New study reveals that menstrual misinformation is on the rise

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Posted 31 May, 2023

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By Sofia Phillips

London, UK

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According to research published this month by period tracking app Flo Health, there exist prominent gaps in the knowledge women have about their own bodies.

While women’s health has undergone a generational culture shift in recent years, prompting more open discourse around historically stigmatised concerns regarding our wombs, it’s still pretty common for those of us who menstruate to feel conditioned to accept that debilitating pain is normal, nay something we should keep quiet about.

Unfortunately, as a result of this and the inherent lack of comprehensive sex education in British schools, there exist prominent gaps in the knowledge women have about their own bodies.

This is according to research from period tracking app Flo Health, which found that 56% of women in the UK rely on search engines like Google for medical queries about menstruation, and one in five women aged 18-24 on social media – especially Tiktok.

The survey, titled ‘MIND THE GAPS: Menstrual & reproductive misinformation in the UK in 2023,’ warns that although the Internet can be a great source of knowledge, it has the potential to leave women vulnerable to misinformation or results can be too generalised when what they really need is personalised advice.

This is particularly concerning given 72% of women never fact-check what they learn online, as uncovered by Flo’s research.

‘The growth of online platforms and social media go hand in hand with the rise in menstrual misinformation. The ubiquity and the vastness of the internet allow for misinformation to spread at record speed,’ says Dr Claudia Pastides, director of medical accuracy at Flo.

‘At the same time, we rarely question the validity and credibility of sources we turn to.’

‘In fact, a 2022 Ofcom report showed that 30% of adults did not know or did not consider the potential truthfulness of online information at all, and 6% believed that all the information they find online is truthful.’

‘A further 34% of 16- to 24-year-olds think that if websites have been listed by a search engine, they will contain accurate and unbiased information.’

Some misinformation Dr Pastides has seen spread includes claims that women are able to ‘optimise’ their periods so that they don’t last more than three days and that the colour of your period blood can reveal deficiencies. These are both, of course, not true.

Among other key findings, the survey revealed that one in 10 women wrongly believe that the ‘pullout method’ is 90% or more effective in preventing pregnancy; 46% don’t know when it’s the best time to have sex to get pregnant; 26% don’t understand that you can catch STIs during oral, vaginal, or anal sex; 54% were not aware of premenstrual syndrome before their first period; one in 10 figured out by themselves how to use menstrual products; and 21% strongly or somewhat agree that masturbation is shameful or wrong.

‘Low health literacy is a direct contributor to the spread of misinformation and leads to poor health outcomes and unhealthy behaviours, especially in the areas of menstrual, sexual, and pregnancy health,’ continues Dr Pastides.

‘Every woman’s body is different, and every woman’s experience with her menstrual and reproductive health is unique, but this is not taken into consideration enough.’

Flo’s findings demonstrate that there is an urgent need for social media platforms and search engines to focus on fact-checking and ensuring that users can easily identify credible information sources.

Without doubt, our wellbeing depends on it.

Sofia Phillips

Feature Media Manager & Senior Writer London, UK

Sofia (She/Her) – I’m the Feature Media Manager and a Senior Writer at Thred, specialising in exclusive articles and live interviews, fashion and beauty with a focus on sustainability, women’s rights, psychedelics, and Latin America. I studied Spanish at the University of Exeter and International Journalism at City, London. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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