We are the Femedic.
The Femedic exists to change the default way we approach, conceive, and take action on women’s health. The current conversation about women’s health does not put women at the centre of their care, treating health as no more than a cause-and-effect relationship between symptom and condition.
We know that health is much more than this.
The Femedic treats heath as a spectrum, impacted by any and everything that is part of a woman’s experience: social factors, culture, politics, lifestyle, and identity. We believe that conversations about health should view a person through the lens of their experience by default, not as an afterthought.
We identify knowledge gaps in the way certain topics are covered and work with experts to provide in-depth answers. We start and contribute to discussions on issues that matter to women. And where topics are overlooked entirely by everyone else, we work hard to bring them to light.
We do all this because being a woman is a key social determinant of experiencing health inequalities.1
Too many women are made to feel like what they are experiencing isn’t real, that they should feel embarrassed for seeking help, or that they shouldn’t speak openly about their experiences.
Women are at the core of everything we do. And we’ll keep starting, and elevating these conversations until gender ceases to be a reason why someone isn't getting the health care and support they need.
The Femedic is not:
- Going to dismiss your questions or concerns through generic or condescending advice
- A place to make you feel guilty for not knowing enough, or not having enough time
- A ‘quick fix’ to broader or ongoing problems
- Provocative for shock value
- A substitute for medical advice from your doctor or another healthcare professional
- Here to prescribe you a ‘one size fits all’ solution: we know that everyone is different
The Femedic will:
- Report truthfully on existing problems
- Answer your questions in the depth and dignity deserved
- Fight for your right to make educated and informed decisions about your health
- Strive to tell a broad and diverse range of stories that reflect the truth of women’s experiences
- Address, discuss, and challenge social and political factors that impact women’s health outcomes
- Avoid and challenge stereotypes about modern female life, like ‘the woman who has it all’
In our images you won't see:
- Stereotypical, tired representations of womanhood
- Women posing unnaturally or being overly stylised in a way that enforces damaging beauty and body image standards — unless it is necessary to depict a particular aspect of culture or politics we’re discussing
- Images that promote one particular body type as ‘better’ than another
- Images of ‘perfection’
We will strive to represent:
- The diversity of women’s bodies
- The diversity of women’s experiences
- True images of women fully existing in the world, for themselves, not for others: eating, using sanitary items, feeling unwell, yawning
- The visual truth of women’s bodies, just as we report on the truth of their experiences
References
1. Vives-Cases, C., et al., Gender and health inequalities: intersections with other relevant axes of oppression, Global Health Action, vol 8, issue 1, 30 November 2015