Conversations around menstruation are still very much a taboo in India. Even today, many menstruators are not comfortable talking about it openly. In such times, obtaining reliable information about menstruation and appropriate guidance about one’s cycle can be extremely difficult.
Additionally, keeping track of one’s period often becomes another burden menstruating individuals have to bear with their already hectic lifestyles. But it also becomes vital for many individuals as it can help them plan their schedules, help with issues such as PCOS and quickly identify a possible pregnancy.
As a remedy to this, the ‘femtech’ industry created a concept which seemingly is a boon for many menstruators in ‘period-tracking apps’. These, easy-to-install, often free and user-friendly apps which are readily available on most smartphones claim to help menstruators by keeping track of their menstrual cycles.
They inform them of delays and possible pregnancies, and by providing additional information to help them better understand their physiology. But these seemingly ‘great’ apps have many issues associated with them.
Exclusive Nature
India had 502.2 million smartphone users as of December 2019, which means more than 50% of Indians do not have the very device these apps rely on. Additionally, the smartphone using population of India is skewed with men dominating the segment.
It is no doubt that one needs to overcome many socio-economic obstacles to access this innovation due to the particular audience it aims to target.
Inaccuracy
Most of these apps do not have any scientific data or medical professionals involved in their working process – the ones who do usually work on a monetary subscription model.
As per most gynaecologists, predicting ovulation for a menstruating individual solely based on numbers is virtually impossible. Such unreliable predictions not only create ambiguity in one’s daily life but also put individuals on the risk of unwanted pregnancies despite ‘planning’. The inaccuracy of these apps is disturbing as many menstruators rely entirely on these apps for their sexual and reproductive health.
Furthermore, most of these apps follow the ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept. They often do not account for the changes in a menstruator’s cycle due to pregnancy, breastfeeding or menopause – individuals who went through abortions almost every time had to reset the app completely to avoid future errors.
The Personal Becomes Professional
Like many other apps, even period-tracking apps have raised several privacy concerns for their users. These apps often record highly personal information including details of one’s menstrual cycle, details about their vaginal discharge, details about miscarriage and abortions, how often they were indulging in intercourse (protected and unprotected) and even the position in which they had sex.
The real problem comes up when these apps share such private data with third parties. In many surveys, there have been instances which suggest that these apps were sharing data with marketers to give them a better idea of when to market their products – based on the assumption that most menstruators will buy many products during their cycle.
There has also been evidence that suggests how some corporate firms were monitoring their menstruating employees to keep a check of who was trying to get pregnant. Such instances also substantiate workplace discrimination (majorly in promotions) and prejudices (by clearly exposing one’s sex life).
By doing so, they essentially bring something very personal about an individual into their professional sphere hence, reducing them from a meritorious professional to simply a bleeding uterus.
The Personal Becomes Social
In an article titled “Period tracking-apps are not for women”, Kaitlyn Tiffany gives references to an app called ‘iAmAMan’ which allows men to keep track of the menstrual cycle of their girlfriends at once; with a unique password for every partner. This app intended to let users know when they can expect their partners to act ‘hysterical’.
Another app called ‘PeriodMe’ let users know when their roommates were going to menstruate, thus, warning them of possible PMS. Both these apps not only make something so personal social without one’s consent but also raise a serious question regarding how women-pro is the femtech industry.
As clearly, these apps fail to cater to and understand the sexual experiences of menstruators, but by having such mechanisms, they also contribute to gender insensitivity to a great extent. They play into the archetype of an irrational PMSing woman to be kept at a distance.
Misgendering Apps
Talking about gender, these apps fail tremendously in this sphere. When you search the keyword ‘Period tracker’ on your Play Store, you get a long list of apps with pink and violet icons with animated flowers on them.
Most of these apps claim that they are meant for women, thus, disregarding menstruators who identify as male, non-binary or intersex individuals. Such mechanisms made users with alternative gender identities feel alienated by the very app they were relying on.
Even for women, they were very embarrassing to use as the iconic pink colour and flowers would give any other person an idea of the app they were using.
Additionally, these apps also disregard the possibility of unconventional relationships and often assume a menstruator’s partner to be a ‘man’. Therefore, not just ignoring the identity of the users but that of their partners as well.
Conclusion
Existence of such apps raises a highly valid point of how easy it is for the Period industry to seem gender-sensitive. In actuality, all they intend to do is exploit the anxiety, fear, and desires existing of their users.
It brings about the need for us to properly understand the socio-economic apparatus, which affect gender and sexuality. These capitalistic structures often change the personal into professional for profit. So it becomes crucial to be an informed individual so we can make informed decisions about our menstrual health.
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program