'Take charge': Companies using feminist messages to push 'useless' health products onto women, finds study

Women around the globe are potentially being exposed to harmful practices like overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatments, due to the latest marketing gimmick: feminist messages.

An analysis by Australian researchers published Thursday in the British Medical Journal found that corporations by taking advantage of feminist messages were promoting useless tests and treatments.

Promises of empowerment

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"Feminist narratives of increasing women’s autonomy and empowerment regarding their healthcare, which first arose through early women’s health movements are now increasingly adopted by commercial entities to market new interventions (technologies, tests, treatments) that lack robust evidence or ignore the evidence that is available," write researchers.

They allege that by "promising empowerment through knowledge control and control" over one's body, corporations push treatments that have limited or no benefits.

Using the example of menstrual tracking apps that claim diagnostic expertise on problems like Polycystic ovarian syndrome, the authors say the problem lies not with the use of these health technologies, but "in the way commercial marketing and advocacy efforts push such interventions to a much larger group of women than is likely to benefit without being explicit about their limitations."

"Promoting healthcare interventions that are not supported by evidence, or while concealing or downplaying evidence, increases the risk of harm to women through inappropriate medicalisation, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment," they write.

Furthermore, they say that the use of feminist narratives to promote interventions "gives the impression health and sex equality are commodities that can be bought (by those who can afford it)".

"Take charge of your fertility"

The authors, for example, cite a service frequently pushed onto women: the anti-müllerian hormone (AMH) test .

AMH tests are used to predict the AMH levels in the blood, which are associated with the number of eggs in a woman's ovaries. This is inversely related to age, and as per evidence, these tests "cannot reliably predict likelihood of pregnancy, time to pregnancy, or specific age of menopause for individuals."

However, in spite of that, fertility clinics and online companies continue to market and sell the tests with messages like "information is power" and "take charge of your fertility".

"Health consumers and clinicians need to be wary of the simplistic narratives that any information and knowledge is always power," write researchers.

However, senior author of the paper, Dr Brooke Nickel, as quoted by The Guardian, adds that the responsibility should not be placed on women to navigate these health messages.

Instead, she says "The responsibility should largely be placed on companies that market these health interventions to be clearer about their limitations."

(With inputs from agencies)