The Golden Age of the Female Cycle

There are moments in history that are difficult to recognise while we're living through them.

Only years later do we look back and realise we were witnessing the beginning of something extraordinary.

Lately, I've been wondering whether that's exactly what's happening with the female cycle.

I think it's easy to focus on everything that still needs to change when it comes to women's health. In many ways, I think that's where the conversation naturally goes. There are still conditions that take years to diagnose, symptoms that are dismissed and research gaps that deserve far more attention.

Those conversations matter, and they should continue.

But recently, I've found myself thinking about something different.

I've found myself wondering whether we're one of the first generations of women to experience something truly remarkable.

Maybe we're living through the golden age of the female cycle.

Not because we've solved everything.

Far from it.

But because, perhaps for the first time in history, women have access to an extraordinary amount of knowledge about their own bodies. More importantly, we're beginning to talk about it. Women are sharing experiences that previous generations often kept to themselves. Research is growing. Books are filling shelves. Podcasts, creators and communities are opening conversations that many of us never heard growing up.

I still remember the moment that idea became real for me.

When I was eighteen, I came off the pill after being on it for several years to manage my endometriosis. Over those two years I'd tried six different pills, hoping one would feel right. For so many women, the pill is life-changing and can be an incredible option. Unfortunately, that wasn't my experience.

By the time I stopped taking it, I honestly felt like I'd lost myself.

The best way I can describe it is that I felt like I was living in a constant out-of-body experience. I didn't really know who I was anymore, and I wanted to find my way back to my body.

Around that time, I picked up Period Power by Maisie Hill.

I expected to learn a little more about hormones.

Instead, I discovered something that completely changed the way I understood myself.

For the first time in my life, I learnt that I didn't just have a period.

I had a cycle.

I'd already been menstruating for five years, yet nobody had ever explained that my hormones naturally moved through different phases each month. Nobody had ever told me why some weeks I felt different to others, why my energy fluctuated or that there might actually be patterns worth paying attention to.

Looking back now, that's astonishing to me.

Not because the information didn't exist.

But because nobody had ever given it to me.

I grew up surrounded by women. I have a mum, two sisters, countless close female friends and I spent my school years at an all-girls school. Yet somehow, none of us were really having these conversations. It wasn't because nobody cared. I think it's because so many women were never taught them either.

When I was growing up, the conversation around periods was incredibly simple.

We were taught that girls get a period once a month.

We learnt how to use a pad or a tampon.

And, for the most part, that was where the education stopped.

Even that feels strange to me now.

How did we spend years learning about reproduction, yet almost nothing about the cycle itself?

I still remember finishing Period Power and reading about an app called Natural Cycles. The idea that you could work out where you were in your cycle simply by taking your temperature each morning genuinely felt like magic to me.

The yearly subscription was $150.

As an eighteen-year-old university student working as a learn-to-swim teacher, that felt like an enormous amount of money. I didn't fully understand what I was paying for, and I had no guarantee it would actually be worthwhile.

But I couldn't stop thinking about it.

The idea that my body was quietly giving me clues every single day fascinated me.

So I bought it.

I still use it today.

That's not to say every woman needs a subscription or a temperature thermometer to understand her cycle. There are countless ways to become more aware of your body.

I just think it's amazing that we can.

Sometimes I wonder if we've become so focused on debating different approaches to cycle health that we've forgotten to stop and appreciate just how incredible this moment really is.

We have books.

Research.

Podcasts.

Communities.

Healthcare professionals.

Creators.

Women openly sharing experiences that once felt isolating.

Twenty years ago, this kind of information wasn't sitting in the hands of the average woman. Today, there is more than most of us could ever consume.

And I think that's something worth celebrating.

Of course, every era comes with its own challenges.

The more information that becomes available, the easier it becomes for information to turn into instruction.

Suddenly we're told exactly what to eat during each phase, how we should exercise, when we should schedule meetings, how productive we're supposed to feel and what the "perfect" cycle looks like.

Sometimes it can feel like if all of this information exists, we're somehow supposed to follow all of it.

But I don't think that's the answer.

Interestingly, I don't even think most of this advice comes from a bad place.

I think it comes from excitement.

I know it certainly did for me.

When I first discovered all of this, I wanted to tell every woman I knew. I wanted everyone to experience that same feeling of awe that I'd experienced because I couldn't believe nobody had told us sooner.

That's a beautiful instinct.

The only problem is that enthusiasm can sometimes become prescription.

The beauty of living in this moment isn't that we've finally been handed another rulebook.

It's that we finally have something to choose from.

We don't have to apply every piece of advice we hear.

We're allowed to consume widely and choose thoughtfully.

We're allowed to take what resonates.

Leave what doesn't.

Come back to ideas later.

Change our minds.

Experiment.

Most importantly, we're allowed to trust ourselves.

That's probably the biggest lesson this space has taught me.

When I first discovered cycle education, I wanted to absorb everything.

Now, I still love learning everything I can, but I've realised I don't need to apply everything I learn.

I can stay curious without feeling obligated.

I can take what serves me and quietly leave the rest behind.

In many ways, that's become the philosophy behind Phase & Flow too.

I don't think I know what will work for another woman's body.

But I do think I'm pretty good at encouraging her to go and find out.

When I think about the future, I can't help but feel excited.

I hope little girls grow up knowing they have a cycle long before they turn eighteen.

I hope they don't just learn that they bleed once a month.

I hope they learn about every phase.

I hope they understand that there can absolutely be difficult parts of having a cycle, but there can also be wonder in it.

I hope they're taught that understanding their body isn't another task to complete.

It's a lifelong relationship worth building.

Sometimes I imagine having a daughter one day.

I hope she never experiences the shock that I did when I learnt about the female cycle as an adult.

I hope she finds that story almost impossible to believe.

I hope understanding her body feels as ordinary as learning to brush her teeth or eat her vegetables.

Because if girls in 2050 look back and think, "How could women have reached adulthood without knowing this?", I think we'll know we've done something right.

Maybe this isn't the golden age just yet.

Maybe it's only the beginning.

And if that's true, I can't wait to see what the next generation of women inherits.

Because I genuinely believe there are few things more empowering than a woman who understands her own body.

Nothing else on earth can be as connected to its own body and its own inner workings as an educated woman can. What a privilege that is.

Not because someone told her exactly what to do.

But because she was given the knowledge, the confidence and the freedom to discover what works for her.

To me, that's what this golden age is really about.

This month, I invite you to pause for a moment and look back.

Think about everything you know about your body today that you didn't know a year ago, five years ago or when you first got your period.

Maybe it's recognising your different phases.

Maybe it's understanding a symptom that once confused you.

Maybe it's finally feeling like you're beginning to understand yourself.

Then think about everything you're able to do for your body now that you couldn't before.

The conversations you've had.

The questions you've started asking.

The confidence you've gained.

We often spend so much time focusing on how far we still have to go that we forget to appreciate just how far we've already come.

Perhaps that's one of the greatest privileges of living through this moment.

Here's to the golden age of the female cycle.

Love,
Ava