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Shifting the Narrative on Taboos & Embracing the Future with Femtech
FEW celebrated International Women’s Month with an informative panel discussion about the bloody mess that is women’s wellness, specially in the context of menstruation, menopause, and femtech. We learnt about the injustices caused by period poverty and harmful practices like female genital mutilation. We further discussed the importance of comprehensive sexuality education for all and the need for accurate visual representation of period blood and other women’s health issues. The use of femtech products and films like “A Bloody Taboo” are excellent tools to start and enrich conversations to break taboos – of course with the inclusion of all genders.
FEW celebrated International Women’s Month with an informative panel discussion about the bloody mess that is women’s wellness, especially in the context of menstruation, menopause, femtech, and period poverty.
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Meet Our Speakers
Born in Asia, raised in Africa, and educated in Europe: Amina comes from a very diverse and multicultural background, and her mission is to bring about a paradigm shift in healthcare by promoting better access to healthtech across the globe.
She obtained a Doctor of Public Health Degree in Health Economics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and later moved back to Japan to assist the World Dementia Council in association with the Health and Global Policy Institute.
In 2017, she then joined a social impact-focused VC, Mistletoe Fund, based in Tokyo/Singapore, as their Healthcare Innovation Producer. Her specialisation is in health policy, Pharmaceutical Affairs laws, and healthtech startup support.
In 2019, she launched fermata, Inc., which now has become a leading FemTech ecosystem in Japan and Asia.
Sybilla Patrizia is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and photographer based in Tokyo. In her work, she merges her passion for social impact and human stories with her background in fashion to create thought-provoking stories that cross the border between documentary, art, and design.
Sybilla is currently developing her first feature-length documentary ‘PLASTIC LOVE!’, which deals with Japan’s toxic love for plastic and featured in HERMÈS’ Social Good Book. In 2022, Sybilla shot Japan’s best-selling author Mieko Kawakami for the cover of the Financial Times’ HTSI Magazine, and ‘The Dark Side of Manga’ (VICE) which won an Emmy in 2023. At Tokyo Docs 2023, ‘The Shape of Blue’ was awarded Best Pitch Award, Sunny Side of the Doc Award, and DocedgeKolkata Award.‘A Bloody Taboo’ about the stigma against menstruation in Japan, was awarded at Tokyo Docs and premiered at Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in 2021.
Marina is a public servant and an advocate for menstrual rights. In 2019, she launched the Tokyo branch of PERIOD, an organization advocating for menstrual equity in schools with headquarters in the US.
She co-produced A Bloody Taboo with Sybilla Patrizia to raise awareness of the local stigmas around menstruation.
Miyako Hazama is a Menopause Energy Expert and Mentor, and the creator of Energenic Life Design.
She helps busy professional women in perimenopause and menopause relieve their challenges naturally.
Miyako learned these secrets and little-known Asian Energenic fountain from her Japanese ki mentor and has been practicing ki expertise for over 30 years.
Hiromi works on advocacy to improve the status of SRHR and gender equality both within and outside of Japan.
Her recent focus is on utilizing the UN Human Rights Council’s mechanisms such as UPR, Special Procedures, and CEDAW.
She also serves as the secretariat for the SRHR Youth Alliance, a youth-led advocacy group that seeks to improve and raise awareness of the issues surrounding SRHR in Japan through policy advocacy.
In 2023, Hiromi served as an advisor as well as one of the steering committee members of the W7 Japan.
Hiromi holds an MA in Gender and Peacebuilding from UN-mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica), an MA in Global Politics from Ateneo de Manila University (the Philippines), and an MA in International Studies from the University of Sheffield (UK).
Key Insights
- Period poverty is the insufficient access to menstrual products, education, and sanitation facilities to manage menstruation. Prevalent globally, period poverty is injustice and inequity due to menstruation, present even in developed nations like Japan. In some countries, menstruators are forced to live in unsanitary and unsafe mud huts or sheds for the duration of their period, or even longer. It can also take the form of “tampon tax” that taxes essential menstrual products such as pads and tampons the same as luxury products.
- More than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). The World Health Organization defines FGM as comprising of “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice has no health benefits for girls and women and causes severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths. The practice of FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.” (source: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation)
- Language can influence how you feel about your periods.
- Even if period leave might be available, internal shame may prevent menstruators from using the leave.
- Knowledge is power, learning how to support the women in your lives going through menopause is important.
- Femtech, a word created by Ida Tan for investors and entrepreneurs to communicate, is basically a combination of Female and technology - technological interventions for women's health.
- We need comprehensive sexuality education (CSE)! CSE gives young people accurate, age-appropriate information about sexuality and their sexual and reproductive health, which is critical for their health and survival. You can read more through the International technical guidance on sexuality education developed by the UN.
- Visibility of reproductive and sexual health issues is crucial. Period blood is notoriously misrepresented in the media – why is it blue? Why can horror and action movies depict blood, but when it comes to period blood it has to be hidden? This only perpetuates the stereotypical idea that menstruation is unclean and shameful.
- In order to break the stigma, we need to normalize the conversation and inclusion of men regarding sexual and reproductive health issues and rights. Having accurate visual representations of the experiences unique to women is crucial to amplify and allow men to empathize with women’s experiences. This is where femtech products or films like “A Bloody Taboo” are pivotal in starting the conversation.
- Share your experiences with others, you will be surprised to find how many others will relate to your experiences!
Resources
- Watch “A Bloody Taboo” documentary: https://sybillapatrizia.com/A-BLOODY-TABOO-documentary
- Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) is a Japan-based international NGO active in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR): http://www.joicfp.or.jp
- Fermata: https://hellofermata.com/en
- Youtube Channel: "Menopause Wonder" hosted by Miyako: https://www.youtube.com/@miyakohazama
- Including men in the discussion: Interview Episode "Uncover the Truth About Partner Support During Peri/Menopause": https://youtu.be/SuF6OsT_zY4?si=C8fFYQmANYD2_woy
- Free Resources: PDF Guide: https://www.miyakohazama.com/
Many thanks to our panelists for sharing valuable insights, practical tips, and empowering stories that will help us chart a course toward destigmatizing menstruation, menopause and amplifying sexual and reproductive health and rights. We would also like to thank FEW Japan Leadership for organizing this event and providing a platform for our speakers to share their knowledge. Special thanks to our FEW Japan community for attending and engaging in this important conversation. We look forward to continuing to support each other in our journeys towards shifting the narrative on taboos & embracing the future with femtech.
