35. Medical Gaslighting & Advocating for Women’s Hormone Health with Nicole Bendayan

The Fueled & Free Podcast

If you follow anyone in the women’s health space, chances are you’ve seen posts about the recent (and very divisive) March 2024 Washington Post article titled ‘Women are getting off birth control amid misinformation explosion’.

Today’s podcast guest, Nicole Bendayan, is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist who was recently featured in this viral article. Nicole shares her side of the story on being interviewed in the controversial Washington Post article, and how she was a pawn in the politically driven article written to perpetuate misinformation, and persuade women to choose hormonal birth control over anything else.

Nicole and I talk about her interview experience with the Washington Post regarding hormonal birth control’s impact on women’s health, and what they actually ended up publishing in the very misleading article. We also discuss Nicole’s personal experience with hormonal birth control, how that propelled her into the women’s hormone health space, the increasing censorship of certain content on social media and how this can impact the way you show up on your platforms, controversy surrounding ‘natural’ family planning and pregnancy prevention tools like cycle syncing versus hormonal birth control, and more.

Episode Recap:

• Nicole’s involvement in the March 2024 Washington Post article about hormonal birth control & women’s health + what her overall experience was like {3:00}
• How to keep moving forward and sharing your message on social media, even after receiving a great deal of backlash {11:03}
• The importance of being an active participant in your healthcare {13:36}
• Nicole’s personal experience with using hormonal birth control + her reaction to learning about the 4 phases of the menstrual cycle {14:45}
• What Nicole was questioned about during her recent interview with the Washington Post + what was actually published {19:21}
• The continued push for censorship of certain content on social media + why this isn’t influencing Nicole and the way she shares content on her SM platforms {23:19}
• The controversy surrounding the usage of tools like cycle syncing for ‘natural’ family planning & pregnancy prevention vs. hormonal contraception {30:15}
• Questionable guidelines stating that IUDs (like the Mirena) don’t actually need to be removed/changed out every 5 years {34:57}
• Nicole’s reaction and feelings to being lumped in as a ‘right wing commentator’ in the March 2024 Washington Post article {36:08}

**Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is NOT meant to be taken as individual or medical advice. Please seek the advice of your physician or healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or treatment.

Complete show notes (including all links and resources I mentioned in this episode): https://margaretpowell.com/podcast/episode35

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