I hadn't thought about it until seeing posts like this one, but these policies are definately harder on women (maybe even discriminatory?) than men.

As a guy, the liquids/gels I want to carry are: shampoo, mouthwash, antibiotic ointment, toothpaste, sunscreen, and of course my water bottle which I will set aside for now. In travel/hotel-sized containers refilled from my bottles at home or bought at the drugstore, the total of these things isn't worth more than $5-$10.

So my choices are:

1) Obey TSA's ban like a good sheep and check a bag. Risk: lose checked bag with toiletries, have to pay $5-$10 at destination. Inconvenience: baggage claim, can't stand by for earlier flights, get stranded overnight at missed connection without bag, etc.

2) Obey TSA's ban like a good sheep, don't check a bag, Risk: none. Inconvenience: have to pay $5-$10 at destination.

3) Ignore TSA's ban and smuggle travel-sized items in carry-on bag or on person: Risk: Items get confiscated and I lose $5-$10 of items to TSA confiscation and have to pay $5-$10 at destination for a total loss of $10-$20. Inconvenience: none unless items confiscated.

Given the price points involved, so far I coose option 3 because there's no inconvenience in the most common case and minor loss in the uncommon case. Great benefit if I succeed and little loss if I fail. But if the dollar values were much higher (e.g., the example of $100-$200 for a typical woman), option one becomes the only realistic choice for anyone on any sort of budget.

Now that I think about it, TSA has a remarkable history of coming up with policies that punish women. Breast gropes, cosmectics confiscation, and upskirt wandings come to mind, not to mention the delays sometimes created if requesting a same-sex groping because of the general imbalance between male/female screeners.