The solo female traveler tax

BySou

Have you ever heard of the solo female travel tax? The pink tax? If you are not familiar with the expression, well, now you are. Let’s discuss it.

When travelling solo as women, we obviously encounter much more danger than a man. The tinnier and skinnier you are, the more you fit a certain beauty standard, the more prone to danger you are. Honestly any woman. Covered up or not. Because quite factually, most men are animals and can’t behave as normal respectful humans.

Naturally to avoid all sort of weird and dangerous situations, we have to spend more money on making sure that we feel safe and are genuinely in security. Here are the various things solo female travelers do to feel safe and comfortable, which I categorize these as the solo female traveler tax as they just end-up costing much more than what would a solo male traveler spend on:

  • Booking a private room instead of a mix dorm
  • Booking more central accommodation rather than farther away
  • Taking a taxi instead of public transportation
  • Buying protective gear such as door lockers, pepper spray or knives
  • Stuck to book group trips to avoid being alone in certain locations
  • Female dorms, which to my surprise, cost more than mixed dorms a lot of times

Now these are the examples where there is a money cost. But how about all the tax that’s is beyond paper value? The list is quite longer. Solo female travellers pay the tax of:

  • Constantly being cautious no matter where they go
  • Pay attention to who’s around them and if they have been following them
  • Pretending to be with a boyfriend or a group of friend when a man asks
  • Being over friendly to avoid bad situations and hitting a lil pussy man’s nerve
  • Can’t really go on super random adventures and side quests without having a bit of stress of what could go wrong
  • Having to endure the stares
  • Enduring the cat calling
  • Enduring the harassment
  • Enduring the random touching
  • Feeling stressed when there are only men around an no woman at all
  • Having to nicely refuse advances to avoid getting beaten or else
  • Constantly feeling uncomfortable in certain places where women might not have a lot of freedom
  • Planning certain trip around your periods
  • Worrying about hygiene when you run out of hygienic stuff
  • And the list goes on. Will keep adding to it. Its not necessarily always related to men being trash, but a lot of it is unfortunately.

Solo travelling as a woman is definitely challenging, but also very rewarding. You learn that you are capable of so much. Strong, resilient and capable. Being able to have this freedom of movement, choice, fun brings so much enjoyment to life. I quite enjoy travelling with groups, friends, partners and all, they have their own touch to it. But every woman should solo travel at least once in their life. Yes you will pay an expensive tax, but you’ll also enjoy the experience and it will be rewarding.

I wish for a world where men learn to behave and respect women as regular humans just like… surprise surprise… jut like them. OMG SO SHOCKING WHAT HOW DARE YOU SAY THEY ARE THE SAME!!! oh gad… Let’s continue hoping.

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