Overview

This tech could change everything for women--here's how. Women make over 80% of healthcare decisions in everyday life, yet only 4% of all medical research and development is focused on women's health issues. From periods and childbirth to menopause, female pain has been normalized, as society shrugs and says ""Welcome to being a woman"" instead of coming up with better solutions. But it doesn't have to be this way. In The Vagina Business, award-winning journalist Marina Gerner PhD takes an eye-opening look at the innovators challenging the status quo to deliver the healthcare solutions women need. With interviews from 100 entrepreneurs across 15 countries, The Vagina Business explores the future of women's health, where female-focused companies are developing products to help women at every stage of life. Some of these products include: A smart bra with EKG technology that can predict heart attacks early An in-home fertility gadget that uses saliva to track ovulation Apps to help women get access to medical abortions and perform them at home safely A vaginal and pelvic floor dilator that could drastically reduce the rate of vaginal tearing in birth Healthcare apps tailored to LGBTQIA people and their needs, without stigma Devices that prevent birth injuries and restore the pelvic floor and vagina during menopause Gerner also takes the reader inside the boardroom, where only 2.1% of venture capital dollars goes toward companies founded by women, and issues a rallying cry: Women should not be denied solutions to health issues because of embarrassment and ignorance. Every woman deserves better.

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9781728263304

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Reviews

"""The Vagina Business is an eye-opening book that everyone needs to read. It shines a light on how women's needs have been routinely dismissed and ignored by science, medicine, and technology. Gerner offers us hope for the future, showing us how the world can be a better place for women when innovators in tech, science, and medicine begin to take our needs seriously."" -- Sarah E. Hill, PhD, author of This is Your Brain on Birth Control ""A smart, tech-savvy primer on not only the bottom-line business value of more inclusive research, but its whole-hearted worth for all humankind."" -- Abby Norman, author of Ask Me About My Uterus ""Fascinating, infuriating and exciting, The Vagina Business introduces some extraordinary female revolutionaries and the fantastic promise of tech to transform women's lives. Some scenes will make you want to scream. But others will have you jumping up and down in delight at the extent to which women are supporting women to innovate--and the vast scale of the sisterhood's imagination. Gerner renders complex science simple and makes venture capital thrilling. She is a strong writer with a gift for telling a story, and this is a great one. The Vagina Business is an important book, with significance for our understanding of the impact of structural discrimination on women's health. I hope it is bought and read by many, many people who then advocate for, research and invest in the fairer future that femtech offers."" -- Sophie Walker, activist and author of Five Rules for Rebellion ""If you care about your health and the health of all the women in your life, you should read this book. After reading it, I finally felt heard. I finally felt seen. And it felt so good. The Vagina Business is one of those books every woman should read multiple times in her life--the lessons in it are invaluable."" -- Marija Butkovic, entrepreneur, journalist, women's health advisor and consultant ""In The Vagina Business, Marina Gerner takes you on a tour around the world to learn about the femtech products being designed and marketed today--from apps that track fertility and periods, to smart bras that tell women about their heart health, to new forms of contraception for women (and men). The Vagina Business is also an important story about the long-held taboos about women's bodies that have hindered research, education, and investment in women's health, and about the feminist innovators who are shattering these taboos to provide women what they want and deserve."" -- Deena Emera, PhD, author of A Brief History of the Female Body ""Marina Gerner's brilliant book should be titled How to Make More Money Than You Ever Dreamed Possible because she is handing all venture capitalists, investors, and corporations that opportunity on a plate. She has done all the due diligence they could ever want in this deeply researched, wide-ranging and utterly riveting study of the entrepreneurs pioneering in the sector that business, finance and tech are massively missing out on through sheer squeamishess: women's sexual and reproductive health. The Vagina Business is a must-read--and also, when you buy and read it, a must-display--to overcome the ridiculousness that is holding this sector back. Make sure you show the cover off when you're reading it on the Tube, on the plane, by the pool, on the beach, in the office. There's a huge amount of money to be made out of taking women seriously, and this book is the evidence. BUY IT NOW."" -- Cindy Gallop, Founder & CEO, MakeLoveNotPorn ""Marina Gerner's writing is electric, and The Vagina Business will leave you shocked and energized. It's a terrific page-turner that will transform how every reader sees the worlds of business and technology."" -- Jake Knapp, author of the New York Times bestseller Sprint"

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