Written by Cass Redding, founder of Intimate Wellbeing, a sexual wellness company for midlife women.
“I thought I was broken.”
“I thought it was just me.”
“Nobody told me about this.”
These are the emails, comments and conversations that land in my inbox every day. If you’d told me five years ago I’d spend my days talking to women about their vaginas, I would’ve sworn you had the wrong woman.
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No one explained to these women—myself among them of them—the sexual health changes that would come with menopause. No one told us that sex would start to hurt, that our bladders would do weird things, that it would strain our relationships (because who wants painful sex?) or that it would affect our confidence and make us feel invisible. Not talking about it has left so many of us unprepared. That feels deeply unfair.
In 2022, we launched a sexual wellness store for midlife women, half joking that we’d get rich selling sex toys online and drink margaritas on the beach. Instead, it became a crash course in one of B.C.’s most overlooked consumer groups: women in midlife. Women didn’t just want products. They wanted answers. They wanted language for what was happening to their bodies and a place where they didn’t feel ridiculous for asking.
We quickly realized midlife women wanted more than pleasure. There was a lack of information and honestly, way more misinformation. Women wanted to know why everything had changed and what they could do to feel better before they could even imagine enjoying sex again. Sometimes they couldn’t even get the right answers from their doctors.
Listening to all the women in our community has taught me more than any market report. Every day, women email asking why it hurts to sit, wear jeans or have sex. They ask why they’re suddenly getting urinary tract infections, whether they’ll ever enjoy intimacy again, and if what they’re experiencing is normal. Many are truly suffering, because no one has told them there were solutions. It takes real bravery to email or message me, a complete stranger, and ask the most intimate questions you’re too scared to ask your doctor. It also makes it painfully clear how much women have been ignored.
As the questions poured in, we started reaching out to experts across Canada. In Vancouver, that meant people like Dr. Lori Brotto, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Women’s Sexual Health; Dr. Melanie Altas, Director of the BC Centre for Vulvar Health; along with dozens of other clinicians and educators. Together, they helped us present free seminars to our community and answer the questions we couldn’t answer alone.
Even with that support, I had to confront how little I knew myself. Like many women, I believed hormone replacement therapy was dangerous. Once I started reading the evidence and speaking with experts, I decided it was right for me. Getting a prescription wasn’t straightforward. I questioned my doctor, was dismissed, and eventually had to find another physician. If it was this hard for me while running a business in this space, imagine the woman who doesn’t even know or have the words to describe what is wrong.
I hear from women recovering from breast cancer. From women whose partners desperately want to help but don’t know how. From women who have never heard of vaginal moisturizers or pelvic floor physiotherapy. And from women who think painful sex is simply something they have to accept. These aren’t rare stories. They are everyday ones. Meanwhile, many businesses still assume women over 50 don’t spend, that sexual wellness is too awkward, or that menopause is too niche. The reality is that every woman will go through menopause.
Women in midlife are not a niche. They make up roughly one in five Canadians and account for nearly half of all consumer spending. Globally, the menopause market is already a multi‑billion‑dollar category and is forecast to surpass USD $24 billion by 2030, with Canada’s share expected to grow steadily over the next decade. Put that economic power beside the stories in my inbox and the picture becomes clear. Women are driving a huge share of everyday spending while their needs around menopause and intimacy are still treated as an afterthought.
For B.C. businesses, there is a simple lesson. Women in midlife will reward you if you treat their needs as real, not embarrassing. If your products and services reflect their actual lives. If your marketing speaks to them respectfully instead of relying on jokes about hot flashes. They will also remember which companies offer evidence‑based solutions and which ones prey on their desperation with expensive, unproven promises. This goes far beyond sexual wellness. Travel. Fitness. Fashion. Technology. Housing. Every industry serves women in midlife. Very few market to them thoughtfully.
There are encouraging signs. Hormone replacement therapy is finally being talked about more openly, and conversations around sexual wellness are starting to move out of the shadows. But we still have work to do. When I first started the business, I was quiet about what I did. Then I noticed that every time I opened up, women gathered around. Not because I was special, but because they were desperate to be taken seriously. They are tired of silly memes about hot flashes and mustaches. They want real conversation.
My biggest lesson from building a sexual wellness business wasn’t learning how to manufacture a lubricant or run an e-commerce store. It was realizing that women weren’t looking for permission to buy products. They were looking for permission to ask questions. The businesses that will thrive in the menopause economy won’t simply sell to women. They will listen to them.
