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?

i have worked in the private sector my whole life and have never seen an email on male impotence or on the menopause and tbh I would be incredibly surprised if I ever did

I actually don't think that level of detail is appropriate as a round robin email

SandAndSeals your update “just to clear a few things up....” - couldn’t agree more! We live in a time where things are thankfully starting to change, where transparency is crucial in crushing these taboo subjects which shouldn’t have ever been controversial in the first place.
I get the context of “vaginal dryness” being included in the Health and Well-Being email - it was obviously simply ONE part of the contents explaining symptoms. If women are embarrassed at the thought of men knowing about this particular symptom it completely goes against the whole point!

But women do get sacked for peri menopausal symptoms. All workplaces need to do is make reasonable adjustments. But apart from a desk fan, for many jobs there are not going to be any other reasonable adjustments they can make.

Darlingnikita , I was talking sad reality, not the ideal world.

In any case, how would it 'flush them out'? Unless they were braying and guffawing at full volume I doubt there be any 'shaming', let alone giving them the boot.

Saskia, you seem to have misread/misunderstood me.

Here's a repeat of what I said, with the most relevant words in bold for your ease of understanding: 'No one has sent a group email about any one individual's specific symptoms'.

Compare and contrast with the phrase 'the symptoms of individuals.'

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER, if it were my workplace (hypothetical as I work at home) and I heard someone giggling about KY jelly or otherwise laughing about menopausal symptoms or women, I'd challenge them about it.

Why would anyone want their manager to know they have a fanny like the Sahara?

It must be sheer prurience, I assume, motivating some people on here – and of course the complaining colleague – to zoom in on the words 'vaginal dryness'.

The OP says it was a list of menopause symptoms INCLUDING ‘vaginal dryness and reduced sex drive’. Not an email about those things exclusively.

DarlingNikita no, I haven't misunderstood. An email of this sort will, by it's nature, contain the details about symptoms that effect individuals. Each menopausal woman is an individual who may not wish to have symptoms she is suffering shared in a group email. Such women have a right to have their privacy respected, the same as people who suffer from any other kind of symptoms.

If you wish to continue to argue about semantics, knock yourself out, but I assure you, I understand what you are saying perfectly well.

‘vaginal dryness and reduced sex drive’

Okay, people have explained why vaginal dryness may be an issue in the workplace, but I struggle to see how a low sex drive would. Still, I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to tell me why this is a thing.

Surely it was an informative email along the lines of, the following can be symptoms of menopause

1. X
2. Y
3. Z

Rather than “Mary in finance is going through the menopause and has dry walls”.

I don’t think raising awareness of the menopause and the impact it can have is a bad thing.

Noobcrumble but why is it the job of a workplace to tackle understanding of the issues of menopause? I expect my employer to provide me with a prejudice free, safe, legal work environment. I don't need them to educate me about health issues, unless they specifically relate to what I or my team are being paid to do.

If there is a member of staff with a health issue, I expect our HR team to work with them and their manager together to enable them to carry on doing their job in a way that works well for everyone. If that means adjustments are necessary then that should be done discreetly so as not to embarrass or discriminate against the employee in any way. Over the years there have been a range of health issues that have come up and very rarely have people wanted their symptoms shared with other members of staff.

As I said up above 63% of the adult population are overweight and there are a list of commonly suffered symptoms, that include excessive sweating and feelings of isolation (more of the list in my earlier post) - would it be appropriate for an employer to email everyone those symptoms, just so people understand what it is like to be overweight or obese, or would that make the overweight / obese feel uncomfortable?

I don’t shy away from raising awareness of health issues (I got my physio to come and talk about prolapse to my workplace’s women’s network) but I’m not sure email was the most appropriate way to communicate on the issue of the menopause.

A well-written intranet news about how the women’s network hosted a talk about “menopause in the workplace” - stating that it typically affects women between the age of x and x and can cause discomfort in personal life but also at work etc... - would have been more appropriate.

But well done all the same. It’s important to raise awareness and I don’t think there was any reason to complain.

What MargoLovebutter said.

I think this kind of awareness raising is very well intentioned but runs the risk of being intrusive and embarrassing.

Saskia, then you're being deliberately obtuse. Never mind.

And what Jacques says.

DarlingNikita, I could counter by saying you're a GF, but what would be the point?

Maybe a male member of staff have raised an issue with it, knowing that their wife/partner has suffered with it and thought it may be beneficial to all females and other male members of staff to have an understanding of what is a ‘normal’ fact of life?🤷🏻‍♀️

I think the next email should contain issues relating to Men Aging and talk about 'erectile dysfunction - to include partial or total lack of ability to maintain an erection', increasing hairloss - partial or total baldness, frequent or dribbling urine' etc.
There was no need to include vaginal dryness in there. But it's fine if you balance it for the men with the same 'openess' and indepth description of the symptoms.
There is also the issue that women's issues in the workplace have continually been used to undermine them, such as 'oh got the PMT have you?', and now may have to face the same thing as 'the Change' must affecting be her mood. etc.

Interesting thread. I am peri and have been on treatment for a dry fadge for a while.

I am the oldest person in my office by 10 years and I think a bit of general awareness is ok BUT if an email went round saying these are symptoms, women may need allowance for them including my dry old fadge it would make me feel pretty exposed.

I feel uncomfortable enough when I get a hot flash as it immediately signposts my age and "difference" to the younger crowd.

Ok in some workplace environments but difficult in mine where the over 50s are first on the annual redundancy list and there is a much younger demographic

SnowyAlpsandPeaks that sounds reasonable but what has that got to do with work?

Maybe one of my work colleagues has a partner with herpes, which is a very common STD but is that any reason to ask for HR to send an email around about the symptoms of herpes?

“Sorry I can’t come to the meeting, dry vag, sure you’ll understand”.

MargoLoveButter I think there needs to be a better understanding of how the OP’s workplace operates in regards to emails. It is mentioned that they have a Health Team who issued this email due to info regarding the menopause being asked for. I am assuming that anonymous requests are passed on to the team who then post it - if i’m right they are simply posting general info on a health subject for the sake of awareness that could be looked up through a web search anyway - this isn’t top secret stuff! Anyway - can’t speak for the OP.

I could certainly do with a good shag, but I don't think my manager needs to know that.

Did they have one for men of a certain age I. E. impotence?

Wouldn't harm if they did!, and lets see depression, mental health were do you want to stop?

A lot of health conditions are poorly understod by the public, men are sods for not talkinmg about such issues.

It in all is a good idea to raise awarenerss of these conditions but debatable if the workplace is the complete place to do that.

Mind you occupational health has been around a long time.

Op yanbu.

I work for public sector and we get these kind of health emails regularly. Diabetes, menopause, weight management, epilepsy, alcohol etc are ones I can think of off the top of my head. So not that unusual.