That Time TechCrunch Proved Periods are Still Stigmatized
I spent three years creating media buzz for other people’s startups in Silicon Valley. And TechCrunch is the holy grail of public relations. Here’s why: if you manage to score a feature article, the trajectory of your company can change forever.
For three years I failed at scoring the coveted feature.
Until now.
Less than a year into founding my own startup, we struck gold: a feature article on the homepage of TechCrunch.
I never anticipated the hailstorm of controversy that would immediately follow.
My phone rang relentlessly. Our email inboxes flooded. And it felt like the entire internet was suddenly scrutinizing every. single. word. In fact, there were so many comments about our product, we couldn’t keep up.
To understand why, I’ll take a step back.
The article announced our launch of FLEX, a disposable menstrual product that offers 12 hours of period protection and mess-free period sex.
Here’s the thing — we created the product to be a replacement for tampons, pads and cups. And we had been testing an early prototype with women for months.
The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive — women wanted to ditch their tampons for good after trying FLEX.
But the benefit they loved the most was the most controversial benefit of all: mess-free period sex. So I naturally, I mentioned it in my pitch.
Apparently TechCrunch’s editorial staff loved the benefit, too.
As soon as the article hit, we received media coverage from all over the world, and tens of thousands of heated comments and controversy. People generally fell into one of three groups:
- People who are misinformed (don’t know that period sex is safe and can be enjoyable)
“You aren’t supposed to have period sex, it’s not healthy. What stigma is there besides unhealthy and gross?” (actual comment)
2. People who were infuriated that any woman would be uncomfortable having period sex
“Nothing about having a period is gross or disempowering. And if your partner believes otherwise, an alternative to buying a Flex is to dump him.” (Cosmopolitan wrote this)
3. People who understood our mission (to help every woman love her body)
“The woman (referring to me) says that she wants the product to remove the stigma of period sex, yet there are some people in the comments that think having sex on the period is gross. You tried your best, girl.” 😂😂😂 (actual comment)
To be completely honest, the controversy did not upset me; it made me intensely curious.
Was our team completely off-base? Are women really comfortable with period sex, and men to blame for being grossed out by it? Our data was showing that women cared about this feature, but what if we were wrong?
We decided to conduct an anonymous study. Over 500 men and women responded and told us how they really felt about period sex. The responses surprised us.
We thought the data was so interesting that we decided to share it publicly.
Here are some highlights:
- Women are more than twice as likely as men to avoid having period sex with a new partner
- Heterosexual Christians are least likely to engage in period sex
- Bi, poly or pansexuals are most open to having period sex
- Millennials are more open to period sex
Our biggest takeaway: our urges are stronger than our reservations when it comes to period sex: most people (80%) have tried it, but not everyone likes it, especially the inconvenience of it.
Many people still hold the belief that period sex can be dangerous or immoral, which furthers misunderstanding, fear and stigma, but as people become better educated on sexual and reproductive health, they’re becoming more open to it.
Period sex is equally as safe as regular sex (you’ll still want to use contraceptives to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections).
And in terms of morality, we aren’t ones to judge individual belief systems, but education is helping to reverse blanket discrimination against women on their periods, including during sex. But it’s clear that our society has a long way to go in understanding that period sex is safe and enjoyable, and that it doesn’t have to be messy.
What’s more important than people feeling comfortable about period sex is giving women better options for safer products that help them love their bodies — which includes during her full menstrual cycle.
Whether or not a woman is down with period sex is a choice entirely up to them.
And we are very grateful to TechCrunch (and all of the media) that helped spark the intense curiosity and debate about women’s health.
