Editorial policy

A person's health is impacted by all the factors that make up their experience of the world: emotional, political, social, cultural, as well as physical and lifestyle. To reliably meet this full spectrum of health needs, The Femedic uses different types of content that require different levels of expertise and investigation.

We have two content streams:

Medical
Editorial

Whether a piece is Medical or Editorial will be marked clearly at the top of each piece, below the featured image and above the body text.

The Femedic also features sponsored content, which will be clearly marked as 'Sponsored' at the top of the piece.

Skip to: Medical content | Editorial content | Sponsored content

Medical

The Medical stream is written by qualified medical professionals and responds to questions that are clinical in nature. This means that they are addressing the medical, scientific aspects of health, that often pertain to physical and mental health. They are questions that require a doctor’s expertise to answer.

This type of content includes, but is not limited to, questions, guidance, and information relating to:

General information about medical conditions: thrush, incontinence, menopause, endometriosis, etc.
Symptoms of medical conditions
Causes of medical conditions
Treatment options for medical conditions, including advice for prevention
Risk factors and comment on the latest research regarding medical conditions

All of our medical content is reviewed and updated every two years. You can see when a piece was last updated, and when it is next due for review, at the bottom of each piece.

Each of our medical pieces references clinical guidance and scientific research to substantiate claims or to reference any developments relevant to that piece.

These pieces are not an alternative to advice or information from a health professional, including visiting your own GP, or a clinic or hospital. They offer education, supportive advice, and information on women’s health and health-related issues aimed at women within the general public, that seeks to complement qualified and professional advice or information.

Learn more about our doctors

Editorial

The Editorial stream covers all aspects of health that are non-clinical in nature, including social and political factors, identity, culture, discrimination, gender, lifestyle and wellness, and sharing particular people's experiences. This content is usually issue and experience-lead, and does not require clinical knowledge or expertise to investigate. It is written by The Femedic’s staff journalists, activists, and women with particular experiences. The Femedic commissions freelance journalists to write editorial pieces that explore issues and stories that add value to the discussion on women’s health.

This type of content includes:

First-person essays or narratives, describing an experience
Feature pieces and investigations into issues, including socio-political developments
Opinion pieces, responding to popular culture, or socio-political developments
Educational pieces breaking down concepts and issues relevant to women’s health, including gender, reproductive justice, racism, ableism, and more
Feature pieces that investigate lifestyle and wellness factors of conditions we cover
News on relevant developments in health and science

There are certain clinical aspects of health that may naturally overlap into some of these discussions, for example, a discussion about lifestyle may have specific considerations for people living with a particular condition or experiencing a certain symptom. Some conditions and topics have an intrinsic and inseparable overlap between ‘medical’ and ‘non-medical’ factors, for example, sexual health is significantly emotional and is directly linked to socio-political issues, including reproductive justice.

It is our policy to include comment from a qualified medical professional where a piece includes discussion of a medical topic, question, or concern. Each professional's credentials will be listed in the piece.

Any additional information included that relates to medical conditions will either be accepted general knowledge (i.e. period pain can be distressing) or be reporting on established and public scientific research. All sources will be listed as a bibliography at the bottom of the piece.

Can I have a link in your piece?

In Medical and Editorial content, The Femedic may include non-promotional links to third-party sites where we deem this link to be genuinely useful for the reader. This includes:

Links to sources and references to learn more
Links to charities, NGOs, and other activism — including links to research surveys and relevant campaigns
Links to groups, organisations, and events that may be valuable and of genuine use to the reader, i.e. a support group for a given condition

Including a link is at The Femedic's discretion and we reserve the right to remove any links that have previously appeared in an article.

Promotional links fall beneath the remit of sponsored content.