Before Tuesday, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz wasn’t exactly a household name. Now that the Minnesota governor has been the subject of round-the-clock media interviews and viral videos, he’s also adopted a new nickname: “Tampon Tim,” the conservatives’ answer to the 2024 state law Walz signed that requires public schools to provide menstrual products in female students’ bathrooms.
It doesn’t seem like a moniker that catches on, though. Periods have been a public policy priority for most of the past decade. And California has been at the forefront. Since 2017, the Legislature has passed a number of laws, including some eliminating the rule. state sales tax on menstrual products; order the supply of menstrual products in all public school bathrooms for students in grades 6-12, as well as at California state universities; and require County jails and state prisons Provide free access to tampons and sanitary pads to incarcerated people.
California also has Proposed legislation to improve public health disclosure requirements around menstrual product ingredients, an effort especially timely in light of recent headlines: a study last month by UC Berkeley It shows that toxic chemicals, including lead and arsenic, were found in several brand-name tampons.
While California is a leader, it is not exactly an exceptional case. It is one of the 30 states that have eliminated the “tampon tax” in the past eight years; the latest to join the list is Texas, with Republican Governor Greg Abbott signing a bill that garnered notable bipartisan support. Across the country, 28 states The provision of menstrual products in public schools is also required; another 25 states They demand the same in their jails and prisons.
In an era of often intractable political polarization, menstrual politics has proven to be something of a unicorn. “Menstrual equity” is not the butt of jokes, but it is a bipartisan agenda where both major parties have found common ground and agree that easing the economic burden and stigma of menstruation is a matter of common sense.
So why the fuss about Tampon Tim? It's mainly due to the language Minnesota law, which states that pads and tampons must be available to “all menstruating students” and “in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4-12,” rather than specifying that only “female restrooms” have these products. Although an amendment to change the wording failed, it did not trigger a culture war or hinder support for the bill. One Republican lawmaker, Dean Urdahl, he stressed“Just talking to my wife and family members, they felt it was an important issue that I should support.”
Now it seems that turning menstruation into an Internet meme is going to have consequences, too. For starters, who but a dumb pre-teen does something like that? As Walz would say, it's just plain weird.
Second, recent elections and polls show that reproductive health and rights are very popular among voters. As a presidential candidate, Kamala Harris is a strong and assertive voice, including on a number of adjacent issues such as menstrual literacy and the need for data protection in relation to period-tracking apps. Discussion in the White House (with her on those issues after the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade.)
Republicans know their positions on reproductive rights don’t align with popular opinion — so much so that they barely whispered about it at their national convention last month. They have to do more substantial damage control for their own vice presidential nominee. J.D. Vance’s controversial comment about “childless cat ladies” and assisted fertility could be outweighed by his own voting record in Congress, which includes… wait for it… allowing Republicans to turn on women. menstrual cycle monitoring by state law enforcement agencies. And let's not forget Trump's own crude comments on the matter: On August 8, 2015, he accused news anchor Megyn Kelly of having “blood coming out of her everywhere.”
Gone are the days when menstruation was the punchline. In 2024, it may well prove to be the most powerful political rallying cry. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton posted This week, Trump said it had been “kind” to help spread the word about Governor Tim Walz’s compassionate, common-sense policies.
And he added: “Let us do this everywhere.” Listen, listen!
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, executive director of the Birnbaum Women's Leadership Center at New York University School of Law, is the author of “Menstruation Goes Public: A Stance for Menstrual Equity” and the upcoming book “Period. Full Stop. The Politics of Menopause.”
