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'If We Had This We'd Be Complaining a Lot': Male Politicians Try Hot Flush Simulation Vest

Storyful

Several British male politicians experienced a simulated hot flush during an event at Westminster on June 28 aimed at highlighting a shortage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products for women during menopause.

Footage released by MP Carolyn Harris’s office first shows Iain Duncan Smith, Wes Streeting, and Stephen Kinnock feeling the effects of a common menopause symptom thanks to the ""MenoVest":https://www.facebook.com/Carolyn4SwanseaEast/posts/pfbid02UXjQUrjnydzcSbHmZhxDHHbcZ1q5z8nJu3kRoArrsZJiFobWTe9uAsyUnqXxh63gl, a garment that creates the hot-flush effect which was supplied by the menopause support group Over the Bloody Moon.

Duncan Smith says: “If we had this […] we’d be complaining a lot,” to which Harris replies: “And we can’t.”

Streeting describes the experience as “deeply unpleasant”.

“We gave male MPs an insight into how it feels to have a hot flush,” Over the Bloody Moon said, “thanks to technology created in collaboration with Theramex Global and Thread Design & Development Ltd – and it’s fair to say they gained a whole new level of understanding around just how it feels.”

Harris wrote on Facebook: “By breaking down these barriers and stigmas we hope to really change the workplace and society for the better and to create more openness and understanding for menopause.” Credit: Carolyn Harris MP via Storyful

Video transcript

[LAUGHTER]

- Did you get hot [INAUDIBLE]?

- Yeah, I'm definitely feeling it right across my body now.

- Yeah. No, I definitely felt hot.

- Welcome to our world.

- Yeah.

- I know.

- Oh, this is [INAUDIBLE]. [LAUGHS]

- It genuinely is a horrible, horrible feeling.

- If we had this, as opposed to you, say, we'd be complaining a lot.

[LAUGHTER]

- But we can't.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

- It's really-- well, it's [INAUDIBLE]. It's difficult to believe that you could generate this level of heat inside your own body when you're just used to--

[LAUGHTER]

- Did you get hot [INAUDIBLE]?

- I thought-- yeah. I'm definitely feeling it right across my body now.

- Yeah. No, I definitely felt hot.

- Welcome to our world.

- Yeah.

- I know.

- Oh, this is deeply unpleasant. [LAUGHS]

- It genuinely is a horrible, horrible feeling.

- If we had this, as opposed to you, say, we'd be complaining a lot.

[LAUGHTER]

- But we can't.

- It's really-- well, it's unreasonable. It's difficult to believe that you could generate this level of heat inside your own body when you're just used to--