Jazmine Duke is the founder of thefemalecondition.com, a web publication based out of New York that covers issues like women’s health, feminism and sexuality. Not surprisingly, she is very open about topics that some people consider taboo.
If you visit the homepage of thefemalecondition.com—lovingly referred to as #FemCon—you will see a variety of headlines ranging from feminist opinion pieces like “One Feminist to Another, Please Keep Having Kids” to brutally practical relationship advice such as “I Put My Husband on a Sex Schedule.” The authenticity and brazenness of these articles are a clear reflection of the websites’ founder Jazmine Duke’s passionate, confident personality.
“Lately I’ve been getting feedback from family, friends anTHIS IS A CHANGEd even people I don’t know very well at all that I talk about vaginas too much and it makes people uncomfortable. The fact that talking about women’s health as it relates to the vagina is considered shocking or inappropriate is nuts to me—half the population has one! Why is talking about it such a no-no?”
Jazmine’s personal experience with feminine health problems inspired her to start #FemCon: “I’ve suffered from yeast infections for as long as I can remember— quietly, I might add. Not talking about them hasn’t done me one bit of good.” Jazmine struggled to find a solution to her problem, and traditional sources of information just weren’t cutting it. “I asked three doctors and not one of them had a single suggestion for me other than, ‘getting a yeast infection at the time of your period is completely normal and you shouldn’t be alarmed.’ For the record, I wasn’t alarmed. I was uncomfortable,” she says.
Instead of giving up, Jazmine took to the internet and created a community to address the lack of information—all while working as a full-time product manager for a large tech company. She now spends her free time speaking and writing about issues that are often ignored by traditional media companies and hopes that by providing an “intoxicatingly honest and unapologetic look at the female experience” women will be inspired to speak confidently about their bodies, sexuality and, yes even their vaginas.
HAPPY ENDING
Jazmine finally found a solution to her yeast infections: FLEX [Disc], a new product that replaces tampons. “Not only does FLEX help with my yeast infections, I can also wear FLEX in anticipation of my period. That way it doesn’t catch me at an inconvenient time.”
FOR MORE, FOLLOW: @JAZMINEDUKE AND @THEFEMALECONDITION ON INSTAGRAM
