The menopausal women everyone forgot

[IwantToRetire]

It is amazing that women are so open about these conversations. No longer are the words “HRT” and “menopause” mouthed quietly over the garden hedge as two women try and console each other over “The Change” while pegging out washing.

So much shame was once attached to the menopause. It’s actually ridiculous that only now can we talk openly and frankly about a medical process that happens to all of us who were born biologically female.

But what about the childless? What about us women who, for some like me through choice, and for some through circumstances, never had children? Does our menopause count?

If, like me, you present as a tomboy, butch lesbian or masc woman, does our womb matter?

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/childfree-women-get-the-menopause-too-4686770 and at https://archive.is/nJnDA

You've got the point back to front.

ie is it the medical profession, or even friends, who react to the way she looks and somehow assume form that, even though she is female, she wont have any menopausal problems.

Not that i particularly support the article but it is about other people's perceptions of her. Or what she assumes are other people's perceptions of her.

I feel like this woman is living in an alternate reality. I've seen so, so many articles about perimenopause and menopause in recent years, and most of them don't even mention children, except perhaps in passing regarding the mental load (Eg. "...looking after elderly parents, dealing with stroppy teenagers, responsibilities at work and home, etc"), because whether or not you have children isn't relevant to menopause!

Methinks she's trying far too hard to appear hard done by.

"I’ve had a doctor say to me: “Susie, you cannot be menopausal. You’re only 45. We only consider menopause for 46-year-olds and above.” It was 10 days before my 46th birthday. Who knew our wombs were so time and date-conscious?
It’s almost as if our menopause doesn’t count."

It's actually offensive that she's so self-absorbed and utterly oblivious that she doesn't realise this happens to all women whether mothers or not, depending on how good their GP is, and just assumes it's something that only butch lesbians or child-less/free women suffer from.

She's a big pal of Nicola Sturgeon (part of the court jesters that wings Scotland guy mentioned) and a major Ally, so she might be being ultra inclusive in her definition of women.

She should try talking to women of pre menopausal age who have been forced into menopause through surgery. We don't even get seperate NHS policy/ guidelines, just one line in existing literature that was written to support women who have entered menopause naturally and still retain some ovarian function. (Don't even get me started on how trans women actually have more access to estrogen through written policy than we do!)

So Susie, if you think its "tough being a menopausal woman in a relationship with another menopausal woman", try being in your 20s/30s, with no ovaries and having to battle with the NHS for the next 20+ years to get regular access to life saving HRT... Honestly, such a devisive nonsense piece. Medical misogyny is an issue that affects all women.

Your link wouldn't let me view it op, but if the above quote is from it, then I think what she's meaning is that she's experiencing some prejudice but her message is getting lost by being presented in a confusing way. I know lots of women without children, some of whom are lesbian, and a few of those "butch", and we all talk about menopause - or we did, now it's old news! But it's a weird time in the world, where people are afraid to assume it's OK to talk about sex based experiences. So if she's masculine presenting, her hairdresser may be wary of talking about sex based stuff in case she's trans, as that can be a powder keg.

I too found it very odd. I'm in a hobby/social group that's all 40 to 70 something age women and while some are gay, some child free, some non binary, some mothers, some had early or surgical menopause, it's something we've all experienced or are experiencing and no-one feels they 'don't count' because they're not a straight mother.

That's a shit doctor who hasn't read the guidelines, but has fuck all to do with her sexuality, fashion choices, or maternal status.

There are too many shit doctors. There's a lot of medical misogyny around. GP's get virtually no training on the menopause - or any other aspect of women's health. She's not affected by these things because she's 'special', they affect us all. Load of pointless, self-absorbed waffle that appears to be based on a her making a lot of assumptions about what other people think.

Lots of poor doctors around, she's not special.

Those saying it makes no difference - childless women are more likely to experience an early menopause cls.ucl.ac.uk/childless-women-more-likely-to-begin-menopause-early-study-finds/ Some studies suggest they may have fewer hot flushes and less vaginal atrophy but it's not conclusive. The risk of ovarian cancer is higher in the childless. So for post menopausal bleeding it should get you more attention, not less.

Totally off topic but is your excellent username pronounced in a terrible French accent? (That's how I say it whenever driving past the signs)

Having children or not has fuck all to do with menopause, she’s being ridiculous, does she want a special category for it?

I'm not falling out with anyone about it, I was trying to give a possible alternative to her angle.

It is not utter bollocks, I've had it said to me that I wasn't top priority because I did not have kids. By a female doctor, the same one that refused to test me for the menopause at 42 leaving me with osteoporosis by 49.

She is, I remember a clip of her where she stares at someone and points her finger (I'm almost certain it's Konstantin Kissin but might be someone else) and says something like "Let me just repeat this : TRANSWOMEN ARE WOMEN!!!!!!!!!"

The archive link still seems to be working - https://archive.is/nJnDA - have just checked it.

Huh? I never heard of this separation? What has having, or not having, kids got to do with it?

She's just working up a new routine for the oppression Olympics comedy circuit.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1597413735057266

She's on R4 The News Quiz a lot. The week it all blew up over Sturgeon and that double rapist going to a women's prison they were based in Scotland and assiduously avoided any mention of the SNP going into meltdown which you would have expected from a show that's meant to be topical satire