Expert talks intimate care category boom and how to keep up

Beacon Wellness Brands is spotlighting expert authority in modern intimate wellness with the launch of a Wellness Collective. 

The North American personal care appliance, beauty, and sexual wellness platform, through its sexual wellness subsidiary, PlusOne, has created the 2026 PlusOne Wellness Collective. The panel of experts aim to advance education and normalize discourse around intimate wellness.

Personal Care Insights sits down with Kathryn Pratt, SVP of marketing and innovation at Beacon Wellness Brands, to discuss the importance of expert panels for the sector. We also explore the shifting conversations around intimate wellness and the changing consumer demands enabled by the destigmatization of sexual wellness.

The collective brings together an interdisciplinary group of medical professionals, therapists, and sexual health educators. It touts to reflect changing sentiments around intimate wellness and sexual care. The group addresses the growing demand in sectors where stigma still persists, and consumer needs remain underaddressed.

Members of the 206 PlusOne Wellness Collective include sex educator and author Ericka Hart; OB-GYN, menopause expert, and author Dr. Heather Bartos; urogynecologist Dr. Karyn Eilber; and pelvic floor physical therapist Dr. Alicia Jeffrey Thomas.

Pratt explains that the collective addresses a gap in the industry. The intimate wellness sector has expanded rapidly, and “credible education and inclusive dialogue haven’t kept pace with consumer interest,” she says.

Initiatives in the industry 

PlusOne’s initiative aims to address shortcomings in the personal care industry. Despite progress toward equitable health care, women’s health issues are disproportionately disregarded and chronically underfunded.

Less than 2.5% of medical research funding is allocated to women’s reproductive health, reports the Women’s Budget Group, a UK-based gender equality think tank.

“Product innovation has accelerated, but stigma, misinformation, and discomfort about discussing intimate health persist- particularly in areas like pleasure, pelvic health, menopause, and overall self-care,” says Pratt.

“The collective helps close that gap by bringing together trusted clinicians and educators to guide the conversation. Instead of these topics feeling taboo or purely product-driven, the goal is to create expert-backed, wellness-oriented dialogue that helps normalize the category and empowers consumers to make informed decisions about their bodies.”

Turning tides

Expert panel members drive education and destigmatization in intimate wellness.

Pratt tells us that the conversation around intimate wellness “has noticeably shifted from whispered curiosity to mainstream engagement.”

She credits younger generations as facilitators in this shift.

“Millennials and Gen Z have been catalysts in normalizing vulnerability around topics that were once shrouded in stigma. Their influence shows up in countless ways: demand for transparent language, real education over euphemism, and a refusal to compartmentalize intimacy outside general health,” says Pratt.

This shift in discourse is reaching the industry in waves. Pratt tells us that educational initiatives and expert collaborations are becoming central to brands’ operations rather than supplementary nice-to-haves.

Furthermore, the industry is focusing on products that “span life stages — from pleasure to perimenopause and menopause — reflecting broader definitions of wellness.”

Discourse is also shifting brand messaging and marketing strategies with companies “openly embracing intimate wellness conversations, expanding shelf space and editorial coverage.”

“All of this signals a market pivot toward ‘health-first intimacy’ that acknowledges pleasure and function as parts of overall well-being,” states Pratt.

These industry changes come hand in hand with modern consumer demands. According to Pratt, consumers are “more curious and less tolerant of vague claims or euphemistic marketing.”

She lists consumer demands, emboldened by increased literacy: more science-backed information, clinically sound products with clear purpose, inclusive narratives that reflect diverse identities and life experiences, and education that demystifies concerns like pain, libido shifts, pelvic health, and hormonal changes.

“These increased expectations are pushing brands — including ours — to embed credible information and expert voices into product strategy, communications, and community engagement,” she says.

Graceful aging and sexual care

The PlusOne Wellness Collective addresses stigma and promotes inclusive dialogue.

The industry is seeing more product launches aimed at menopause and perimenopause care. PlusOne Wellness attributes this rise to various factors such as changing demographics and candid cultural dialogue.

“Women are living longer, staying active, and demanding solutions that serve them through midlife rather than treating it like an afterthought. In addition, increased public discussion — from social media communities, influencers, and clinical voices — is giving permission for people to ask for what they need and expect commercial responses that are thoughtful, body-positive, and functional.”

Pratt tells us that age “absolutely” is a factor in how sexual health is regarded in women. She explains that sexual health has been regarded primarily as a matter of reproductive potential and skewed its attention toward youth.

This targeted attention largely ignores older bodies and leaves “midlife and perimenopausal populations under-represented in both healthcare and product solutions.”

“There is a visibility gap — or even erasure — when the narrative around intimacy shifts too quickly from desire and pleasure to decline.”

To address this disparity in care for young versus older women’s bodies, initiatives like the PlusOne Wellness Collective aim to change the story “by affirming that intimate wellness doesn’t have an expiration date and by delivering education and solutions that meet people wherever they are in their life journey.”

Cultural conversations

Empowering consumers with credible, science-backed intimate wellness education.

The panel was built with multidisciplinary expertise in mind to address women’s needs on both the clinical and cultural levels.

“In 2026, the panel includes leaders spanning sex education, gynecology, pelvic health, and pelvic floor therapy — fields that reflect the real complexity of intimate wellness,” says Pratt.

“We looked for voices that are not only clinically respected but also culturally fluent and authentic communicators. That means educators and clinicians who can translate medical insight into practical, destigmatizing guidance for people at every stage of life.”

The initiative is rooted in the intersectional acknowledgement that the pitfalls of women’s health and care industries stem from societal causes. In stigmatizing women’s bodies and framing intimate care and pleasure as a source of shame, the industry stunts its own progress and alienates its consumer base.

Thus, the collective represents various sets of expertise aimed at tackling this shame, emboldening education and de-stigmatization in the sector, and meeting consumer needs.

“We ensure consumers receive a full spectrum of credible information rooted in human experience,” says Pratt.

Politicized bodiesThe initiative arrives in times of political volatility, which leaves women’s autonomy and wellness in precarious positions.

Pratt explains that socio-politics plays a role in topics such as intimacy and sexual health, especially regarding how sexual health intersects with access to care, bodily autonomy, and reproductive health.

“In this environment, brands that operate in the intimate wellness space can either retreat or step forward with clarity and credibility,” says Pratt.

Initiatives such as the PlusOne Wellness Collective aim to provide an independent “stabilizing force” in times of political volatility, which leaves women’s autonomy and wellness in precarious positions.

“This helps mitigate volatility by giving consumers trusted guidance when public discourse feels uncertain or adversarial,” says Pratt.

“By focusing on inclusive well-being (not ideology), we reinforce the idea that intimate wellness is a valid component of overall health — deserving of open, informed conversation regardless of political climate.”