CensHERship

🚨👋 Attention Health Companies! Do you work in communications at a European health company and do you use very large online platforms (VLOPS) such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Linkedin, and Google to advertise your product or service? Have you faced digital suppression on social media when sharing essential health information? We want to hear your story! 🚀 The Case for Her, in partnership with the CensHERship campaign, is gathering insights from health innovators like you. Whether your content has been flagged as inappropriate, shadowbanned, or outright removed, we need to understand how censorship is impacting both women’s and men’s health content. Examples include: 💻 Flagging of accurate sexual health information as “explicit” or “inappropriate” content. 💻 Shadowbanning posts about menstruation, menopause, or erectile dysfunction—leaving followers unaware of these vital messages. 💻 Removal of ads or posts for reproductive health products with little to no explanation. CensHERship's last research made waves, landing in national media and sparking meetings with two major social media platforms. Now, we need your voice to push this forward, break down these barriers, and create a fair digital space for all. Take the survey below and let’s make a difference together! 👉 https://lnkd.in/dde98aRQ #femtech #womenshealth #womenshealthinnovation #healthcare #ecosystem #advertising #marketing #socialmedia #digitalhealth #ads #europe #socialnetworks #sponsored

Our co-founder Clio Wood spoke to BBC Persia about our work with CensHERship - take a look here:

Did you catch The Case for Her and CensHERship in the latest Femtech Insider newsletter? 😍 Today we are spotlighting our research on social media and big tech platform censorship of health content 💻 If you or someone you know works at a European health company and has experienced censorship while marketing your service and product, please fill out our survey! Your insights are integral to generating fair advertising policies for sharing essential health information. 🌟 Please fill in our survey here: https://lnkd.in/dde98aRQ #Censorship #SocialMediaMarketing #Entrepreneurship #Investing https://lnkd.in/dbZS89h9

When sharing a video that could save someone’s life using a crochet prop and a Barbie ® doll to educate about self checks and raise awareness about cancer and it’s still seen as inappropriate with a sensitivity cover put over it and a warning message comes up before sharing on Instagram. The video in question had over 1 million views and so many positive comments a few of which I’ve included in the images below. I also received so many uplifting DMs. This is the reality of women’s and gynae health education. This perpetuates the shame and stigma, the embarrassment - it is one of the reasons the gender health gap exists, it’s why many women are suffering in silence. It’s what is leading to untimely death! This is so exhausting, disappointing and disheartening but I won’t stop. If you want to see the video kindly reshared on The Female Lead page that has this cover put by Instagram click this link https://lnkd.in/ewFhJBgn Women’s health deserves better.

censHERship is coming to Europe! The censHERship campaign wants to hear from start-ups who operate in Europe who have encountered censorship when sharing women's health content on social media. Plus, we also want to hear from MEN'S health start-ups so we can find out if censorship (i.e content restricted or removed) is also happening to men's health content. Our last research was featured in national media and led to meetings with two social media platforms. Please help us continue to push this issue forward and remove these barriers for all. We can do it with your help! Our new survey is below - thank you in advance for your participation. Please 'like', 'comment' or 'repost' to help spread the word too! https://lnkd.in/etP224Gk

Our research on the prejudice faced by FemTech founders hit The Guardian today. We spoke to 35 founders about the discrimination faced when it comes to financial services such as bank accounts, insurance, ecommerce platforms and payment providers. Here's what we found: ➡ Imagine you're an at-home fertility kit that couldn't describe your product on Amazon using the word v*gina. Oh, but the word s*men is just fine. ➡ Or you're a sexual wellness brand charged 150 times the going rate for your insurance. ➡ Or you sell condoms and lubricants for women and you are refused bank accounts and payment providers - including once during an actual product launch! These are the real experiences of so many. 75 per cent of the brands we spoke to had been refused a bank account; 60% had an account closed, 50% faced “excessive scrutiny”, 32% experienced delays in processing and 21% were charged higher fees. The impact of these developments is significant: almost two-thirds had lost sizeable revenue, 54% faced increased operational costs, 43% reported customer dissatisfaction and the same percentage had to delay their launch. As our co-founder Clio Wood explained to The Guardian: “The amount of time and money femtech companies waste on trying to resolve these issues significantly sets them back and, in too many cases, destroys them altogether." Thank you Amelia Hill for your time on this important research and for writing the piece. And to Valentina Milanova 🇺🇦 at Daye, Tess Isabelle Cosad at Béa Fertility, Farah K. at HANX, Knude Society and many more for taking part. Here at censHERship our mission is to bring together a collective voice so that we can highlight these important issues and bring about change. We're just getting started! 📖 Read the full piece in The Guardian here: https://lnkd.in/e3QuQPQb 📖 Read the full results of our research here: https://lnkd.in/eqx3T6Nu

Our co-founder Clio Wood took the censHERship campaign to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour! Clio was joined by the brilliant Cindy Gallop and Jessica Van Meir to discuss the financial discrimination faced by the SexTech industry and sex workers. We’ve been carrying out research recently across women’s health, FemTech, sexual wellness and SexTech to understand more about how insurers, banks, payment platforms and ecommerce platforms routinely discriminate these industries. The impact is that individuals and businesss are being drained both financially and emotionally. Follow us to support our ongoing work in this area - we’ve got lots more coming soon 👀

Did you hear the one about the book launch that nearly didn't go ahead because of what the book was called...?

Final call to help lift the lid on discrimination facing FemTech… censHERship is working with The Guardian on a major investigation into the barriers that FemTech, women’s health and sexual wellness companies face, and we need your help! Have you experienced issues or discrimination with banking, insurance, payment providers or e-commerce? Perhaps you’ve been refused a bank account? Paid over the odds for insurance? Kicked off Stripe or Amazon? All just because you operate in FemTech, fertility or sexual wellness? 30 startups have shared their experiences so far - please add your voice! Please take 2 minutes to complete our survey (can be anonymously) so that we can raise awareness of the extent of this issue. If you operate in the UK, please take part here: https://lnkd.in/e-dd8a2e

🤣 Follow the transcript of Google Gemini lecturing our founder for having a "strong stance" on leaving the word speculum in her upcoming article title. ----------------- I have a new article being published on FastCompany this week. The title is "Shelving the speculum: Femtech's radical transformation of women's healthcare". I wasn't thrilled with the word "transformation" in the subtitle and asked Google Gemini for help. Gemini explained that the reference to the speculum "Might not resonate with male readers: Some readers might find the reference too explicit or off-putting." Feeling a little feisty, I shared "that's okay, because at least 51% of the readers will get the reference." And asked again for help with the term "transformation". Undeterred, Gemini lectured that "it's essential to consider the potential for alienating male readers" and I should "explore better options". I finally got frustrated with Gemini and shot back "I'll go ahead and write for women and men can just deal with the word speculum, just like women have to deal with erectile dysfunction ads and billboards ALL the time!" Gemini then let me know my title might make some people 'uncomfortable'. Are you uncomfortable Gemini? You seem uncomfortable.