Seems like they have the possibillity of getting women who use them in trouble if it collects data and tracks them or something
Bodies don’t have a set schedule for things. An AFAB body is supposed to routinely ovulate and have a period, but lots of things can disrupt that and cause things to happen early or not at all or delayed. Tracking becomes important for a lot of medical reasons, but a common situation in which it’s important to track is for conceiving. And yes privacy is a huge risk with using an app to track, and with how the government in the US is currently talking about punishing women for not conceiving or having miscarriages etc
The menstrual cycle is extremely complicated. Somewhere in my storage boxes there’s an entire page of each different hormone that are all dependent on each other via negative/positive feedback loops. It’s crazy complicated and it’s a wonder there’s a schedule at all.
I have a friend whose cycle is consistently 28 days long, and she can predict it down to a few hour window. I think she’s a witch.
That’s seriously impressive. She should participate in menstrual cycle studies as a control lol.
This was me when I was on the pill. I knew exactly what day and what hour it would start.
“Oh shit, Is everyone the literal worst or is my uterus about to violently vomit out it’s lining?” Checks app…. “Ok, but maybe it’s actually both!” 🤨
I have borderline personality and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I was so unmanageable as a teenager (and twice a month since my cycle was coming every two weeks) that my fundie parents put me on birth control at 14 years old.
My periods are super irregular, and tracking is how I try to make sense of it. My last three periods were 2 months ago, 8 months ago and 9 months ago. It’s possible that this irregularity is an indicator of poor health, so my doctor advised me to track stuff and come back if it’s more than 6 months.
Many tracking apps also include the option for tracking how heavy the flow is. The copper coil/IUD often causes heavier flow and more period pains, but for some people, this settles down after a few months. Tracking can be a useful tool in evaluating whether you’re happy with a contraception method (excessive side effects may mean needing to try a different method, like the hormonal coil).
Also, it’s not uncommon for there to be some level of bleeding at times when someone isn’t on their period. Nothing much, just light spotting. I don’t think this is super widespread, but it’s also not super rare either. It can be linked to one’s contraception. Periods are annoying enough as it is, but at least they don’t last long. Irregular spotting may happen when you thought you were safe from bleeding, but some tracking can help spot patterns.
In terms of anticipating patterns and planning around stuff, that’s definitely a thing that people do. Sometimes it’s as trivial as not wearing nice underwear when you’re due to be starting your period. Sometimes it might involve scheduling a date or holiday to avoid overlapping with the period due date. I think perhaps some people who take certain varieties of the contraceptive pill can actually delay their period (I think it’s something like taking week 4 of the medication when you’re on week 3, or something like that). I have a friend whose only contraception method with her partner are condoms (due to health issues around all the long term methods like the coil), and she uses period tracking to ease anxiety around unexpected pregnancy.
Speaking of planning around one’s cycle, I am more likely to make ill-advised horny decisions when I’m ovulating (in a 28 day cycle, ovulation typically happens around 2 weeks after the period starts). I have heard that I’m not the only one who experiences this. It’s not a huge effect, but if I’m pondering whether to get off with someone, it can be useful to know if there are background factors affecting that decision.
In short, there are loads of reasons why someone might benefit from this data. These are far from exhaustive examples. Having things on a separate calendar can be useful if apps make it easier to track things like heaviness of flow. It’s also nice to not have this stuff on your regular calendar (which may be shared with other people).
In addition to what have been said in other comments, it’s useful to track your period for any serious irregularities. Your period can tell a lot about the state of your body, and those can be a sign of illness and such. For example, missed periods are very common in eating disorders; it might be a wake up call in many cases.
I’d add to this that since women and femmes are often not believed in medical settings, it can be helpful to have a log of the irregularities if something is going wrong.
Of course, sometimes you’ll still have that log and go to the doctor and they’ll tell you you’re pregnant despite not having had penetrative sex for 6 months.
Yes women plan around their periods. They don’t “Need” a special calendar, but it’s pretty easy to lose track of when it’s going to happen, and then you forget and plan something important on day 1 of when it’s supposed to happen and end up having a bad time, or not account for the fact that it can be early or late (it’s not perfect for most women)
I’ve tracked my now wife’s periods for about 6 years now because we would fight once a month for years and I eventually started noticing a pattern, lol. Now, at least we know some days in advance so when she starts getting needlessly cranky I check or she asks me to check and it does make it easier to know you/your wife is not crazy for no reason, it’s the hormones!
also helps to plan difficult conversations if it’s something that can wait a few days or that could wait a week but you know you need to do it sooner rather than at the end of the week when she won’t be able to respond as charitably. me and my husband keep track of each other’s hypomanias and depressions for similar reasons.
When I had a period, they were extremely difficult to track so I gave up. I love you, depo shot, and if they take that shot away I’ll go feral. My period is 7 days long with 3 of those days so heavy I can not sleep longer than 1 hour or I bleed over. Now I do not bleed.
I have PMDD and my Mirena gives me no cycle which means no PMDD and it is literally lifesaving. My flow was similar to yours and the physical symptoms definitely sucked (though I think other women have worse physical symptoms than I did) but the emotional symptoms were insane and definitely made me non-functional without an antidepressant.
If I wanted to keep track then I definitely would need a calendar. My period is all over the place. Sometimes is 4 or 5 weeks in between instead of the usual 29 ish days, and sometimes I get two a month. There’s no set schedule for me unfortunately, and it’s more erratic as I get older. On the plus side I’ve never had cramps or the other usual symptoms, just had to make sure I have a tampon or pad with me at all times. So yay I guess.
It’s absolutely a way to collect that data and prosecute women. Look at the permissions of any app before you download it!!
In the US the worry is the fascist right wing and the fascist tech Bros will use the data to prosecute women for having abortions.
Many people with a uterus don’t actually bleed, but still have a cycle. A tracker is helpful to figure out where you are in your cycle when there isn’t a big signal you can rely on every period, by logging and tracking other more subtle cues.
I needed to track when not on bc pills, and then during the disastrous run with the copper IUD. Did not use an app, except Excel, and certainly would not do that now, nor advise my kids to. Get a notebook or make coded marks on a calendar.
Ditch the apps, ladies. Those companies will give your data to the government. And police in the UK are now allowed to unlock a woman’s phone to check their period tracker so they can see if you’ve had an illegal abortion (yes, I know that’s bullshit).
