LET’S BE FWENDS ISSUE #37:

THERE’S MONEY TO BE MADE WITH WOMEN’S HEALTH

Artwork by Barbara Kruger. Source.

“Your body is a battleground”

~ Barbara Kruger_As you know, the ethics of digital technology and everything that comes packaged with it (being it AI, or startup culture), is a topic that is very important to me. The reason is simply that I am convinced that it will be the defining issue of the fate of this and next generations.

Technology is not inherently good or bad. You can use a laser to play music, or guide bombs, depending on what you think is important. Tech is not a silver bullet that, applied to something, automatically solves everything (or anything, for that matter).

One of such problems technology is not solving by itself is inequality. And as the market is looking for new ways to expand revenue, it is turning its head to an already lucrative field: Female Health.

Female health products is a big economic issue, the global market is poised to break the 50 billion USD barrier in the year 2025.

There’s a thing called “The Pink Tax”: Overall, women are paying 8% more for health products, even if the women’s version of the product is the same as the one for men. Then, of course, there are health products only women need, and their associated costs.

And now there’s femtech, a part of the startup scene consisting of more or less 200 companies that are focussing on female health and technology.

There’s good stuff and bad stuff here. The good stuff is without question that since most of these companies are led by women, female entrepreneurs, makers, engineers and scientists get more visibility, and hopefully soon will also get more share of global startup investments.

The bad stuff is that these valuations are based on the expectation of a growing market - which raises the question: Are those startups trying to level the field and combat the “pink tax”, or are they actually just asking the question: And how can we cash in on this inequality?

Artwork by Barbara Kruger. Source.Regardless - women’s bodies continue to be a battleground.

And if your hope in society finally fails you, you can always buy the Cards Against Humanity game in a special “For Her” edition (which is exactly the same as the regular one, but pink, and more expensive).

Darn, no. It’s sold out. Female-specific product strategies seem to be working.

But is it all bad? Of course not. There are brands out therethat innovate not to cash in on inequality, but that make removing inequality their brand promise.

Maybe just disguise yourself?

In a really informative video, the former Chief of Disguise (yes, that is an actual C-Level title) of the CIAtalks about disguise, how it is used, and what it can do (and cannot).

The woods, they are breathing

When high winds hit the tree crowns, the roots are moved, raising and dropping the forest floor.

Life in plastic, it’s fantastic

Still from Aqua’s Barbie Girl.Plastic-Use is a big topic these days. Plastic is found nearly everywhere, including human digestive tracts.

Then, the EU stepped in and voted overwhelmingly to - among other things - ban the single-use of plastic.

That really sounded great. Just like the General Data Protection Regulation, that turned out to be a big flaming pile of shit once we started following it. (The GDPR is the reason why you now have to click “I Agree to cookies” on every single damn web page these days while Facebook can still do with your data what they want)

So, how’s the Single-Use Plastic plan doing? Not so great, according to one analyst.

What is to be done? Keep holding your governments accountable and demand them to tighten plastic regulation, and try to avoid single-use plastic as much as possible. It might not be enough to save the planet, but for now, it’s better than doing nothing.

That’s it for this edition of Let’s Be Fwends. If you care about your fellow humans and the world in general, please high-five yourself, you truly deserve it. 🌻