To be pissed off that Davina McCall and Sainsbury's think that 50% of "people" go through the Menopause

[ButterYourMuffin]

Standing in bloody long queue at Sainsburys this afternoon (as they only open 1 bloody till even when 6 people have trolleys full - I know that's another thread ...) so not in a great mood. Then over the speaker comes Davina with "Hi, I'm Davina and I want to talk about the Menopause." Ok, I think, being at that age, then "Did you know that 50% of PEOPLE go through the menopause?" WTF!!

How to make a menopausal WOMAN really angry.

AIBU to say that Sainsburys have lost my custom?

They are saying that this is an important issue because it affects about half of the human population. They are not trying to avoid the word woman. They are making the point that women make up 50% of the population.

How you get from that line that women is a dirty word I don't understand. It would make no sense (and be wrong) to say 50% of women and saying this issue affects all women is correct but doesn't make the same point.

I still think it's a question which insults our collective IQ. If it's addressed to men, why doesn't she say so? It includes women/females, as if we have no concept of how many of us there are.

Oh dear God. You are spectacularly missing the point in your desperate need to jump on the 'outraged' bandwagon. The point being made is that menopause is not some random little thing that a few members of society will have to deal with. 50% (ish) of the population will go through it. That is a completely different statement to 'all women' will go through it. Because 'all women' isn't making the distinction that as a population whole, a HUGE number of people will go through the menopause.
It's like saying '1 in 2 people will get cancer' and you getting outraged that it should read 'everyone who gets cancer will get cancer'. 🤦🏻‍♀️

In this case I think that is the absolutely the point they are trying to make and it's a very good point.
You should be outraged at how little understanding and research there is around the menopause and why that is so rather than wasting your energy being offended by something non offensive. Not every use of the word people erases the word women. Sometimes people is the more appropriate word to use.

Totally agree. We’re in danger of leaving huge swathes of people behind for fear of potential offence to a tiny minority. I’m all for using language carefully and inclusively, but we have to think about everyone before we start shoehorning in confusing changes to the way we refer to each other. (Disclaimer: I don’t actually think OP’s example is that bad, but if anyone starts telling me I have to be a ‘person’ instead of a woman they can piss off.)

Saying half the population could very easily confuse those who don't have English as a first language or those with a less than average education, or even some with special needs.

It sounds like it makes a good impact, but I think there should have been a follow up statement regarding women so as not to confuse those who wouldn't otherwise understand the message.
But if we're honestly to believe (as many posters have pointed out) that the reason for leaving out the word woman is so men don't automatically switch off then I think that's BS.

But why should we want men to "engage" with the "issue"? How are they supposed to "engage" and why should they have to be kept on side in a matter that has fuck all to do with them. Can't women have one thing of our own that men don't have to engage with? If men are ignorant about menopause, so what? It's none of their business anyway.

Exactly. I haven’t heard the rest of it (and I’m unlikely to because we don’t have Sainburys where I’m from) but I was wondering about this. Who’s being addressed here and what’s the actual point of it?

Er, perhaps so they understand it and can support and even help their wives, partners, sisters and colleagues who may be struggling with it. Like normal people.

If we take the quote literally, she is addressing everyone, including women. As if we don't know about such a thing as menopause, as if many of us don't have a bloody hard time, as if we don't know that huge numbers of females are going through the same thing. If she wanted to address men she could have prefaced her statement with something like, 'hey, men!' But no, Davina thinks women don't know how numerous they are or that the menopause affects us.

I can't get overly worked up about this even though I'm currently one of those people.

We did figh for years to have women recognised as people the same way as men are, so allowed to vote, have bank accounts etc etc.
Remember "womens rights are human rights" and all that?

So tbh, it's not at all wrong. Given how some people use this kind of language to signal allegience to one side of an argument that many people don't want to have, i think they (Sainsbugs & Davina) are fucked whatever language they use

I think they are more likely to be getting at the fact that 50% of the population go through the menopause but it is still not widely spoken about enough.
Rather than making the blatantly obvious statement of "women go through the menopause"

"everyone, including women. As if we don't know about such a thing as menopause, as if many of us don't have a bloody hard time, as if we don't know that huge numbers of females are going through the same thing. If she wanted to address men she could have prefaced her statement with something like, 'hey, men!' But no, Davina thinks women don't know how numerous they are or that the menopause affects us."

But that's a big part of the issue that's currently being discussed - many women are ignorant of the effects of the menopause. You only need to read some threads on here to see the dismissive comments made regarding menopausal symptoms.

And I include my younger self in that. It's not something I have much thought about other than hot flushes and mood swings.

Many women don't know the different symptoms. Many don't realise that peri menopause exists and think they can't get help until their periods stop. I was in peri menopause for about 2 years before I realised what all these odd symptoms were and that they were connected.

GP's - both male and female can be pretty ignorant of menopause care too.

And for many women it's embarrassment - they feel old and over the hill. I'm glad it's being talked about as widely as it is.

Which 50% though? If only we could identify which half would go through it, and which half wouldn't. You'd think there would be a test or something! I have 4 children, how do I know which ones should expect periods and then menopause for me to support? It's a mystery.

@tigger1001 I am just taking issue with the quote posted that assumes a) women don't know they make up roughly half the population, and b) that women who live long enough will experience the menopause. Did you not know those 2 things? I truly would be surprised. I have no idea what she went on to say afterwards, but object to the statement quoted by the OP.

100% of women, obvs 😡

Just heard the ad today. She says " 51% of the population go through the menopause" followed by that its surprising that's it's not often spoken about, yet so many people people go through it.

Heard it on the radio, not Sainsburys

I mean I get your point but it’s also true.

If you say 50% of people, maybe it gets more attention? So people who switch off and see a woman’s issue as “niche” will think “oh hang on, that’s 50% of all people, that’s a lot”

Did I know women go through the menopause? Yes.

Did I truly understand what that meant? And know the symptoms attributed to menopause? No. Did I know about peri- menopause? No. Was I aware that symptoms I had been experiencing 2 years ago were likely due to peri menopause? No.

To object to one line without context is fairly pointless.

Many women think menopause is periods stopping, hot flushes and mood swings. There is much more to it than that and there is still a lot of ignorance around peri menopause and menopause. It's a good think that we are now talking about it. Many women feel alone and embarrassed to talk about it. Hopefully we now start to see that disappearing as well as being the the punchline to jokes about getting older.

Maybe because some men manage women at work or live with women or are married to women?

I confess to not know much about the menopause and why should I? But I applaud Davina for educating me, along with my wife. My experience with my wife is isolated but listening to Davina on TV has highlighted the range and diversity of effects.

I have one employee and she's young but maybe one day I'll have to try and understand how her performance might be affected by the menopause and do whatever I can to support her and not sack her for whatever reason.

I don't need to engage with the menopause but being educated on something that does affect half the population (or all women) is surely a benefit isn't it?

Did she say 50% of women experience the menopause?

We all know which humans go through menopause so the answer to the very, very stupid question of “did you know 50% of people go through menopause “ is obviously yes. We also know those humans are women and that more and more companies are terrified of uttering that world whilst they also trying to commercialise menopause and make money out of us.

It’s fucking insult, and all of it is to pander to deluded males.

If I heard that in Sainsburys, I would have left my shopping & walked out !

I certainly do NOT need to be reminded at my age

Strops off

It won't change anything

I think she says it like that to talk to all people ie men need ti hear this too.