“The allure of women+ health trends is undeniable. Here’s why they can be problematic”

Despite platform policies and content approval processes, a lot of health misinformation slips through the net. All it takes is a slight reframing of your search query for content to be found.

Another evening, another hour wasted doomscrolling browsing TikTok. I happened to click on a post about ‘free bleeding’.

Now, this isn’t my usual content, as the sceptic in me always keeps one eye open when it comes to fads, especially those in women+ health*. But one ill-fated click opened the door to the algorithm and flooded my feed with the latest fads and trends for feminine health and hygiene.

I’ll be honest, I hadn’t given much thought to this in the past, but something about the flurry of content featuring vagina steams, anti-stress patches and yoghurt-dipped tampons was hard to ignore.

And it got me thinking. Do these trends represent real moments of empowerment and validation for women? Or, is this just a digital circus that distracts us from the true progress happening in women+ health?

I get it. The allure of some of these trends is undeniable. It’s no secret that women have endured (and continue to endure) inequalities and gender bias in healthcare.

Personally, every time I leave a GP appointment, it feels like my health complaints are not taken seriously. So, screw the patriarchy. Find a voice that hasn’t failed you, and take your health into your own hands. It sounds hopeful when it is actually quite problematic.

Let’s start with the obvious; the echo chamber. Social media algos, like TikToks, are what makes them so addictive. They continually dish out content that aligns with your interests.

So, if you are into health fads, the likelihood is that you will get more of the same content, from more of the same creators. For the person behind the phone or laptop screen, it means they can be overexposed to a single viewpoint on a specific health concern, from creators who lack any type of healthcare credentials.

Echo chambers limit exposure to diverse and alternative perspectives too. This aids both the spread of and volume of misinformation found in these channels.

On TikTok especially, medical misinformation is rife, a recent study found that almost 20 per cent of the top videos about trending news topics contained incorrect information.

Despite platform policies and content approval processes, a lot slips through the net. All it takes is a slight reframing of your search query such as a behaviour related to the topic for content to be found.

The same report found this to be the case with mugwort, an unproven and harmful herbal abortion method. A trend that has seen a concerning rise in popularity across TikTok as people become desperate for alternative options following the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v Wade.

It’s not just the social media creators either, celebrities can have a big influence on health decisions, from Gweneth Paltrow’s pseudoscience-riddled Goop to Megan Markle’s anti-stress patch.

It took one article in Vogue to make the NuCalm patch the latest summer must-have. What swiftly followed was anti-stress patches infiltrating TikTok’s next big trend in female wellbeing. Forget the science, the celebrity status becomes all the validation required to mean this thing is legit.

I get that misinformation isn’t a unique concern for women+ health, in fact it bleeds into every corner of healthcare, science, and politics. And yet, women+ health is perhaps a more susceptible area.

Some trends are undeniably dangerous, but women+ health advice in social media falls on a spectrum. For many, the healthcare solutions found on TikTok, whilst not backed by science, are viewed as harmless experiments.

These trends garner a large following as women+ share their positive experiences; all with an undertone of empowerment. It’s a platform for challenging the unmet needs of women+. It’s two fingers to being held back by taboos. It’s the opportunity to finally take your health into your own hands. That’s got to be a positive, right? But there’s another cost.

For one, I don’t see the latest innovations in women+ health touted as trending topics on TikTok.

One story that I was personally excited about this year was the FDA’s approval of a new spiral-shaped tampon. It’s a great story of innovation for women, by women. The tampon, which has basically been the same since its inception (by a man) over 90 years ago, has had an upgrade thanks to two people who actually know what it’s like to menstruate.

Surely, that’s worth championing on TikTok? Alas, all I could find was one video where the real news was overshadowed by scepticism of the FDA’s approval processes; the remnants of a failed system for women+ health.

The biggest observation I’ve made through viewing these TikTok trends is that women+ put a lot of energy into an individualistic approach to their health. Let’s face it, it’s much more appealing to listen to voices that represent you than the systems that have failed you over and over.

But this distrust shouldn’t come at the expense of supporting progress. Perhaps the challenge requires a collective approach, to not only address systemic issues in women+ health but to also promote evidence-based practices and elevate the innovators who are making meaningful change.

And if you are working in the healthcare industry, know this. It isn’t enough to just counter misinformation. You need to educate women+ with relatable content that builds confidence and willingly brings them back into healthcare systems to get the support they need… and deserve.

*Women+ health was an inclusive term coined by Rock Health. It is used to capture the full spectrum of health needs experienced by cisgender women, as well as those who have related health needs and may identify as transgender or non-binary.

Emma Marie Lea is a senior planner at the London-based advertising agency VCCP Health.