The Future Of Health: 'Our Storytelling Creates A Bridge Of Empathy'

"If you’re not able to say vulva and vagina, it’s going to be rough times ahead"
As Webb points out, this space is seeing a huge boom in capital and, increasingly, women are leading the companies that are being funded. But that’s not to say there aren't challenges. For instance, does the moniker “femtech” marginalize women’s health and threaten to, once again, push the topic to the sidelines?

“Girl boss, femtech —  they're problematic because they don't create the kind of gravitas that we deserve as full human beings,” Graham says. “They tend to put demographics in the margins...and we should just be commanding a full place at the table.”

There’s also the gap between the language people — or platforms — deem acceptable versus scientific and medical terms. For so long, euphemisms have been the norm when talking about menstruation, menopause, vaginas and vulvas, even orgasms and sexual pleasure.

“If you’re going to feel awkward using the word orgasm, I’m very worried — how you are going to sell it?" Hooda says. "We aren’t shying away from calling it what it is and that extends into the visual language, as well. It’s sexual and it’s time to normalize these conversations. If you’re not going to be able to say vulva and vagina, it’s going to be rough times ahead.”

But most of those words are restricted on Facebook and Instagram ads, as well as other social platforms. Google, meanwhile, allows far more options with its paid search.

“It’s also telling, what people are really looking for — I mean, it’s ‘am I even having sex correctly?’ " she says. “If you truly put your ear to the ground, you can see what [consumers] are looking for. We filter those searches and bring blogs on our website where there is correct information, all available in one place. We make sure that we are truly answering the questions people are looking for.”

"You look at the menopause search results on Google — it's a horror show"
Graham, who previously worked at Facebook and Instagram, notes that Silicon Valley and the creative industry are still dominated by men, who ultimately decide what’s acceptable — and women should push back and ask that some standards be reconsidered.

“Certainly, critical mass always helps and advertising dollars are important,” she says. “I suspect they’ve had to come so far to talk about period underwear with brands like Thinx, I suspect this new wave will also push them."

She adds, Hologram Sciences is also looking to provide women with information they’re not getting on Google. “You look at the menopause search results on Google — it's a horror show,” she says. “So, it is critical that our storytelling creates a bridge of empathy into the real suffering of women during this stage of life. And that in reality, there are solutions available.”

Inclusive product marketing can be somewhat narrowed when dealing with biological health. For instance, at this point, Vella Bioscience’s pleasure serum is being sold to women across a wide age spectrum — but only to cisgender women because the product has only been tested on vaginal tissue. For both companies, however, inclusivity is ensuring the traditionally narrow definition of womanhood is expanded, for instance, beyond being white, heterosexual or slender.

03:08      More about Hologram Sciences and Vella Bioscience