Search for "period tracker" apps and pinks, purples, flowers, butterflies and hearts assault your eyes. There's even a bunny rabbit to help you keep tabs on your cycle. Yes, a bunny.
Last time I checked it wasn't common for 10-year-old girls to have started their periods. So why is it that these apps seem to be designed with this demographic in mind?
It's not only insulting to see such sexist, clichéd gender stereotyping (girls like pink, boys like blue) being propagated; it can also be embarrassing, like at those times when you're scrolling through your phone and a friend or colleague catches sight of a big, pink flower app icon and wants to know what it is. Yes, I have a uterus, app designers. But it's not flower-shaped.
Such apps are, of course, a good idea. They help us understand what our cycles are doing and are easy to use. We can enter information about our moods and symptoms and be reminded about when to expect "the crimson flow". But with so many unnecessarily cutesy emoticons to choose from in the menu, it's hard to know what's what. Simply writing "grumpy" takes far less time.
We're women - yes, we are different to men. That doesn't mean we should have to tolerate cringeworthy, garish skins and icons on our apps just to feel more in control and in tune with our bodies.
Surely it's not too much to ask that they be useful and tasteful at the same time. Perhaps they were designed by men …