**Women’s Health Content Faces Heavy Censorship on Social Media, Study Finds**
A new investigation into social media censorship has revealed a concerning disparity: health-related posts about women are more than three times as likely to be restricted or hidden than those about men. The findings underscore growing concern among campaigners, health experts, and content creators that the digital public square is not equally accessible for all when it comes to health education.
The experiment behind these revelations was spearheaded by Aly Boghici, an influencer well-known for discussing women’s health and family topics as @allmumstalk on Instagram. She conducted a comparative test by sharing posts about menopause, sexual wellbeing, and menstrual health. The results were striking: her women’s health content was viewed by 66% fewer non-followers and received markedly fewer comments – a 69% drop – compared to her standard posts.
For comparison, her husband Justin, who shares content as @alldadstalk, tackled men’s health topics, including sex and testosterone imbalance. His experience was dramatically different. When posting about sensitive men’s issues, such as testicular pain and prostate health, he recorded only a slight decrease in reach, and, remarkably, saw a 76% increase in comments and a modest uptick in non-follower engagement.
According to the research, the root of this discrepancy appears to lie in outdated social media algorithms. Many platforms automatically flag and demote content featuring certain anatomical or medical terminology—terms like ‘vagina’ or ‘period’—labelling them as inappropriate or explicit content. As a result, educational posts containing these terms are often prevented from reaching a wider audience, even though their aim is to inform rather than offend.
Tagging along with their findings was an independent study commissioned by Essity, the hygiene and health company behind brands like Bodyform and Modibodi. The company is campaigning to prevent the automatic banning of medically accurate language related to women’s health. They argue that present social media policies inadvertently cause harm by reducing the visibility of material critical to public health conversations.
Aly herself documented the challenges in depth. Over just four posts related to menstruation, endometriosis, and sexual health, she saw a 25% drop in overall views. Even when attempting to raise awareness about charitable organisations supporting menstrual health, engagement lagged well behind her typical audience figures. On the more sensitive topics, such as vaginal thrush and abnormal discharge, the dips in views ranged from 14% downwards, suggesting that the nature of the language used was a defining factor in how widely the posts were seen.
Such suppression has worrying real-world implications. Without algorithmic support, Aly worries that both content creators and everyday users may grow reluctant to discuss women’s health issues openly. This is a concern echoed by campaigners who warn that digital censorship risks reinforcing outdated taboos and reduces opportunities to educate and support.
In contrast to Aly’s experience, Justin’s similar approach to men’s health issues yielded more optimistic results. Discussing testicular and prostate concerns, he noticed a 4% increase in views from non-followers and a surge of interest in comments—underscoring that men’s health topics were not subject to similar restrictions. “It was quite eye-opening,” he remarked. “There was a noticeable difference in how posts were treated based on gender. It doesn’t feel fair.”
The broader public shares this unease. A survey of 4,000 adults found that nearly half turn to social media for trustworthy health and wellbeing information. Furthermore, 45% opposed the restriction of posts using proper medical terms, and a similar proportion felt everyone should be free to share health-related content, regardless of gender.
Essity, in partnership with the CensHERship campaign, is calling for urgent reform. “Women and girls must have unrestricted access to information and experience-sharing on key health topics,” said spokesperson Kate, noting that the Bodyform brand often faces censorship when running educational campaigns. “We urge social media companies to update their algorithms and policies—to ensure fairness and to foster a more open conversation about health.”
As awareness of the problem grows, the hope is that social media giants will rise to the challenge, reviewing their moderation systems so that educational content about all aspects of health—regardless of gender—can be visible, accessible, and free from unnecessary censorship.