I don't think it's a service around me, as cycling isn't particularly popular in Scotland given the weather...however it may be worth phoning up and checking if any of the bike shops in your area do 'saddle trials'...where you can take the saddle home for a week or so and actually try it out to see if it suits.
Anecdotally: yes. Mimic saddles are more comfortable for both men and women than identical non-mimic models. Myself (male) included - it was a significant improvement. It’s a simple change, softer padding, something that recreational riders have used for decades.
When I sold saddles at the bike shop I would say “women are more sensitive than men, surprising none of them”.
Men’s behavior is not representative of men’s physical sensitivity.
Anecdotally, as a former guy, I can absolutely report that I ignored tingling and numbness in saddles because I just assumed I was supposed to put up with it, and ended up giving up cycling as a result. As a gal, until this article came out, I’d assumed that cycling was essentially hopeless from a comfort perspective (because if they couldn’t solve it for men, they sure weren’t going to try to solve it for women).
So it’s great to see that progress is being made for all equipment, and that people are more willing to consider such issues “able to discuss” than they were when I was growing up. But I would not say that it’s due to differing sensitivity; it’s due to the cultural baggage around discussing and prioritizing groins.
Agreed. In my experience saddle discomfort was a problem for most people. The cultural expectation was to ignore it, which is silly. A known issue for far too long.