Consumer Data, (De)Coded.  

Insights into Women's Sexual Wellness and Happiness

Answers key questions, gaining insight into the mind of the female consumer within the sexual wellness and intimate care space. Our analysis utilizes social media conversational data, exploring the topics of feminine hygiene, female sexuality, and more.



Table of Contents:
What are women saying within the Sexual Wellness space?
Intimate Care skews Female - What brands lead those conversations?
What is driving the growth seen in menopause conversations?
What is important to Feminine Hygiene conversations?
What are Reddit users saying about the 'pink tax'?
How are consumers reacting to the current tampon shortage?
Knowing what skews Female, are there topics considered 'genderless'?



What are women saying within the Sexual Wellness space?

Conversations about Sexual Wellness coming from the Female demographic cohort are steadily increasing over time. Women are increasingly contributing to the Sexual Wellness conversation on Instagram.

Female Monthly Post Volume of 'Sexual Wellness' - IG


Of topics skewing Female within Sexual Wellness conversations, wellness, pleasure, and self love/care appear most frequently within Sexual Wellness conversations. Women likely view Sexual Wellness as self care, and as important to their mental health.

Female Skewing Key Descriptors for 'Sexual Wellness' - IG

X-axis: Raw Penetration % How frequently was the topic mentioned in Sexual Wellness conversations - avg. over 3 months?
Y-axis: Penetration Pctl (1-100) Is the topic over or under represented in Sexual Wellness conversations relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness - avg. over 3 months?
Circle Size: Topic Prominence Number of posts/conversations related to the topic in Health / Wellness vertical

 

Topics demonstrating YoY growth within Sexual Wellness conversations that are also significant to Female conversations include symptoms, hormone concerns, and health-related terminologies such as illness types and treatments. Female Sexual Wellness conversations likely focus on overall health and quality of life.

Growing Topics within Female Sexual Wellness Conversations - IG


Our List of Conditions, 1-4, ensures that the topics at hand are:
 
     
  • Increasing within Sexual Wellness conversations
    •  
  • Significant to Sexual Wellness conversations
    •  
  • Present within at least 0.5% of Sexual Wellness conversations
    •  
  • Over-indexed within conversations coming from the Female demographic
    •  


Conversations of a sexual nature originating from women are likely to include notions of romance and intimacy, as well as concerns regarding pregnancy prevention. Women are more likely to comment on their sexual and reproductive health within Instagram conversations than men.

Sexual Conversations: Male vs Female - IG

X-axis: Gender: Male - pctl Is the topic over or under represented in conversations by Gender: Male relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness?
Y-axis: Gender: Female - pctl Is the topic over or under represented in conversations by Gender: Female relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness?
Circle Size: Topic Prominence Number of posts/conversations related to the topic in Health / Wellness vertical

 


Intimate Care skews Female - What brands lead those conversations?

Intimate Care was found to be one of the largest Female skewing topics in our analysis of Sexual Wellness conversations above. Given its importance, it's certainly a topic that demands more analysis. In this section, we take a look at brands within the Intimate Care space to better understand the topic's conversation drivers.

Of top brands within Intimate Care conversations, The Honeypot Company leads the set for growing presence within Twitter Intimate Care conversations, demonstrating an increase of approximately 441.5% for Q2 2022 over Q2 2021. Feminine hygiene brands Always and Tampax have seen an increased presence within the Intimate Care space for this time frame, while competitors Playtex and Kotex have shown decline.

Brands in 'Intimate Care' Conversations - TW

X-axis: Raw Penetration chng Has the topic grown or declined in Intimate Care conversations over the last 12 months (rel chng) - avg. over 3 months?
Shading Color: Activity (ppd) chng Is the topic growing or declining in Personal Care over the last 12 months (rel chng) - avg. over 3 months?

 

Within Reddit conversations, the fastest growing brand for Intimate Care is CVS, followed closely by Plan B. Planned Parenthood has demonstrated similar growth within the Intimate Care space for this timeframe, potentially as a reaction from consumers to the recent overturning of Roe v Wade by the SCOTUS. Most brands demonstrating growth within Intimate Care are also growing within Personal Care conversations overall, as depicted by a green bar color. In contrast, K-Y has declined within Intimate Care conversations but demonstrates the largest growth for Q2 2022 over Q2 2021 for all brands when considering all conversations within the Personal Care vertical.

Brands in 'Intimate Care' Conversations - RD

X-axis: Raw Penetration chng Has the topic grown or declined in Intimate Care conversations over the last 12 months (rel chng) - avg. over 3 months?
Shading Color: Activity (ppd) chng Is the topic growing or declining in Personal Care over the last 12 months (rel chng) - avg. over 3 months?

 


What is driving the growth seen in menopause conversations?

When looking at growing topics within Female Sexual Wellness conversations, it was shown that topics pertaining to menopause have grown YoY. Seeing as menopause may be top of mind for consumers, learning more about their associations with the topic could be insightful.

Within menopause conversations on Instagram, users frequently discuss symptoms and hormones. Weight gain, hot flashes, and sleep deprivation are symptoms frequently discussed in menopause conversations. Various diets, as well as references to gut health and the gut-brain axis, appear significantly within menopause conversations. Terms relating to mental health status also appear at significant rates. Users likely discuss a deterioration in mental health resulting from menopause and may look to the effects of a healthy gut microbiome to improve mental health status. Users may also mention diets in relation to the weight gain side effect discussed alongside menopause.

Key Topics in 'menopause' Conversations - IG

X-axis: Raw Penetration % How frequently was the topic mentioned in menopause conversations - avg. over 3 months?
Y-axis: Penetration Pctl (1-100) Is the topic over or under represented in menopause conversations relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness - avg. over 3 months?
Circle Size: Topic Prominence Number of posts/conversations related to the topic in Health / Wellness vertical

 

Within the menopause space, users are increasingly speaking about health, both physical and mental, as well as feelings of empowerment and community.

Growing Topics within 'menopause' Conversations - IG


Our List of Conditions, 1-4, ensures that the topics at hand are:
 
     
  • Increasing within menopause conversations
    •  
  • Significant to menopause conversations
    •  
  • Present within at least 1% of menopause conversations
    •  
  • Not terms that roll up into menopause (i.e. are terms performing independently of the performance of menopause)
    •  
 



What is important to Feminine Hygiene conversations?

Through our investigation, we came across a number of Feminine Hygiene brands that featured heavily in Intimate Care conversations, such as Always and Tampax. When we look holistically at conversations regarding Feminine Hygiene, outside of specific references to menstruation and periods, we see a focus on price-related topics.

Within Feminine Hygiene conversations on Reddit, there is significant interest in pink tax and tampon tax, with a higher penetration percentile than many other topics in these conversations. Pink tax may refer to women's health products being more expensive than comparables for men, though it is possible some may confuse it for tampon tax, which is a sales tax applied to feminine hygiene products.

Key Topics in 'Feminine Hygiene' Conversations - RD

X-axis: Penetration Pctl (1-100) Is the topic over or under represented in Feminine Hygiene conversations relative to similarly categorized objects in Personal Care - avg. over 3 months?

 


What are Reddit users saying about the 'pink tax'?

Within 'pink tax' conversations on Reddit, there are topics pertaining to negative sentiment around pricing, Access & Affordability, healthcare, and feminism. It seems that consumers may feel a 'pink tax' regarding women's health products is an issue and is perhaps preventing some from accessing necessary products.

Key Topics in 'pink tax' Conversations - RD

X-axis: Raw Penetration % How frequently was the topic mentioned in pink tax conversations - avg. over 3 months?
Y-axis: Penetration Pctl (1-100) Is the topic over or under represented in pink tax conversations relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness - avg. over 3 months?
Circle Size: Topic Prominence Number of posts/conversations related to the topic in Health / Wellness vertical

 


How are consumers reacting to the current tampon shortage?

Considering other factors that may impact the price of Feminine Hygiene products, the recent tampon shortage must be mentioned.

Users on Reddit and Twitter appear to be feeling the effects of the current Tampon shortage. Tampons conversations that mention shortage have seen a dramatic increase from May to June 2022.

'shortage' Share of 'Tampons' Conversations - RD, TW

Raw Penetration % How frequently was shortage mentioned in Tampons conversations?

 

June Personal Care conversations on Twitter surrounding Feminine Hygiene have seen an increase in mentions of shortage, inflation, and terminology connoting negative sentiment towards pricing. Users may be voicing their frustration with the current shortage, citing their inability to source affordable tampon products. Users may also be feeling inflationary pressures within the Feminine Hygiene space, contributing to negative sentiment surrounding product purchases.

Key Shortage Topics for 'Feminine Hygiene' Conversations - TW

X-axis: Raw Penetration chng Has the topic grown or declined in Feminine Hygiene conversations over the last 1 month (rel chng)?
Y-axis: Raw Penetration % How frequently was the topic mentioned in Feminine Hygiene conversations?
Circle Color: Activity (ppd) chng Is the topic growing or declining in Personal Care over the last 1 month (rel chng)?
Circle Size: Topic Prominence Number of posts/conversations related to the topic in Personal Care vertical

 

Within Instagram Tampons conversations, users are increasingly speaking about the price of Tampons. Price maintained steady visibility within Tampons conversations until June of this year, where the rate of Tampons conversations mentioning price increased by nearly 3x.

Visibility of 'price' Within 'Tampons' Conversations - IG

Raw Penetration % How frequently was the topic mentioned in Tampons conversations?

 


Knowing what skews Female, are there topics considered 'genderless'?

While we now know what skews towards women in various health and wellness conversations, there may be topics important to women that have not yet been mentioned as they are also of importance to men. In order to find products and brands that could be considered genderless or gender neutral, topics within the normative (gray) region for both Male and Female will be considered genderless, since they do not skew towards either gender. All topics below are over-indexed within Sexual Wellness conversations on Reddit.

Products that are within the normative range for both genders include Condoms, Tissues, Massager, and Lubricants. These products can be considered genderless as opposed to Sex Toys and Cryotherapy which skew Male or Birth Control and menstruation relief which skew Female.

Sexual Wellness Products: Male vs Female - RD

X-axis: Gender: Male - pctl Is the topic over or under represented in conversations by Gender: Male relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness?
Y-axis: Gender: Female - pctl Is the topic over or under represented in conversations by Gender: Female relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness?
Circle Color: Object type Unique color for each object type
Circle Size: Topic Prominence Number of posts/conversations related to the topic in Health / Wellness vertical

 

As for brands, two topics that appear to be genderless are Lasik and Icy Hot, which, while in conversations mentioning Sexual Wellness, may or may not directly relate. Durex is in the normative region for both as well, which aligns with Condoms being a genderless product.

Sexual Wellness Brands: Male vs Female - RD

X-axis: Gender: Male - pctl Is the topic over or under represented in conversations by Gender: Male relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness?
Y-axis: Gender: Female - pctl Is the topic over or under represented in conversations by Gender: Female relative to similarly categorized objects in Health / Wellness?
Circle Color: Object type Unique color for each object type
Circle Size: Topic Prominence Number of posts/conversations related to the topic in Health / Wellness vertical

 


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