Welcome to Eve Was Framed
June 15, 2022
Two women on a journey to answer the question “Where’s the Sex Ed class 2.0 for your twenties through your adult life?”
Thanks for joining us for the invite-only launch. We look forward to evolving based on what we learn and what we hear from you.
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Why are we here?
Remember that special “health class” in middle school? The one where you heard some version of “the talk”. In Maggie’s, they drew diagrams of reproductive organs, learned about the dangers of tampons due to toxic shock (ok, it was the early 1980s) and IUDs would puncture our wombs (yes, that was the term they used, hello, can we say “uterus”?). That information was good enough to get you through your early teens.
Maybe.
Guess we’ve got to teach ourselves.
And thus, Eve Was Framed was born.
The backstory is long and deeply personal. You might see some of yourself in it. You can read more about it at your leisure.
We're on a mission to help more women learn about themselves and the companies trying to put control of our health into our own hands through sharing our own personal journeys. We hope you'll come with us!
- Maggie Ruvoldt & Stephanie Majercik
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Here's what you can expect from Eve Was Framed:
The Tasting Menu is a group of three to four topics each week to learn more about your body and health to get you to know your body better such as learning how to strengthen your pelvic floor, symptoms you might not realize are from menopause, women and heart health.
Spotlights will be a place to hear personal journeys in health and wellness of women like you. We’ll be sharing how you can participate and share your story shortly
Profiles will be a place to read about companies doing interesting work in Women’s Health, FemTech, and FamTech.
Medical term of the week is a word or phrase we learned recently to expand our vocabulary and knowledge
The Latest. We’ll share links to news and updates in women’s health, FemTech, and FamTech. Your time is valuable. We’re doing the reading and sharing the knowledge
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The Tasting Menu
Our definition of Women’s Health
Ovaries and aging
How the underfunding of Women’s Health might hurt us
What do we mean by Women’s Health?
When you hear Women’s Health, is it only reproductive organs and, maybe, breast health, that come to mind? Defining women’s health solely through the lens of gynecological or reproductive health is too narrow. Embracing a broader definition which includes how diseases impact women differently, how the healthcare system treats women differently, and the pink tax we pay.
Founders Halle Tecco and Julia Cheek of Everly Health shared thought leadership on how to define women’s health. They were told women’s health is “niche”. Hmmm, “niche” for 50% of the world’s population. We love their take on this topic and will be further exploring our own definition. We want to hear from you too. There’ll be an opportunity in the coming weeks for this community to help us define it.
In organizing our thoughts and research into where the growing investment into women's health and FemTech is going, we found FemTech Analytic’s categorization of the 10 subsectors particularly intriguing: Menstrual Health, Reproductive Health & Contraception, Longevity, Pregnancy & Nursing, General Health Care, Mental Health, Manopause Care, Sexual Health, Pelvic and Uterine Care and Women's Wellness. We’ll explore that more too. Stay tuned.
Have you ever thought about the age of your ovaries? We hadn’t either.
Ovaries age faster than the rest of our organs. It’s called asynchronous aging and has impacts on various other systems. Did you know that there is an average 6% increase in biological aging when we reach menopause? We didn’t. There’s a connection between the insomnia women experience in menopause and that increase. Double whammy! Thanks for that. Fortunately, there is critical work being done in addressing longevity and ovary aging in particular.
What the health? Underfunding and lack of research might kill you.
According to a study published in the American Family Physician, women are “50 to 75 percent more likely than men to experience an adverse drug reaction”. One would think facts like that would impact different dosages or instructions for medication. Except that, as Daniela Schardinger so eloquently described in her opinion piece in Geektime, women’s health is under-researched and underfunded. That’s a topic we’ll be going big on in future weeks.
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Medical Term of the Week
Pharmacokinetics is the branch of pharmacology dealing with a drug’s journey through the body. It has 4 stages: Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion. Studies show these stages are affected by gender which should inform dosage, instructions (take with food or not), and side effects.
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The Latest
Along with Baby Formula, there is another shortage impacting women - tampons! Proctor and Gamble tried to pin a tampon shortage on Amy Schumer of all people! Later, they said it was a supply and demand issue. The Great Tampon Shortage of 2022. (from Time)
Wonder why you don’t see ads about breastfeeding workshops and pelvic floor devices in your social media feeds? It’s not your algorithm or theirs. Those ads are more likely to get rejected and accounts suspended. Yes, even though ads on ererctidle dysfunction make their way through. (from The Hustle)
Early stage research led by scientists from the universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Copenhagen might have insights into the age at which women enter menopause. (from The Guardian)
So much more than medical information that women wished they knew before starting IVF. 4 surprising ones. (from Rescripted) This includes a promotion from Rescripted. Eve Was Framed does not have a partnership or benefit from that promotion.