美國正流行哪些大姨媽跟蹤APP

My 18-year-old daughter knows exactly when it will be that time of the month. Since June, she’s been plugging the dates of her menstrual cycle into a popular period tracking app called Clue, and has it programmed to send her an alert every month, two days before her next period is due.

我的女兒18歲，她很清楚自己經期的準確時間。從6月開始，她每個月都將自己的月經週期輸入一款叫做Clue的流行經期跟蹤app（應用程序），並將其設定爲提前兩天向她推送提醒消息。

“It’s great because I never think about it, and now I never have to think about it,” she said.

“這簡直太棒了，”她說，“之前我就沒刻意去計算過經期，以後也用不着再操這份心啦。”

Like a lot of young women, my teenager is just too busy. And no, she doesn’t mind being quoted, she said, adding, “Mom: I’m not embarrassed about my period.”

她會這麼說只是因爲她像很多年輕女子一樣，實在是太忙了，正如她的原話說的，不，“媽媽，月經並不會讓我感到尷尬。”

She’s not the only one. Girls and women are openly talking, tweeting and texting about their periods, and not just to Donald Trump. New companies tired of the stigma are selling menstrual products using the “P” word, singers and artists weave menstruation themes into their work, athletes and others have mentioned it on talk shows and at press conferences. Two New York City high school girls developed a video game called “Tampon Run” — the heroine’s mission is “to rid the world of the menstrual taboo.”

抱有這種看法的並不只是她一個。女孩和婦女們現在都能公開地或是在Twitter和短信中談論月經，而不是僅僅告訴唐納德·特朗普(Donald Trump)。新興公司不再恥於以銷售帶“P”字的經期護理產品，歌手和藝術家們開始在作品中涉及月經這個主題，運動員和其他人物也不憚在談話節目和新聞發佈會中提到它。在紐約，兩名高中女生做出了一款名叫“Tampon Run（或譯爲《衛生棉大戰》）”的視頻遊戲，女主角肩負起了“讓世界不再對月經諱莫如深”的使命。

Add to this mix period tracker apps, which have helped shift attitudes, demystifying and normalizing menstruation by assigning cute icons to once unmentionables like heavy flow, maxi pads and period pimples. Most important, the apps transform the input into crunchable data that can tell a young woman when her period is due, when it’s late and even why she might be feeling so blue.

經期跟蹤app也是同類的產品，它幫助人們轉變了對月經的態度，給一度被認爲是難以啓齒的字眼兒，如月經量大、衛生棉、經期粉刺等配上可愛的圖標，讓月經褪去了神祕的外衣，成爲了日常生活的一部分。最重要的是，這些app可利用輸入的數據計算出準確的月經週期，在經期延遲時向年輕女孩發出警報，甚至可以告訴她爲何她會情緒低落。

There are over 200 different period tracker apps to choose from, and they are immensely popular: consumers have downloaded Period Tracker (by GP International) and Period Calendar/Tracker (by ABISHKKING) more than 10 million times from the Android store alone, according to IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

據IMS醫療信息研究所(IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics)報告，經期跟蹤app廣受歡迎，目前已有超過200款不同產品可供選擇，僅以安卓商店計算，Period Tracker（經期跟蹤器，由高品國際[GP International]開發）和Period Calendar/Tracker（女性日曆/日記，由ABISHKKING開發）的下載量就超過了1000萬次。

Period tracker apps can track a range of issues related to the menstrual cycle including emotions, cramps, weight, sleep, energy, food cravings and more. They also can record when you had sex (Clue’s icon for protected sex is a man wearing a tie) or remind you to pack tampons, take your birth control pill or do a breast exam, all information women say is both empowering and liberating. Some apps are pink and girlie, all hearts and flowers and butterflies; others take a more subtle approach with lots of graphs in muted shades of purple. Specialized apps have even been developed for niche groups like Orthodox Jewish women who adhere to religious family purity laws. The apps say they are “rabbinically approved.”

經期跟蹤app可以追蹤與月經週期相關的一系列問題，如情緒、痛經、體重、睡眠、精力、食慾等等。它們還可以記錄你的性事（Clue中有保護性行爲的圖標是一個戴領帶的男人），提醒你攜帶衛生巾、吃避孕藥或做乳腺檢查，所有讓女性感到自主和解放的信息。一些app採用了粉紅色和富有少女情懷的心形、花朵和蝴蝶裝飾；另一些則大量使用柔和的紫色調圖片，給人較爲淡雅的感覺。研發人員甚至還開發了專用於小衆羣體——如遵循“家庭純潔”宗教準則的正統派猶太教婦女——的app，並聲稱這些產品得到了“拉比的批准”。

“When you see a technology that someone has developed specifically for you as a woman, it really legitimizes talking about your periods and thinking about them,” said Shuangyi “E.E.” Hou, 24, a product designer in San Francisco for apps and websites who has used a period tracker app for over a year. “If we as a society say women should be checking in on their periods, and we give them permission to talk about it, I’m convinced it will be beneficial for women’s health.”

“專爲女性開發的技術的出現，代表了考慮和談論月經是完全合理且正當的，”舊金山24歲的app和網站產品設計師侯雙藝（Shuangyi "E.E." Hou，音譯）說，她使用經期跟蹤app已有一年以上。“我相信，如果整個社會都贊同女性關注自己的月經週期，允許她們談論相關的問題，勢必將有益於女性健康。”

While the apps also can be used to track ovulation, signaling the days the user is more or less likely to become pregnant, most period tracker apps explicitly warn users not to rely on them to prevent pregnancy. The ovulation tracker and fertility prediction can be helpful for a woman trying to conceive, but it can give a false sense of security to a woman who relies on the app as a form of birth control.

雖然這些app也可以用於跟蹤排卵，並提示用戶哪些日子比較容易/不容易懷孕，但大多數經期跟蹤app都明確地警告用戶不要依賴它們來避孕。排卵跟蹤和受孕預測對想要懷孕的婦女有一定幫助，但它可能給依賴app來避孕的婦女造成安全的假象。

That’s because even the most vigilant ovulation tracking methods have shockingly high failure rates, according to the American Academy of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, with up to one in four women becoming pregnant over the course of a year with typical use.

這是因爲，即使是最靈敏的排卵跟蹤方法，錯誤率依然驚人得高。美國婦產科醫師協會(American Academy of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)的調查顯示，在使用這些app來預測安全期的一年期間，還是會有多達四分之一的女性“中招”。

“Apps are a tool; they’re not actually a birth control method,” said Hannah Ransom of San Diego, a certified fertility awareness educator.

聖地亞哥市的一名經過認證的易受孕期知曉(fertility awareness)教育人員漢娜·蘭塞姆(Hannah Ransom)說：“app只是一種工具；它們並非切實有效的避孕方法。”

But many users of period tracker apps rely on them to help schedule their busy lives or for tracking health conditions that fluctuate with their cycle, rather than contraception. Aliya, a 23-year-old from the Bronx, said she uses Pink Pad Pro to schedule social outings like visits to a Russian bath house and to give her doctor an accurate answer to the inevitable question about the date of her last menstrual period (though she admitted relying on it occasionally for birth control as well).

不過，許多經期跟蹤app的用戶主要是用它們來協助自己安排忙碌的生活，跟蹤隨月經週期波動的健康狀況，而非用於避孕。布朗克斯市的23歲女孩阿莉婭(Aliya)說自己使用Pink Pad Pro來安排洗俄式浴之類的社交活動，或是在醫生問及她末次月經日期之類的問題時能幫她做出準確的回答（不過，她也承認自己偶爾依靠它來避孕）。

One college theater student said she always forgets about her period during the week or two before a production, when there are a million other details to think about, so she likes the push notification reminders from Period Tracker Lite.

一名戲劇學院的學生說，在演出前一兩週，她總有太多的事情要操心，於是往往會忘了經期的事情，所以她樂於讓Period Tracker Lite給她推送提醒通知。

Ida Tin, who founded Clue, one of the fastest growing period tracker apps with 2 million active users in 180 countries, said her motivation in developing the app was to provide women with more information and greater understanding about a “foundational” part of their lives for 40 years.

Clue是發展最快的一款經期跟蹤app之一，在180個國家擁有200萬活躍用戶。其創立者埃達·丁(Ida Tin)表示，她開發該app的動機是爲了向女同胞們提供更多信息，幫助她們更深入地瞭解這個在她們生命中長達40年的時間裏都具有重要意義的“基本”部分。

“If you just have the data about what is going on in your body,” said Ms. Tin, “It’s a navigating tool for your life.”

丁女士說：“獲知有關你身體內部變化的數據，可以讓你更好地規劃自己的生活。”