Fear to Freedom: Confronting Hormonophobia in Women’s Health
Blog by Menopause Specialist, Dr Itunu Johnson-Sogbetun
I nearly lost my future to period pain.
As a teenager, I spent days each month curled in agony, missing school, missing life. I thought it was normal. I thought I had to be strong, like the women before me. No one told me otherwise.
By medical school, that pain was threatening to derail everything I’d worked for. I was exhausted, ashamed and falling behind. Not because I didn’t care, but because I was in pain no one had taken seriously.
Then came the turning point. I’d been called in for poor attendance, bracing for judgement. Instead, I met compassion. My tutor asked the right questions. She listened, and challenged the beliefs I’d absorbed: that hormones were dangerous, unnatural, and would ruin my chances of having children.
That conversation didn’t just relieve my pain. It changed the trajectory of my life. But I still wonder: what if she hadn’t spoken up? How many women never get that moment?
What is Hormonophobia?
Hormonophobia is the deep-rooted fear of hormone-based treatments. It influences decisions about contraception, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and medicines used for conditions like endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), fibroids and menopause.
It is not about ignorance. It is fear, real fear, shaped by real harm and passed down through generations:
“The pill will ruin your womb.”
“HRT causes cancer.”
“It’s better to suffer than take something unnatural.”
That fear is reinforced when pain is dismissed, side-effects are minimised, or care feels like a threat, not support.
Why does it persist?
If hormonophobia is so damaging, why does it still have such a hold? Because it is systemic and the systems that sustain it are still in place:
Underinvestment in women’s health: Conditions like PMDD, endometriosis and menopause have been under-researched and under-funded.
Gender bias in medical education and practice: Women’s pain is under-assessed. Hormonal health is still poorly taught. Decisions are often made for women, not with them.
Fragmented, inaccessible care: Specialist services are hard to reach. GPs face time pressures and inconsistent training.
Stalled innovation: New treatments are slow to arrive, often designed without women’s lived experience at the centre.
Misinformation: Myths spread faster than science online, fuelled by sensationalism over nuance.
Cultural and religious narratives: In many communities, hormones are feared as unnatural or immoral, and silence is mistaken for strength.
Historical and ongoing harm: From unethical trials to coercive contraception, the history of medical harm to women, especially Black, brown, and disabled women, still echoes today.
The Human Cost
This fear comes at a high price:
Teenagers avoiding contraception because they fear it will “damage” them.
Women with endometriosis left undiagnosed for years, their options never explained.
People with PMDD living through monthly crises while being told to “try to live with it”.
Menopausal women leaving work and relationships because HRT still feels too risky to trust.
Not everyone needs or wants hormones. But everyone deserves the right to choose, free from shame, fear, or misinformation.
What Needs to Change
Hormonophobia cannot be dismantled by fact sheets alone. It requires layered, human-centred, system-wide action:
Meet women where they are: Information must be accessible and culturally aware; in salons, community spaces, faith groups, and online platforms, not just clinics.
Equip clinicians for better conversations: Training in trauma-informed and culturally competent care is essential, not optional.
Offer real choice, not ultimatums: Women need the full range of hormonal and non-hormonal options explained, without pressure.
Build research that reflects reality: Trials must include women of all ages, ethnicities, and health backgrounds, with outcomes that matter, like pain, fatigue, brain fog and libido.
Create brave spaces for dialogue: Community groups, schools, and peer-led forums are where honest, healing conversations begin.
A Collective Responsibility
Hormonophibia is not only a health issue but a societal one. Tackling it requires shared accountability:
Clinicians: Listen first, prescribe second. Share risks and benefits transparently. Respect autonomy - informed refusal is valid.
Medical educators & regulators: Embed women’s health in training. Teach history as well as protocols.
Researchers & funders: Prioritise inclusive studies. Stop excluding older women, women of colour, and those with co-morbidities.
Pharmaceutical industry: Develop safer, more varied options. Partner with communities to restore trust.
Government: Embed women’s health in legislation, not just strategy. Fund integrated, culturally safe services. Protect against health misinformation.
Policy makers & commissioners: Invest in continuity of care, community-based services, and health education in schools.
Media & platforms: Choose truth over traction. Work with clinicians and communities to dismantle myths.
Employers: Treat hormonal health as a workplace issue; offer flexibility, support access to care.
Patients & advocates: Speak up, ask questions, share stories. Every voice makes space for another.
From Fear to Freedom
Hormonophobia is led by fear, fear rooted in harm, erasure, and betrayal. Fear of hearing “hormones” and flinching, not from apathy, but from caring deeply about your body and your future.
This fear is informed. But it is not the end. Fear, when met with honesty, compassion, and real choice, can become a beginning.
Freedom does not come from being told what to do. It comes from being seen, heard, and respected.
Confronting hormonophobia is not about pushing hormones on women. It is about building a world where no woman is left untreated because her fear spoke louder than her clinician.
Let us build that world; with knowledge, choice, and care that puts women first'.
Into Year Two: Time for Women's Health to Take Centre Stage
Blog by our Chair, Gill Furniss MP
As we move into the second year of this Parliament, it’s time to ask: what has really been delivered for women’s health? The Government’s recently published 10-Year Health Plan for England outlines a wide-reaching vision for healthcare transformation. Yet, glaringly, it contains no specific commitments on women’s health.
This omission is deeply disappointing. Women make up 51% of the population. To build a health system that works for everyone, it must be designed around the distinct needs of women. It is welcome, therefore, that the Government has reiterated its commitment to the Women’s Health Strategy, now in its third year. But warm words must now translate into action.
Since the Strategy’s launch in 2022, we have seen some meaningful progress. The national conversation on menopause has shifted. Women’s Health Hubs are being piloted. Campaigns have helped reduce stigma around menstrual health. Yet our most recent report, The Power of Informed Choice, shows how much further there is to go.
Too many women are still not listened to. They are denied clear, accessible information about their health, and too often must navigate fragmented services to get the care they need. Informed choice remains the exception, not the rule.
That’s why the APPG on Women’s Health is calling for a bold new chapter of delivery, one that fully integrates women’s health into mainstream NHS planning. Our latest inquiry identified five priority areas for Government action:
1. Education and Training
Mandatory training on endometriosis, PCOS, menopause, and gynaecological health must be embedded in both medical school curricula and ongoing professional development. This will support earlier diagnoses, better care, and ultimately, more informed patients.
2. Accessible Health Information
All women should be given information in formats they can understand, in the languages they speak, and in ways that reflect their lived experiences. Too many still turn to the internet in desperation. That is not choice, it’s a symptom of systemic failure.
3. Women’s Health Hubs
Every Integrated Care System (ICS) should have a fully funded and functioning Women’s Health Hub. These hubs offer the kind of joined-up, accessible care that women need throughout their lives, from menstrual health to menopause.
4. Early Intervention
From pharmacies to GPs, we must equip primary care to spot issues early and manage them effectively. Prevention must replace crisis management.
5. Empowering Pharmacies
Pharmacies are uniquely placed to support women with menopause symptoms and other health needs, yet they are underutilised. With specialist training, they can play a transformative role in accessible, local care.
The Women’s Health Strategy has laid the foundation. Now, in this second year of Government, we need to build, urgently, and with ambition. The vision for healthcare reform rightly focuses on shifting care from hospital to community, from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital. Women’s health must be central to all three.
We cannot wait another year for women’s needs to be taken seriously. This is the moment to deliver the promises of the Strategy and enshrine women’s health equity as a core test of any healthcare system that claims to be modern, fair and fit for the future.
APPG on Women’s Health Response to the Women’s Health Strategy
The APPG on Women’s Health is pleased to publish the following statement in response to the publication of the Department of Health and Social Care’s Women’s Health Strategy.
The APPG on Women’s Health welcomes the Government’s focus on women’s health and the launch of this Women’s Health Strategy.
In recent years, the APPG has heard first-hand from those experiencing conditions that affect only women, or have a disproportionate impact on women, and believes women’s health needs to be made a higher priority by the Government and the NHS.
The APPG welcomes the commitment set out in the Strategy to place women’s voices at the centre of the strategy’s implementation. Too often, women’s voices are not heard in the health system, reflecting a deprioritisation of women’s health concerns.
A main focus of the APPG is the introduction of women’s health hubs which we look forward to working with the Government to implement.
The APPG is pleased to see a focus on maternity care, endometriosis and menopause. The APPG welcomes the Strategy’s commitment to improving women’s health services across the life course.
The APPG looks forward to working with the Government, stakeholders, clinical societies and patient groups to see the implementation of the recommendations outlined in the report.