To think this is fine to talk about in a work email

[SandAndSeals]

I’ve NC as this is potentially outing.

An awareness email went out to colleagues about the menopause. Is the email, it lists the symptoms inc. hot flushes, low mood etc and also ‘vaginal dryness and reduced sex drive’.

My colleague has put a complaint email in about it as they don’t think it’s appropriate to mention vaginal dryness is a workplace email. However I disagree. It’s a common symptom and should be listed in an awareness article. You would take out ‘difficulty holding an erection’ when discussing prostate cancer, for example.

The Health team send out other emails about out conditions and illnesses depending on what’s being asked for. I’m in the Women’s Network so I know that menopause info has been asked for.

What do you think? AIBU or is she?

jesus why everything is getting shoved down our throats?

It really isn't
There was a list of symptoms, among them vaginal dryness. Anyone who's zoomed in on that so they can get offended about it has a fucking problem.

Oh wow, there a new one. I think it's way too much information If I was menopausal and my workplace sent out an email stating that menopausal women had vaginal dryness, I would be expecting people to be looking at me thinking "dry vagina".

Why not send out an enail informing people that male impotence is a common symptom of hormonal decline with age?

Ugh!

I work in health care and this seems the kind of thing that gets discussed over lunch 😂

cloudspotter "Why not send out an enail informing people that male impotence is a common symptom of hormonal decline with age?"

exactly. And Colin from Marketing might be in a bad mood because he can't get it up.

@RosaWaiting

Completely agree!

If it’s an email circular I’m assuming then that it’s a topic that can be openly discussed at work?!...

Haha I doubt it..

The more this is talked about in the workplace the better in my view. If there was a gold medal for hot flushes I would win hands down (late 40s)! I have not contemplated whether any of my colleagues are concerned about my dry, or otherwise, vagina, but I think bringing menopause into the open at work can only be a good thing.

The OP says that her workplace runs awareness campaigns for different health conditions and menopause is one. Some posters seem surprised by this, but it was perfectly normal at my previous company. Not emails, but posters in the toilets, corridors and coffee areas and leaflets - descriptions of the symptoms of all sorts of different cancers and other issues. The role of occupational health changed over the years to very much focussing on helping the workforce keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. There is no point in describing symptoms if you start to censor them.

If information about a condition is being shared then why remove some of the symptoms? They may not all be directly relevant to the workplace or require any alterations in the workplace but they can help understand what others may be dealing with.
Why not list the symptoms? Nobody is asking to have a conversation about it. It’s just making people aware of the range of symptoms that women have to deal with during menopause. By doing so it may make others aware that it’s not just hot flushes that menopausal women have to deal with and the need to have access to a cooler environment/fan/window open for example but other factors too (and how they affect their life outside of work) which when put together may contribute to an employee being less motivated to carry out heir job. People aren’t robots, life outside of work can affect their ability/focus in work. I would guess all the email is attempting to do is to increase knowledge and appreciation of all the possible symptoms women are dealing with when going through menopause. I think that it wasn’t felt to be relevant it wouldn’t have been distributed 🤷🏼‍♀️

Is this a thing now? My work have suddenly started doing workshops on menopause. Do women really want to go and discuss these personal issues....just asking

ShirleyPhallus 'If male managers need to be aware of menopause symptoms,they certainly don't need to know about vaginal dryness. What's the point? Will they be inspecting their colleague's knickers each day to check?'. OMG that made me laugh!

Have skimmed the thread!

OP, I don't know if this has been mentioned already but you might like to suggest to your workplace that they also do an alert (or whatever) detailing that heart attack symptoms in women differ quite significantly to those observed in men - it's not just disease awareness, but awareness of how it varies by sex.

Admittedly I think prostate cancer and the menopause are fairly sex segregated already

I'm imagining if a memo went out explaining the symptoms of one of my illnesses, which includes loss of libido and impotence (including female impotence). I would be self-conscious that colleagues were reading it and wondering if I was still a goer.

So I can see why a woman of typical menopausal age might not like this.

YNBU. I agree it should have been included.

I work for a company that have had menopause talks this week. We are not health care or medical related in any way. A very male dominant industry. It's all about raising awareness I believe. Although I've spend half the week listening to one man moan about it!

I am ,probably, going trough peri-menopause and had to miss work due to crazy heavy periods and anemia. Work in a very male young environment and just sent an email saying what was going on to my manager. It would be nice if they had been aware but not sure if I would like

Posted too early. I mean not sure if I would like that the symptoms listed included vaginal dryness. I think it's not necessary in work environment.

Wow. Menop policies are a real thing. Long risk assessment & everything. You know how NHS loves paperwork.

The comparison with prostrate cancer - not Everyman gets prostrate cancer but all women go through menopause. If the policy is so people especially men get menopause and how it can affect women in the workplace - I don’t think vaginal dryness is something I would want my make colleagues to think about if I told them I was menopausal.

Maybe it would be better to list the conditions vaginal dryness causes, this might make more sense.

"Why not send out an email informing people that male impotence is a common symptom of hormonal decline with age?"

Perfect and possibly that some men in their 40s onwards have a tendency to buy flash cars or motorbikes and seek relationships with younger women.

There was a list of symptoms, among them vaginal dryness. Anyone who's zoomed in on that so they can get offended about it has a fucking problem

Literally a fucking problem

There's a big menopause awareness movement ATM (I work in healthcare). I think that mentioning the symptoms is entirely reasonable - if someone doesn't want to read about them then he/she has been notified by the subject heading in the email.

It's unfortunate that people still take the idea of women's medical problems as being something that should only be dealt with 'behind closed doors'. Health risks from smoking and obesity, for example, are regularly and widely shared. Spotting the signs of domestic violence and/or coercive control-relationships less so, and tend to garner the same kind of reaction.

If Public Health England has sanctioned press releases about it, then I think it's perfectly viable to have as an email. Whether it's welcomed by everyone is a matter of opinion.

Oh goodness. I'd be mortified if I thought my colleagues (male or female) were eyeing me up to see whether my slightly more frequent toilet breaks were menopausal. Let alone the vaginal dryness thing!!!!To be honest I'd rather just quietly get on with it on my own terms thank you very much.

The vaginal bit was gross.I would object myself