The Tampon Book: a book against tax discrimination

About the Work Caviar, truffles or oil paintings – until recently, in Germany many luxury goods were taxed with the reduced rate of only 7 percent while tampons attracted the top value added tax rate of 19 percent. Other countries like Canada or Kenya already abolished the tax after protests. But German politicians refused to take notice. The Female Company, an online shop for tampons decided to outsmarted the sexist law – with the law itself: Books are taxed at 7 percent. Therefore, The Female Company sold tampons hidden inside a book: The Tampon Book. Thus, avoiding the tampon tax. 10.000 copies of the book sold out within one week. Germany’s largest private TV networks RTL and Pro7 covered the story. A petition on change.org got the necessary 150.000 signatures. A broad alliance of influencers, journalists and politicians supported our claims. When even Germany’s largest drugstore chain DM decided to sell The Tampon Book, the pressure on the Government became too much. On November 7, 2019, Germany abolished the tampon tax.