Misinformation is a widespread issue (Credits: Getty Images/Refinery29 RF)
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of solo sex, but across the UK, more than a fifth of women still think masturbating is shameful and wrong.
Believe it or not, the shocking statistic – from a new report from Flo Health – actually goes up the younger someone is.
On average, 21% of those surveyed said they ‘strongly agree’ or ‘somewhat agree’ that masturbation is shameful or wrong. The taboo is more prevalent among younger women, with a quarter (25%) of women aged 18–34 seeing it as shameful, compared to only 15% of 45–55-year-olds.
Women’s health is still riddled with misconceptions and myths – and it’s affecting the way women see their own bodies.
Surveying app users aged 18-55, it appears that social media, search engines and online forums are the primary places women get their information, sometimes leading to glaring gaps in knowledge.
Younger women aged 18–34 are the most likely to turn to online resources and also most likely to find aspects of sex and masturbation to be taboo.
On TikTok, #womenshealth content has so far amassed over 7billion views. And often, content isn’t coming from trained sources, which has its own risks.
Almost three-quarters (72%) of women said they never double-check the health information they get on social media, and there may be a link with the false information people widely believe.
Flo Health found as many as one in 10 wrongly think the ‘pullout method’ is 90% effective in preventing pregnancy (according to stats from Planned Parenthood, around one in five people who use this method get pregnant every year).
Meanwhile, nearly half of those surveyed don’t know the best time to have sex to get pregnant (FYI, it’s around the time of ovulation, which usually occurs 12-14 days before your next period).
Similar numbers of people believe the more sex you have, the ‘looser’ your vagina will be (which isn’t true), along with buying into the idea that you should ‘wash’ inside your vagina (you shouldn’t – it’s self-cleaning).
Dr Claudia Pastides, MBBS, director of medical accuracy at Flo Health, says: ‘Low health literacy is a direct contributor to the spread of misinformation and leads to poor health outcomes and unhealthy behaviours, especially in the areas of menstrual, sexual, and pregnancy health.
‘Every woman’s body is different, and every woman’s experience with her menstrual and reproductive health is unique, but this is not taken into consideration enough.’
The research also found that 26% of women don’t understand that STIs can be transmitted through oral, vagina and oral sex, and 59% don’t know you can catch an STI without having sex.
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At a time when sexual health services have lost £1billion in funding in the UK, it’s no wonder the facts aren’t clear to people.
Kate, a Flo Health user, says: ‘I wish I’d been taught so much of this in school rather than just the generic “biology of the reproductive system and that women will be grumpy and always have a bag with them for tampons and pads”.’
More than half surveyed they weren’t aware of premenstrual syndrome before their first period, and one in 10 learned how to use menstrual products like pads and tampons by themselves.
As for the future, experts behind Flo Health believe AI will influence how people get their information, helping to improve accuracy.
Until then, there’s plenty of work to be done to ensure women properly understand their menstrual and genital health.
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Women’s health is still riddled with misconceptions and myths – and it’s affecting the way women see their own bodies.