Products for women

And after all the previous suggestions could you work on useful pockets in womens clothes.
Ta and thank you.

If you can find something that tackles all the symptoms of endometriosis you'll be rich and famous. I'd concentrate on that

Hell yes. My niece started her period when she was 9 and has suffered terribly. She is 24 now and is facing the possibility of a hysterectomy as there is nothing they can help her to alleviate the horrific symptoms.

Wrath I have recently seen menstrual cups in a shop but I cannot for the life of me remember which shop. Most likely either Sainsburys or Tescos. Our Sainsbury's is a massive one though with far more stock than some of the smaller ones.

This is an interesting thread. I don't have much to add and I don't know if this is the sort of thing you were interested in but I found it very hard to lift my babies in and out of their cot. Not when they were tiny and had the mattress on the highest setting but when they got big enough to fall put and we had to lower the mattress to the bottom. Of course this coincided with them also being heavier! Most annoying when they had fallen asleep on me during a night feed and I woke them up trying to lower them into the cot! Dh being taller and stronger didn't have this problem.

So, I'd like a fit-bit sort of thing that could track my temperature with a view to really, properly track my menstrual cycle?
Especially now I am possibly in peri-menopause. Being able to look at my wrist, and see some display letting what my hormones are doing would help so much.

I could wonder why I am crying at a cat food advert, look down and see that I am at the 'high levels of this, plummeting that' and that's why I am crying. Or maybe even stop the endless sugar consumption because I can see it's just hormone X doing me dirty and I don't need the sugar.
Women are mugged of with 'its just hormones' from all sides, but they rule our lives for many, many years.

Yes to colostrum harvesting - it needs three hands and a tiny syringe and is fiddly and hard to do when exhausted post birth. And you’re usually doing it because the baby is unwell, so it’s also stressful and high stakes. Something that did it for you would be amazing.

nahnonever
That is one of the many problems that are quite difficult to resolve.
As in awkward to share, I mean.

I was thinking the other day (before I ordered 6 pairs of Period pants!) that sanitary towels just aren't long enough. I am nearly 6 foot and I think that's my issue. I leak without fail every night. Even with the longest I can find

Z0rr0
I didn't seem to get the cramps either, it all felt a bit cleaner too. It took me a couple of months to get the hang of it though.
Those days have past now

OvaHere
I always assumed car seat position is down to height but today I have realised it might be that a lean back seating position is better for men's posture, not womens.

I have only ever seen women use those office chairs that make you sit upright in a kneeling position. Men don't seem to have the need to be so upright.

Another one that I noticed when i was living in Paris was that the rails & straps for holding on when standing in the metro were always too high - suited most men, but very hard for women to use !

Thats very true Wrath. My DH has the car seat so reclined I wonder if he's practically comatose at the wheel!

I'm guessing it's mostly about accommodating long arms and legs for the optimum driving position. Like you I'm straight up, seat pulled in close to the wheel.

@WrathofFaeKIopp I've just started trying a menstrual cup for the first time. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is wonderful not having to fiddle with pads and tampons. But what's been more surprising is I haven't had any cramps which would normally be quite bad on my heaviest days. Is that a thing?

Glad my post was useful OP :) Please come back and let us know what you decide to work on and how your male colleagues treat your project.

With my last post in mind..
Men tend to have their car seat tilted right back, is this to support their lower back?

And women like to sit up, with the seat forward, maybe not just for height difference but for better back support? ie sitting upright, like riding a horse. It allows the bladder to naturally sit forward.

Might be the same with office chairs.
Men sit back, women sit forward.
Just a thought.

Whole woman website run by Christine Kent has some insights how female posture can help bladder weakness.
www.wholewoman.com

She explains about the natural curve in the lower back of females helps to 'kink' the urethra and holds the bladder in its natural place, ie belly out, slightly forward. You can observe this in young females, it is a natural posture for them.
Whereas we are generally told to tuck our bottoms in and hold our tummy in for 'good' posture. This straightens the urethra and can cause bladder leakage as we age.

OTH males young and old tend to have a ramrod straight lower back with less curve.

Invisible Women is great. I am 5ft tall so I really notice the problem of things being designed for the average male body as I am considerably smaller. I had general anaesthetic for the birth of my first child and it took me two days to properly come round. I'm sure this is because dosages are designed and tested on men. My similar sized friend had the same issue after day surgery. Everyone else got sent home a couple of hours later, she had to be kept in overnight as she couldn't stand up without fainting.

I would like to add that women are more comfortable discussing their issues when they are amongst other women.

The presence of a man can completely change the course of the conversation.
This aspect would be very relevant in the decision making process of design teams.

Women can be so self conscious.

charllejane
Definitely agree with the need to talk to the users.
Human-centric design often overlooks the female 51% and this is often accepted as the norm in spite of a greater need in many cases. Public toilets is one that springs to mind.

@charllejane

Have you read Invisible Women? It's an excellent book that might also give some ideas.

www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1113605/invisible-women/9781784706289.html

A Mooncup changed my life. At the time I thought it would fly off the shelves and give tampons a run for the money, but no, they're not even in the shops.

I have never seen a menstrual cup in a high street shop or supermarket.

And we all know why.

YY to crappy sanitary towels. Libra in Australia used to have really good ones. They were thick, absorbed blood properly without the disgusting top layer you see on so many pads, they rarely became dislodged. Then for sone reason they switched to the rubbish body form ones.

Something to help with PMS (or even scheduling yourself around PMS) would help. I am hopeless in the week before my period. It’s like my brain shuts off. If there was an app that could be used to easily track my PMS (have tried period tracking apps but they don’t work for me). Something with daily prompts to report/evaluate cognitive function as well a a regular reminder of when my next PMS week was supposed to happen so I was aware.

as I myself haven't gone through all of these stages yet
That line jumped out at me.
What a thoughtful person you must be charllejane

None of us realise how challenging our female milestones are going to be.

So many of us believe it won't be so bad for us and we will be better than our mothers and grandmothers... until we become them, and only then, our eyes are opened.
Sad really.