Is Phenxx Objectifying women with the Hot in Bed Slogan?

Is Phenxx Objectifying women with the Hot in Bed Slogan?

We love this question. We get it from mainly male journalists and it is our favourite question to answer because it allows us to really delve into the philosophy of Phenxx, of the campaign and why we are doing what we are doing. We wanted to share the full answer here in our magazine.


First, some perspective: If we have XX chromosomes, meaning we are biologically female, we will go through perimenopause, then menopause and then we will live in post menopause. Unlike menstruation, menopause is guaranteed. We may or may not choose to menstruate for our menstruation years by applying interventions such as an IUD or the pill to "skip" it. We may or may not birth. We may or may not do so called "feminine" things.


But we will all transition through menopause. No matter what. If you are born XX - you will experience it. Whether that is medically or naturally, it will happen.


Menopause is the one event that binds all women together. We often talk about periods as a universal binding agent, but relatively speaking, women will menstrauate for a short period of time in their lives between on average 12 to on average 51, with 7 continuous years of bleeding on average. Depending on pill use and number of children or medical issues, this may be higher or lower.


But menopause now looks like it will last well beyond what was dubbed a third chapter, now menopause and post menopause, look like half your life.


Menopause and post menopause will last a current boomer aged woman is estimated at around 30 years on average, using the average age of menopause of 51 and the average life span of 81 for women. Gen X, millennials, Gen Z, could all live average lifespans well over 100 years on the current trajectory of longevity. It is very likely that for these generations of women, menopause will last more than half their lives.


And it is a topic that no one is talking about or giving much care and attention to.


Let's put that into perspective. Today, we have an approximate population of 4.2 billion women, or people who were born with XX chromosomes who will transition through menopause. By the year 2050, more than half of all the women alive will be menopausal or post menopausal. 


And people are too scared to talk about it? 


Of course, 4.2 billion people will have 4.2 billion ways to transition to menopause and beyond, but they will do it and it will be an impact on society, on families and most importantly, on the individuals going through it. The world isn't currently set up with proper care and consideration for these women and their needs. To do that, we need to open up the conversation and bring it into the open.


So why is it still a taboo topic?


To say that menopause isn't important for the world, is ignorant.


In the West, the narrative around menopause is often concerned with the physical challenges that arise from a lowering of oestrogen levels and, tragically, the process of becoming “invisible”.


The hot in bed campaign is a way of tackling these two major issues at once in one catchy, memorable phrase. It challenges the dominant culture around what hot in bed means and why that conversation is important.


Firstly, that genuine hot flushes and night sweats caused by this period of time can be completely unbearable. Never had a hot flash and don't know what we mean? Never watched a woman go through a hot flush and try to continue what they were doing or hold a conversation? 


In one menopausal woman's own words, "it is like having the furnace turned up inside of you all of a sudden out of nowhere, it is all consuming and completely overwhelming. You cannot think or concentrate, it just takes over."


That doesn't sound like something we would ignore or dismiss in an XY chromosomal person - ie men. It sounds like something that we would be researching and developing solutions for.


The second major issue we are addressing is this society's narrow concept of beauty, of attractiveness and its extremely narrow definitions of "hotness." 


Phenxx is a company that celebrates the womanhood of each Phenxx woman that is part of our community. Womanhood is an extremely personal expression, and no two are alike, just like no two menopauses are alike. We are snow flakes each and every single one of us.


All generations up until now have remained silent about menopause. The taboo was so strong that most women went into menopause never having ever spoken to their mothers, girlfriends, doctors - anyone - about it.


We are tackling the silence and the taboo of menopause head on. In fact, Phenxx is completely unabashed by the taboo.


We are collecting, publishing and distributing stories of women in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s. We are asking them to talk about their lives before, during and after menopause and how their own sense of self worth, self-identifiy, self-confidence and self-esteem has changed throughout the years. The data suggests that post menopausal women feel more vibrant, self-loving and self-celebrating after 50 than before. 


Why is that?


The stories we are hearing, report feeling less caught up in others' opinions or beliefs of them, and they feel free to find their own pathway independent of expectations, opinion or societal norms. They feel HOT (usually in both sense of the word)! 


This is the time of the crone, the wise woman and the honored elder who has lived it all and survived, grown and developed a truer sense of self because of it. No longer chasing shiny objects, she knows her power, her pleasure, her friends, her flaws, her strengths and her passions. She infuses that into all she does and does so with aplomb.


To objectify a menopausal woman is to call her irrelevant, ignored, forgotten and a has been. To objectify her is to ignore the wisdom of her years and the opportunities she has had to be able to develop her character and wisdom. To objectify her is to dismiss her.


We see her stories and her life as important, worth talking about and worth making a really big fuss about. Because she is every woman who has ever lived and will ever live. Menopause binds us all. It is for each of us to make this transition and for each of us to find our bigger purpose through it.


Phenxx is shining a light on the objectifaction of women in its inherent state, and through the use of the slogan "hot in bed" we are able to arouse images and unquestioned and unchallenged beliefs about the objectification and sexualisation of women at every age, and the glorification and fetishisation of youth. 


The campaign has been launched to redefine our own sense of self-beauty, at every age. We hear constant negation from women around how they aren't hot, like that. One woman says,  "Oh, I'm past all of that. No those days are gone." 


She, like so many of us, has been given a definition of beauty, of hotness. She holds herself against that narrow definition and not against the natural desire to be herself, whatever that is, and love that.


Phenxx is standing up for all women being beautiful. Phenxx is standing up for all women's rights to pleasure, love, lust, sensuality, desire and hotness at any age, at any weight, at any hormonal balance, and at any relationship status. 


Being hot in bed is not comfortable. There are serious implications that arise from inability to sleep during perimenoapuse and menopause, which last on average ten years, but could be as long as fifteen years. That sleep deprivation leads to a higher chance of Alzheimer's disease, chronic heart disease, Type 2 diabetes to name but a few. 


Not being able to sleep well is not a frivilous thing that silly women complain about. It is serious, and it is affecting half the population at some point in their life. 


The campaign that women are hot in bed is a call to arms that women deserve more.

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