Tania Boler, founder of the femtech startup Elvie, knows what the pelvic floor has to do with feminism. Her passion project: making pelvic floor training sexy and suitable for everyday use.
Tania Boler is a mother of two. She earned her PhD in sexual health and was Global Director of Research and Innovation at a women’s health NGO before founding the femtech startup “Elvie” in 2013. Her passion is to break taboos surrounding women’s health. She talks to us in an interview about what pelvic floor training has to do with feminism.
BRIGITTE: You used to educate people about women’s health and HIV in Africa. What women’s issues do we still need to raise awareness about in Europe?
Tania Boler: I have always worked to give women the knowledge they need to take control of their bodies. In Europe we also have the problem that we don’t learn crucial things that have to do with women’s health in school. Sexuality and puberty are on the curriculum, but no one learns anything about the pelvic floor. However, girls aged eleven or twelve should learn about the pelvic floor as an important part of the body that they need to take care of. That would prevent many problems.
Why is it so important to know your pelvic floor?
There is a misconception that only women who have had babies develop pelvic floor problems and deal with incontinence. Of course, this is the moment when there is the most awareness of this. However, many more women are affected for different reasons. Women who do a lot of sport, for example. Strength training like CrossFit puts a lot of strain on the pelvic floor, as does tennis, horse riding or jogging. Surprisingly, the pelvic floor is often the cause of lower back pain. Very few people know that.
What prompted you to quit your job as a manager at an NGO to become self-employed and develop a pelvic floor trainer?
For me, the aha moment was when I was in a Pilates class in France after the birth of my first child and the instructor told me that the most important thing was to take care of my pelvic floor. It was the first time since birth that it was about me and not the baby. There is a better awareness of this in France, where not all attention is focused solely on the child. I read up on the subject of the pelvic floor, which I had never dealt with before. I became very angry when I saw the statistics because I realized that prevention would make a difference, but women lacked the knowledge and appropriate technologies. My thought was: “I’m a wife and mother, I’m short on time and I need something everyday to train my pelvic floor. Something fun and preferably with a cool design.”
Men thought it was a sex toy
Was it difficult to convince investors of a product that has to do with female privacy?
We were a laugh. Many men thought we were presenting a sex toy. It was very difficult to talk about something about which there was so little knowledge. The pelvic floor is a taboo topic because it has to do with the vagina. Most investors wanted nothing to do with it. The key was to leave out the emotions surrounding the taboo and focus solely on the numbers. The fact that every second woman in Germany has pelvic floor problems speaks for itself. Still, we needed thick skin.
What was a situation in which you needed such thick skin as a founder?
An investor actually once ordered his secretary in and asked her directly: “Do you know problems like this?” That was really inappropriate. In another meeting, eight men sat and we passed around the prototype of the pelvic floor trainer. Suddenly I realized, along with everyone else present, that one of the investors had no idea how to use the product – that is, how to insert it into the vagina. He held it to his stomach. At that moment I realized that I need to be more direct. I had to say the word vagina to make a difference. Before, I had always avoided this.
Women should free themselves from their shame
Male investors are one thing, but how difficult is it to get women interested in the topic?
There is a difference between generations. It’s easier to talk about the topic with young women and new parents. Women in their 40s and 50s are much harder to reach. It gets easier again from the age of 70. Unfortunately, pelvic floor problems are very common at this age. We get a lot of enthusiastic feedback from women of retirement age. They thought they had to come to terms with their weak pelvic floor because they had known it that way all their lives. The exercises with the pelvic floor trainer have changed a lot for the better. This makes you feel freer and allows you to go shopping without having to use toilets along the way. The pelvic floor is a muscle plate. If you don’t train her, she will become weak. But if you keep it strong, you will regain control and feel better. The young women, in turn, appreciate the pelvic floor trainer to improve their sex life and their orgasms. We want to encourage open and honest conversations for all of these women that empower them to talk about their own health. In this way, we hopefully break these unnecessary taboos and women can free themselves from their shame.
A feminist wave with courageous founders
That sounds like a bit of emancipation. There is a lot of talk about the potential of femtech, and women’s medicine is booming. Is this solely thanks to courageous women or why is it?
I think we are in the middle of a feminist wave. There was a big wave in the 1960s when the birth control pill was introduced. In the last five or six years we have experienced a new wave, fueled, among other things, by the MeToo movement and social media. Communication has changed. Young women are now talking openly about their periods, saying “Look, I’m a woman, I bleed!” – and it’s totally normal. Smartphones now give us access to data about our bodies. This is a very positive movement that creates a good environment for the development of FemTech. When I founded Elvie, the word femtech didn’t even exist. Now there are hundreds of brave female founders in this space. Femtech is an expression of major feminist changes.
What is your most important insight as a founder? What advice do you have for other female pioneers?
The main thing is not to take anything too personally. Criticism of something you’re so passionate about and have worked so hard for can be hard, but sometimes it’s exactly what you need to hear to move forward. I believed that women would love the product and it would make a real difference. That’s what I focused on. As a female entrepreneur, it’s never easy to assert yourself in a male-dominated world, and it can be intimidating to jump into something when you don’t have many female role models. But there is a growing network of exceptional, like-minded women entrepreneurs ready to support each other.
Editor’s note: The “Elvie” pelvic floor trainer is approved as a medical aid. If you suffer from an indication such as bladder weakness or stress incontinence, you can have your gynecologist prescribe the pelvic floor trainer.