From John Howard to Tony Abbott, generations of conservative male politicians have stifled a deep desire to simply scream “Dear lord, please stop them saying tampon!”, to argue in favour of subjecting feminine hygiene products to the goods and services tax.

Only one – former treasurer Joe Hockey – lacked the intestinal fortitude when, in 2015, he caved in to support calls for the axing of the so-called “tampon tax”.

Despite young feminists now strapping red-stained sanitary napkins to their heads in protest, Coalition lower house MPs are expected to hold the conservative line and vote down a Greens-initiated bill to exclude sanitary items from the GST, which passed the Senate on Monday.

But you don’t have to be an aging white conservative man to think purchasers of tampons should continue to pay GST.