Menopause is puberty in reverse: a transition from one biological phase of ovarian function to another. It is no more a disease than being a man, and yet as women age the general societal view is largely negative and derogatory. Women's bodies are weaponised based on reproductive function. Girls are perceived as weak, women have toxic periods and are hormonal, loose or frigid; the metric for sexual perfection ever changing. And when midlife comes and the supposedly toxic periods have passed, women aren't even worthy of being commodified or sexualised. Men become distinguished and women diminished.
In this event as well as in her new book, The Menopause Manifesto, New York Times bestselling author Dr Jen Gunter breaks down the patriarchal barriers surrounding menopause and exposes how society's focus on what happens to women's bodies has shaped and hindered treatment and understanding of menopause for years.