17 - 20 Jun 2024 | Amsterdam

From blue to red: Communicating women's health without hiding

Speakers:

About this Session:

The number of beings in the animal kingdom with blue blood is surprisingly low. Crustaceans, squid, and octopuses mainly.Oh, and humans apparently. At least they do if you're the brains behind sanitary product adverts, where menstrual blood is routinely displayed as blue.13 years on from Always debuting an advert in the US using red liquid, the communication around women's health remains squeamish. Blue remains the colour of choice (with few exceptions). Numan's UK advertisements reel off euphemisms for penis, 25 in 20 seconds, culminating in a quintuplet of bellowed 'dongs'. And more power to them. But it's damning that showing an accurate female bodily function is considered unthinkable in 2024. What has to change, in both health and society, to break this absurd status quo?