The Teddies Review - Dec 2021

From the Editor

The Hidden Tax on Women

In this first edition of The Teddies Review, we’re going to discuss a broad range of topics, from dyslexia to the Pink Tax to Marvel ’ s cinema releases this year. Written by the students of St Edward ’ s, we hope to shed some further light onto these topics and many more. The year so far has been filled with twists, turns, and ups and downs, and with lockdown allowing us to reflect on ourselves, and the world around us, we have thought about things that we would normally be oblivious to. The Teddies Review aims to extend these thought processes further with a tri-annual publication of this journal.

The Pink Tax is an aspect of gender inequality that goes largely unnoticed by the media. But what actually is it? Why is it a thing? And, perhaps most crucially, how can you avoid it (as much as possible)?

The same but different

The Pink Tax is, in simple terms, the drastic difference in pricing between men’s and women’s toiletries, as well as the extortionate price of sanitary products such as tampons, pads, and sanitary bags. Which, if you ask any woman, are all essentials. The disparity in pricing ranges from sanitary products all the way to razors, soaps, and shampoos. For example, the average men’s razor is priced 6.28 percent less than women’s razors, and similar figures are present in items such as deodorant, moisturiser and many more. The difference in pricing, although widespread, can be perfectly demonstrated in the example of Schick Hydro razors. A pack of razor heads in a purple, “women’s", packaging is $18.49 whereas the exact same product in blue, "men's” packaging is $14.99. This doesn’t make any sense, right? S o, why is this even a thing? Well, the answer is as simple as one word: money. The necessity of things that are called “luxuries” are, and always will be, in high demand. This, then, increases the supply, which in turn increases revenue. A 2020 statistic states that the menstrual product industry worth $40 billion. Who knows what heights it has reached now? The industry of sanitary

What’s inside:

The Pink Tax – 2 The Anglo-French fishing crisis – 4 The year in Marvel – 6 Never-ending COVID? – 9 What remembrance means - 11 Radical freedom in a school – 13 Meet the new First Sea Lord – 15 Zimmer’s Dune score – 16 Diversity in media – 18 The year in sport – 19 Why philosophy matters – 20

The life of a dyslexic – 21 Mind over matter? – 22

Editors:

OB: bilgutayo@stedwardsoxford.org I L-D: llabresdiazi@stedwardsoxford.org KA: akhavanka@stedwardsoxford.org

Cover art by Jessica Pickering