Anyone else quietly seething about the current R4 series on Menopause?

[GlomOfNit]

Apparently it's sooo boring to have a bog-standard programme about menopause and how it affects 50% of the population, so today they're looking at that neglected OTHER 50% of the population (eg men) and examining the 'Menopause'. There are not enough eyerolls. This simply has no scientific base.

TBH I avoided this programme as I knew it would annoy me 😡. It seems like the opening up of a proper discussion/improved understanding about the menopause has been hijacked [as per] by men. There is an article in the Times this morning saying that 1 in 10 NHS Trusts has a written policy on male menopause. FFS

Well the male menopause is absolutely going to be on the increase due to transmen taking cross sex hormones. I assume these programmes/ articles are covering this? Awfully phobic and exclusionary if not.

Transmen aren't male.

But absolutely they should cover the premature menopause and its long term effects (so far as they're known yet) suffered by females who undergo 'gender affirming' hormone treatments and surgery.

@ErrolTheDragon But absolutely they should cover the premature menopause and its long term effects (so far as they're known yet) suffered by females who undergo 'gender affirming' hormone treatments and surgery.

Yes, it would be awful if they gave it the same attention they've previously given to all the poor women who entered premature menopause after having hysterectomies who have generally been left to sink or swim on their own.

There is no reason they can't have a "men's health" show - in fact it would be a very good idea as men tend to be less well-informed about symptoms, less likely to see the GP and less likely to open up about MH and there are lots of areas of male health it could address. Male menopause would be a perfect topic.

But nooo, there's something women-centred to be steamrollered over, so that's the priority! As per women's hour.

It's got it's own name - andropause. They don't need to hijack the menopause, they can create their own space. Shove up women as usual.

And, according to the programme only 2% of men experience it.🙄

Hands off our menopause, you lot

Tbh they can have mine 😆

If Menopause Matters could arrange for some men to go through 10 years of experiencing what actual menopause is like and report back - now that might be worth a quick listen.

I too have been giving this programme a miss because I know it’s the BBC and I don’t want to be subconsciously counting how many times the word Women is not used. Isn’t it a shame because we should want to listen to a programme about this.

I heard the advert for the show this morning and wanted to throw something at the radio.

I have to be honest this whole obsession with menopause seemed to hit the Internet out of the blue. I wonder if HRT manufacturers are pushing it or something

Asking man who has had to take androgen suppressants to manage prostate cancer would be a good place to start.

Edit: I know this is not menopause, but it is a major disruption of normal hormone balance with many unpleasant side-effects.

The menopause is exclusionary by its very nature, as it excludes males.

Menopause means the cessation of the menses.....which men do not have; even if the testosterone levels of some men drop off with age.

All of this is annoying, because to my mind it is trying to create equivalence between men and women, as if to suggest there is really no difference between male and female.

I just don't listen to R4 any more.

It is less stressful.

Definitely! Pharmaceuticals really are on the look-out for new markets at present. What with hormones; the new weight loss drugs; new vaccinations etc

Sadly men with advanced prostate cancer do, and believe me it's grim. Like a completely different person in a multitude of ways, none of it good.

I just don't listen to R4 any more.
It is less stressful.

I still like some of R4 so I do listen by default. Then can be heard yelling "oh shut up you twaaaaaat!" at regular intervals.

I had to turn off the first episode, I was so annoyed.
Thanks for reminding me, I meant to complain.

And while that’s awful (genuinely), many advanced cancers will trigger changes in people.

An exGF’s mum had lung cancer that spread to her brain and caused dementia-type symptoms. She regressed right back into a weird sort of childhood and couldn’t recognise her DH or DC (or anyone else).

I think I overheard some of this in passing. Didn't someone keep referring to menopause as "transitioning"? Something about the word choice seemed calculated to create an equivalency between menopause and gender transition. Just say menopause!

I was quite confused to turn the radio on to hear, "your penis is the barometer of your health."

I caught a it of it yesterday while driving. I agree it was very annoying but at least a couple of the experts speaking were appropriately dismissive of trying to draw any kind of comparison between the menopause and the mano- or andro-pause. If it's one episode in a much longer series and all the rest of the episodes are firmly focused on women's experiences then I can forgive it. I didn't hear the whole episide but what I heard left me in no doubt that the arguments against the "but what about men's experiences?" voices were overwhelming. So I would hope that every other episode shuts the fuck up about the men, but I don't begrudge one epidsode among many explaining why.

if…all the rest of the episodes are firmly focused on women's experiences then I can forgive it

I'd have much more patience with this view had they not started the whole series by announcing that 'it's something that half of all people on earth will go through', rather than 'all women' - and then begin with a very young girl who, my deep sympathies for her notwithstanding (because it must be rotten for her), is one of approximately 1 in 10,000 who experience menopause before the age of 20 (a statistic given in the programme).

The second programme is about men, who don't experience menopause. The third, and last, will be about the speculative science around stopping or eliminating the menopause.

So it’s very definitely not about us boring, everyday women who have a 'normal', uninteresting menopause at the usual sort of age. We don’t merit much of a mention, evidently.