: (peep the 8 count vs 3 count)

Earplugs??: yup those too. What the hell are “women’s” earplugs anyway?

I feel like I can go on and on here and I think you get the point - between the gender wage gap and the obvious increase in price for products targeted towards women, the pink tax is real and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.