being a woman is not for the squeamish!
Just a warning for the squeamish here. Do not read this post.
I was thinking today, amidst the bewildering, irregular and unpredictable discombobulation of menopause, that it takes guts and courage to be a woman, particularly in our ultra-medicated culture where even this normal life passage is now an "illness", a "hormonal imbalance", that must be medicated, thereby creating a whole mass market for the big pharmaceuticals.
I understand and support my peers who have opted for "hormone replacement therapy", but I do think Suzanne Sommers is nuts! Why would she want to continue the cycles of menses into her 90's anyway? I'm not in the mood to have any more babies, either!
As for her 'Seven Dwarfs of Menopause'-- itchy, bitchy, sweaty, sleepy, bloated, forgetful, and all-dried-up--I believe you attract what you expect and focus on. I expected, after seeing my own mother go through it, that menopause would be no more and probably less disturbing than the changes from childhood to puberty to fertile womanhood.
*Itchy, no. Not unless the mosquitoes were real bad.
*Bitchy? I've earned the right to be called bitchy. I have put up with so much garbage in this world, by the time I get to be this age, I refuse to be nice and meek and mild anymore! Yeah, I'm bitchy. Funny how an assertive woman is called bitchy. I said assertive, not rude or aggressive!
*Sweaty, no. Yes, sweat like a bitch during those dog days of summer in the garden! But I built a rock wall, didn't I!
*Sleepy? So? I loved my Mom, many years ago, when she told me she believed women work so hard trying to be everything, do everything and have everything for so long, it's no wonder they are exhausted when they get to the peri-menopausal years!
*Bloated, only if I have to hold my farts in for too long!
*Forgetful? What? I remember the important stuff...the rest, who cares? I finally decided if it's been ok for men to rely on their secretaries to remember birthdays and anniversaries, it's ok for me to say "Who the f-- cares, anyway?" I do remember to phone my kids and hug them and bug them, quite often, in fact.
*All dried up? Hardly! I'm juicier, racier, hornier and happier now than I've ever been in my life! I finally got rid of some of the old religious crap that had me all knotted up about myself. No more!
But, sure. It is a time of change. Weird how female life changes are secret, hushed, dirty, in this culture. I wonder if in the ancient matrifocal pagan fertility religions, this was perhaps something to be celebrated and honoured? I'm looking forward to the changes myself. I think I should have a party!
Maybe the Red Hat gals have got it at least partly right. Methinks the whole thing could be done up bigger and better, with all the brash, colourful, in-your-face, outrageous glory of red and purple, big hair and wild hats, sure! But also with ceremony, ritual, symbolism and myths, to go with the weird and wonderful life-changing process that menopause is.
I was thinking today, amidst the bewildering, irregular and unpredictable discombobulation of menopause, that it takes guts and courage to be a woman, particularly in our ultra-medicated culture where even this normal life passage is now an "illness", a "hormonal imbalance", that must be medicated, thereby creating a whole mass market for the big pharmaceuticals.
I understand and support my peers who have opted for "hormone replacement therapy", but I do think Suzanne Sommers is nuts! Why would she want to continue the cycles of menses into her 90's anyway? I'm not in the mood to have any more babies, either!
As for her 'Seven Dwarfs of Menopause'-- itchy, bitchy, sweaty, sleepy, bloated, forgetful, and all-dried-up--I believe you attract what you expect and focus on. I expected, after seeing my own mother go through it, that menopause would be no more and probably less disturbing than the changes from childhood to puberty to fertile womanhood.
*Itchy, no. Not unless the mosquitoes were real bad.
*Bitchy? I've earned the right to be called bitchy. I have put up with so much garbage in this world, by the time I get to be this age, I refuse to be nice and meek and mild anymore! Yeah, I'm bitchy. Funny how an assertive woman is called bitchy. I said assertive, not rude or aggressive!
*Sweaty, no. Yes, sweat like a bitch during those dog days of summer in the garden! But I built a rock wall, didn't I!
*Sleepy? So? I loved my Mom, many years ago, when she told me she believed women work so hard trying to be everything, do everything and have everything for so long, it's no wonder they are exhausted when they get to the peri-menopausal years!
*Bloated, only if I have to hold my farts in for too long!
*Forgetful? What? I remember the important stuff...the rest, who cares? I finally decided if it's been ok for men to rely on their secretaries to remember birthdays and anniversaries, it's ok for me to say "Who the f-- cares, anyway?" I do remember to phone my kids and hug them and bug them, quite often, in fact.
*All dried up? Hardly! I'm juicier, racier, hornier and happier now than I've ever been in my life! I finally got rid of some of the old religious crap that had me all knotted up about myself. No more!
But, sure. It is a time of change. Weird how female life changes are secret, hushed, dirty, in this culture. I wonder if in the ancient matrifocal pagan fertility religions, this was perhaps something to be celebrated and honoured? I'm looking forward to the changes myself. I think I should have a party!
Maybe the Red Hat gals have got it at least partly right. Methinks the whole thing could be done up bigger and better, with all the brash, colourful, in-your-face, outrageous glory of red and purple, big hair and wild hats, sure! But also with ceremony, ritual, symbolism and myths, to go with the weird and wonderful life-changing process that menopause is.
posted by Kati at 11:30 p.m.
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