The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Femtech: The Rise of Period Tracking Apps

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

Desi Lydic chats with Dr. Lynae Brayboy and Clue app co-founder Ida Tin about the menstrual health benefits and privacy risks posed by the rapidly growing femtech app industry. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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beach has found its way into every part of women's bodies. Tracking all of our needs from pregnancy, nursing, periods, even tracking Kegel exercises. You thought your Pelotonin instructor was tough. You have not met my Kegel coach. But how necessary are these apps and will they replace our doctors? My name is Linay Braboi. I am an obstetrician gynecologist and a reproductive inoconologist with a specialty in infertility,

and I'm also an egg biologist. And I also did clinical research on fem tech. I am Desilitic and I too am a woman, but much less accomplished. So your doctor, clearly. Why are women going to these apps? Why not just go to someone like you? Well, there are a lot of great apps that are high quality. What people don't realize is that a lot of physicians will take what's called a history, what's been happening with you? What changes have you had?

And a lot of people can't answer it because they haven't really thought about what's happening in their cycles or............... their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, c, c, c, c, cl cl cle, cl. their, cl cl cl. their, cl cl cl. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, they haven't really thought about what's happening in their cycles or with their periods. So if you're keeping track of your own history, then you can get the treatment that you need for the concerns that you have. She's right. Without the reminder of an app, women are often too busy making up for the female recession to track their cycles. I. their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their, women. Women. Women. Women. Women. Women. Women. Women, women. Women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women their, women are their, women their their, women are their, women are their, women are their, women, women, women their, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women, women their. Women, women, women, women, women, women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. women. women. women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women. Women, women, women. Women their their their their their their their, women are o' their, women are often their their their their o' are often are often are often are often are often are often their their their their, women are o' their, women, women aretrack their cycles. I mean, what am I gonna do? Write it in a diary, hide it under a pillow, then my husband finds it and reads it, publishes it, then I'm a multi-millionaire author of a period journal? Can't do that, the tour dates alone. Yeah, so period tracking is really a wonderful tool because what it does is it allows an individual to trac in their own health. And when they actually do meet with their physician, they're able to advocate for themselves,

and it's empowering, because people may feel that they're the only ones suffering from health conditions, and that's not the case. Yeah, women do feel isolated and need to share more. This does need to be normalized. And so when you're tracking your own menstrual cycle, you can say, hey, I don't think this is right. But you should be careful about apps that are free and don't tell you what they do with their data. What do you mean?

Well, there have been some apps that unfortunately have violated the trust of their users by selling data. Oh, man. Can you imagine if someone put in that they have like two vaginas? That'd be embarrassing. You should be very wary of apps that don't disclose what they do with your data, and that's unfortunate. Are you kidding me? More than 19 million women in the US have downloaded the flow app, which tracks menstrual cycles and pregnancies.

All of it personal information, but millions of women are now discovering was also shared with other companies. Selling our ovulation data? These apps are snitching on our snatches. Who would do something like this? I decided to confront the woman person who gave Femtech its lady name and created one of these suspicious chick apps. My name is Ed Tin. I am the co-founder of an app called Clue and we help people with cycles and women understand their menstrual health and their bodies. I have to be honest with you, I feel really violated. I mean, I shared some of my deepest, darkest secrets with these apps.

My dense breasts, my unfriendly cervical environment. All the times I fantasize about th the property the property the property the property the property the property th. I that I that I that I that I that I that I that I'm that I'm that I'm that I'm that I'm that I'm that I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm the of thii, I'm the the of the of th. I am the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm the. I'm the. I'm theooom. I'm teooooooooooo-c. I'm teo-s. I'm teo. I'm te. I'm te. I'm the. I'm environment, all the times I fantasize about the property brothers. How do I know that I'm ever going to be able to trust again? We have never sold your data, and we will never sell your data. Look, I want to trust you. But this is not just a normal pact. We're talking periods here. This is a blood pact. I know. We take it really seriously. Okay, well how concerned should we be about

this data leak? Is it like a day one leak or like a full-blown day three tie a sweatshirt around your waist and pray for the best kind of leak? We should be pretty worried because these are companies that deliberately have chosen to share more data than they had told their users that they would share and that's not right. So how can we safely use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use use the the their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. t. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. to. te. to. te. to. to. te users that they would share. And that's not right. So how can we safely use these apps moving forward? Well, it's hard. Honestly, in Europe we have really tough regulation and we've been checked, whereas in the US, you are not being checked.

So one good navigation is to see how does this company make money. And if you can't see how they make money, that's a red flag. So if it's free, that's a red flag. If you don't pay for the product you're using, you most likely are the product yourselves. So clearly, Femtech is a lot like our bodies. We have to stay vigilant to make sure everything is functioning properly. So until they invent Semtec Tech to monitor these apps, I guess we'll just have to track them ourselves.

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