My Menopause Blog: Menopause is Not a Disease

Sharon, my menopausal book keeper thinks that Queen Victoria and the Industrial Revolution has something to do with how we experience menopause today. This after me saying that the 'not talking about it' part had me perplexed.

Here's the logic. Queen Vic was uptight and very influencial in spreading anal retention globally. And The Industrial Revolution changed the way women spent time with each other. We grew more isolated in our flight to cities.

Sharon also figures that we were better off when we used an oral tradition for exchanging information rather than the recorded history style of the last 5,000 years.

Sharon may well have hit the nail on it's flat wee head. It's no secret that writing and reading was taught to boys and men first and foremost. And it takes no imagination to realize that the lads were not dashing off notes about teas, oils and balms used to sooth and ease the menopausal path for their wives, mothers and daughters.

HisStory likely got preference.

HerStory could do with some attention.

Let's face it. Menopause is not new. Yet, I'm likely three or four generations away from a time when information was more freely exchanged between women. Today, information atrophy has set in, maps have been misplaced and women like me are wondering "what the f--k is this?"

A major complicating factor is that nowadays, menopause is BIG BUSINESS. There's HUGH piles of money to be made by marketing the implication that 'menopause is a disease' and 'here's a pill to cure it'.

Well Sharon and I doth protest. We're not sick.

Sue Richards
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