Several states have tax-free holidays, where you can shop for certain goods without having to pay a sales tax. It’s a great way to boost business while allowing people to purchase goods they may not purchase otherwise or are gearing up for, say, back-to-school days.

In Tennessee, the male-dominated GOP legislature was debating which items should be included in the state’s tax-free holiday when State Sen. Joey Hensley (below) pushed back on the idea of including feminine hygiene products.

His reason? Women would hoard tampons.

Republicans reportedly pushed back on adding the hygiene products to the list during a Tuesday hearing, arguing that people who use the products could purchase too many if not given a limit. “I would think since it’s a sales tax holiday, there’s really no limit on the number of items anybody can purchase,” state Sen. Joey Hensley, a Republican from Hohenwald, said Tuesday, according to AP. “I don’t know how you would limit the number of items someone could purchase.”

It’s one thing to buy non-perishable items in bulk when you can; plenty of people do this with items like toilet paper. But no woman is going to spend her entire paycheck on feminine hygiene products. (I’m fairly confident most women don’t particularly enjoy having to buy tampons at all.) Of all the things you would buy if you don’t have to pay taxes on them, tampons aren’t anywhere near the top of anyone’s list.

For what it’s worth, some women can’t afford to buy these hygiene products, which is all the more reason to include them on the list of tax-free goods. No one in their right mind worries about tampons being so inexpensive that they’re purchased in bulk. (And even if that occurred… so what?!)

Hensley later defended his ignorance on Facebook, saying that his only concern was who would pick up the tab for the over-purchase of tampons, something that amounts to pennies on the dollar given the state’s budget. He didn’t raise the same concern over bow ties, diapers, or computers, all of which were also on the list.

It’s not the first time he’s been accused of not caring about women. A few years ago, he was accused of hitting his ex-wife with a car. Seriously.

This is reason #273724628 why men should not be making decisions about women’s healthcare.

(Screenshot via YouTube)

