Wellness Circle meets 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 2pm PST/5pm EST/10pm UTC.

Wellness Circle is a Women's Studies Online educational initiative aimed at prioritizing women's unique biological and social health and wellness needs throughout our life stages. Through educational presentations, guest speakers, resource sharing and virtually-based discussions, we'll learn about health and wellness - broadly defined - within this circle.

Menopause

Menopause is often framed as decline, deficiency, or something to be quietly managed. From a feminist perspective, this framing is not accidental. Menopause sits at the intersection of ageism, sexism, medicalization, and capitalism — a natural life transition that has been pathologized largely because it marks a point where women are no longer organized around reproductive usefulness (Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, 1992).

Rather than being understood as a complex biopsychosocial transition, menopause is frequently reduced to symptoms to be corrected or hidden. Hot flashes, mood changes, shifts in libido, sleep disruption, and cognitive changes are treated as personal problems instead of responses unfolding within cultural contexts that devalue aging women, dismiss their pain, and silence their authority (Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, 1992).

Questions To Consider

  • When did you first learn about menopause, and who taught you? What was missing from that story?
  • Our Bodies, Ourselves emphasizes shared knowledge and informed choice. How does that approach resonate with your own experiences of menopause?
  • How has menopause been framed in your culture or community — as decline, inconvenience, freedom, or something else?
  • In what ways do you see ageism and sexism intersecting in conversations about menopause?
  • How has the medical system supported or failed you (or people you know) during menopausal transition?
  • Have you noticed shifts in boundaries, desires, anger, or clarity during midlife? How do you interpret those changes?
  • What collective supports do we wish existed for people moving through menopause?
  • How might we talk about menopause differently for future generations?

References

Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. (1992). Our bodies, ourselves (2nd ed.). Simon & Schuster.

Code of Participation

If you have questions, please read over and review our Feminist Code Of Participation.