Someone recently told me that I should pivot the business idea of my #femtech startup, the Baba Yaga Cycle Advisor, to something else. Because periods are dead.
This statement was made during a pitch event where I presented my idea a couple of months ago. Of course, I received a lot of great feedback for my deck & business during that session, overall. But today, in a post-Roe-v-Wade world, I feel like this statement hits even harder.
Honestly, as a woman and a menstruator, I wish the topic was so boring that we didn’t still have to fight for more education, acceptance, and equity.
I wish it was possible for us to be accepted as productive colleagues and good employees despite suffering from PMS or cramps once a month.
I wish it was possible for menstruators everywhere to be taken seriously when they tell their primary health care provider about menstrual symptoms they’ve been experiencing (versus being told “that’s normal”, or “that’s all in your head”, or to suppress it all together with hormonal birth control).
I wish there were more apps out there that actually practice what they preach: safe data storage, informative cycle insights (versus random statistics about what other girls are experiencing right now), inclusive UI (I invite you to open your app store and search for “period tracking”; how many apps can you find that aren’t pink or pastel-colored or flowery?)…
I wish these 58 percent of U.S. women didn’t have to feel embarrassed for being on their period.
I wish these 76 percent of female teenagers in the U.S. will one day feel like they are taught more about their own physiology than a frog’s (and boys, too, while we’re at it).
I wish these 500 million menstruators worldwide will never have to decide between buying period products or food again.
I wish that no teenage menstruator has to grow up believing that their period blood makes them impure or dirty, ever again.
But I guess it’s just like with other things… Just because periods are everywhere doesn’t mean they’ve become normalized in our society. Just because a health issue is common doesn’t make it normal. Just because we see “the land of the free” everywhere doesn’t make it actually true.
So until periods have become so boring and normal that we can consider them dead, I will continue.
My co-founder and I are working on a release date later this summer. It's finally crunch time and we are working around the clock to deliver a safe, inclusive, & empowering different new menstrual health app. We can't wait to show the world what we have. Until then, stay tuned for more episodes of The Diary of a Menstruating Founder!