Women are resisting the centuries-old dominance that men and big business have held over their sexual health. On a sunny August day, women holding banners emblazoned with “Simply Toxic” protested outside the Tarrytown, New York, headquarters of Prestige Brands, the manufacturer of the Summer’s Eve line of feminine cleansing washes. Their demand? That the firm disclose all ingredients that go into the manufacturing of its sexual-hygiene products. Look closely at the boxes in the “family planning” aisle of American drugstores, and among boxes of condoms and lubricants, you’ll notice something: Nearly all have a host of chemical ingredients. Some contain nonoxynol-9, a spermicide that can inflame the vagina; some have glycerin, which can spur yeast infections; and others may contain acetate, an alcohol that can dry out skin. Women have held protests like the one in Tarrytown for at least a decade, but now they’re taking the next step into entrepreneurship to offer alternatives to these products and to battle a deep-seated bias in the industry manufacturing them. For centuries, men have led the design, sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of products that women put on and in their bodies. That’s now changing. | 