If there is one thing that social media has taught me it’s the ins and outs of women’s health. I have seen many Tiktoks that have helped me learn about my body and how things that happen to me are normal.
High school or middle school health classes usually consisted of students of different ages, genders and sexualities. In my personal experience, women were taught that they will get a period, meaning they were not pregnant, and that sex can lead to STDs. We were shown videos about how a woman goes through puberty and what different contraceptives were.
That’s it.
Talking about periods, sex and other women’s health issues was always embarrassing to talk about. I remember a boy in sixth grade had asked me if I had gotten my period yet and I didn’t know what that was. I was constantly confused as to why my body did the things that I have come to learn are natural and normal. I was not alone in this.
Through a questions sticker on my Instagram Story, I asked, what is something you had to teach yourself about women’s health that the school system never taught you? I got responses that mirrored my own understanding, including,
- How to use femanine hygiene products
- Where you are in your menstrual cycle and how it affects your energy levels and mental health
- When you are on birth control pills, your period is not an actual period
- Post sex care
- You can bleed while ovulating
- Peeing after intercourse
- Anything about the vagina
These women were left in the dark by the school system; through talking with other women and the internet are able to find new things out about how to live as a woman.
Phoebe Candace, a senior kinesiology major at the University of Maryland, shared similar feelings. She had a health class in high school taught by the soccer coach who basically told students that he was not going to talk about anything sex related or female anatomy or any anatomy at all.
She taught herself everything from putting a tampon in to what an orgasm was. TikTok has been a big resource that she has used to learn more about her body, like “did you know this and that about yourself or women’s health.” It is a great place to see that others have similar experiences to you and it makes you feel like these things are normal.
I was always so shy when talking to my mom, my friends and other women about women’s issues, because of a school system that didn’t do anything to help me figure out my body and realize that every woman is different.
A TikTok series that has gotten a lot of attention with millions of views on some of their videos is femiclear. According to their website they are a, “women led company breaking boundaries in over-the-counter women’s health by tackling conditions many don’t want to discuss.”
Their series on TikTok shows users what they didn’t learn in health class about women’s bodies. Natalie Taslimi, the senior national account manager for the company. She says the goal with the Tiktoks is to, “create a safe space for vagina owners to come and talk about what so many women go through.”
They show women that they are not alone and educate them about important facts and information about their own bodies. With TikTok, Taslimi said it was “a great way to get their brand out there and become leaders… educating on vaginal health and becoming the go to brand when they’re having questions about it.”
I am constantly learning new things about my body, things that were never mentioned by teachers or parents, all things the internet and other women have told me.