Why Did We Stop Teaching Women About Their Bodies?

By HTE Founder, Erin Hughes.

Lately, I’ve started experiencing brain fog.

A word that takes longer to arrive. A thought that disappears halfway through having it. Moments when my brain simply doesn’t feel quite as sharp as I expect it to.

At first, I did what I imagine a lot of women do.

I put it down to being busy. Tired. Having too much going on.

But recently, another possibility has entered the conversation.

Could this be perimenopause?

I don’t know yet.

But the question itself exposed something I hadn’t really considered before.

I know perimenopause exists. I know about hot flushes. I know periods can change. But I’m not sure anyone ever taught me what the transition into menopause might actually feel like.

It was a strange realisation to have just as I began talking to Briella Brown, co-founder of Biolae.
Because the women’s health brand began with essentially the same question.

How can women spend decades learning about their reproductive health, then arrive at perimenopause without understanding what is happening to their bodies?

Where did the education go?

Briella founded Biolae alongside Maryalice Rosa, bringing together different professional backgrounds and a shared interest in areas of women’s health that had historically been overlooked.

The more they investigated perimenopause, the more one thing stood out.

“There had been incredible innovation around fertility and pregnancy, and then it seemed to stop.”

Think about it.

We teach girls about puberty. We talk about periods, contraception, fertility and pregnancy.

Then there is this extraordinary information gap before perimenopause and menopause, despite it being another predictable biological transition.

When Biolae’s founders began speaking with practitioners, they heard that many of the options available to women experiencing perimenopause symptoms had not undergone the same level of clinical validation seen in other areas of women’s health. For them, it highlighted an opportunity to bring a stronger focus to evidence, education and the experience they felt women had been missing.

But perhaps the clearest evidence of that gap came from women themselves.

Again and again, they heard the same sentence:

“I had no idea that was perimenopause.”

Wait, that can be perimenopause?

That sentence stayed with me.

Because my own understanding wasn’t dramatically different.

Hot flushes. Periods changing. Eventually, periods stopping.

But as Biolae’s founders dug deeper, they discovered how much sat underneath that narrow understanding.

Sleep. Brain fog. Vaginal dryness. Changes to libido and mood. Simply not quite feeling like yourself.

“What surprised us was everything sitting underneath that. The breadth of symptoms, how differently they can present from woman to woman, and the fact that the perimenopause transition can begin years before menopause itself.”

Which brings me back to my brain fog.

Would I have independently connected it with perimenopause?

Probably not.

As the founders put it:

“Women aren’t failing to recognise the signs. In many cases, no one ever taught them what the signs could look like.”

Of course, knowing a symptom can be associated with perimenopause doesn’t mean assuming perimenopause is its cause.

But knowledge gives us somewhere to begin.

The things women are still whispering about

Of everything Biolae’s founders discovered, vaginal health revealed one of the biggest gaps.

Women were privately talking about dryness, painful sex, discomfort and changes to libido, yet there remained an enormous gap between how common these experiences were and how comfortably we discussed them.

Some of these symptoms sit under the clinical term genitourinary syndrome of menopause, or GSM.

Most women have probably never heard of it.

And perhaps that tells us something.

“These are incredibly common changes, yet women often don’t know what’s happening or why it’s happening.”

Menopause may have become easier to discuss publicly, but that openness hasn’t necessarily reached some of its most intimate symptoms.

Biolae’s founders put it simply:

“Often the biggest opportunities in women’s health are the problems we’ve normalised women quietly living with.”

What have women learned to tolerate simply because nobody told us we could expect something better?

When you don’t quite feel like yourself

There is another part of perimenopause that is harder to capture in a symptom list.

A woman can be at the peak of her career, raising children, caring for ageing parents, managing relationships and carrying an enormous mental load, while simultaneously experiencing changes to her sleep, cognition, mood, body and sexual health.

So when women say they simply don’t feel like themselves, Biolae’s founders believe we need to listen.

“We think it’s almost impossible to separate the two.”

Perhaps that is why better education matters so much.

When your sleep changes, your concentration feels different and your body behaves in ways you don’t recognise, the question isn’t always simply, What is this symptom?

Sometimes it is:

What is happening to me?

Knowing before you need to

Interestingly, Biolae’s founders haven’t entered perimenopause themselves.

They’re in their 30s.

But building Biolae has taught them things now that so many women tell them they wish they’d known ten or fifteen years earlier.

It has also changed how they think about ageing.

“Learning more about ageing has actually made us less afraid of it.”

Their point isn’t that women should spend their 30s anticipating every possible symptom.

It’s that knowledge can change the experience.

“The best time to learn about perimenopause is before you need the information.”

There is a huge difference between thinking:

What is happening to me?

And:

Something is changing, and I know where to start.

That distinction sits at the heart of what Biolae’s founders say they are trying to build. Not simply products, but better information and a more open conversation about what women’s bodies can experience as they age.

What should the next generation expect?

When I asked Biolae’s founders what they hoped would be different ten years from now, their answer was surprisingly simple.

They hope women aren’t still arriving at perimenopause blindsided.

They hope vaginal dryness isn’t something women whisper about.

They hope women aren’t being asked to accept symptoms affecting their quality of life as simply part of ageing.

And they hope women’s health innovation continues throughout our lives, rather than seemingly stopping after fertility and pregnancy.

Ultimately, they hope the next generation won’t consider conversations like this revolutionary at all.

Women will simply expect to understand their bodies.

They’ll expect evidence-based options.

They’ll expect better.

“That’s the standard we think women should have had all along.”

And now, it’s personal

I started this conversation with Biolae as an editor.

I’m leaving it as a woman with considerably more questions about her own body.

The brain fog is still there. I still don’t know exactly what is causing it, and I’m not going to pretend that I do.

But I am paying attention differently now.

I’m asking questions earlier. I’m learning what perimenopause can actually look like rather than waiting until I am certain I’m experiencing it.

Because there was one thing Biolae’s founders said that I keep returning to:

“Women shouldn’t have to wait until something feels wrong and then work backwards to understand their own bodies.”

And yet that is exactly what so many of us have been doing.

Maybe the real shift isn’t simply talking more openly about menopause.

Maybe it’s making sure women understand what comes before it.

Before they need to.

Learn more about Biolae and what they do here

HTE independently chose to feature Biolae. This is not paid or sponsored content.

This article is for general information only and isn’t medical advice. Symptoms associated with perimenopause can have many causes. If you’re experiencing new, persistent or concerning symptoms, speak with your GP or another qualified healthcare professional.