Musings on Perimenopause and Menopause: Identity, Experience, Transition.

by Heather Dillaway (Editor), Laura Wershle (Editor)

Overview

A woman muses about buying lovely new panties; another sets out on the trip of a lifetime; a blogger offers information, support, and community to perimenopausal women; researchers uncover myths and misconceptions about migrant and refugee women's experiences of menopause; a gerontology scholar extrapolates for menopause the meanings of cultural representations of childbirth; a sociologist and intersex advocate challenges her medically constructed menopause; young women's stories inform an inquiry into the health and social repercussions of primary ovarian insufficiency—all in a collection of research papers and personal narratives that moves far beyond the idea of menopause as a mere biological marker. While biomedical and feminist researchers agree that menopause is a time of transition and border crossing, they offer diverse viewpoints about whether perimenopause and menopause signal deficiency and burden, or growth and freedom, or both. So too, contributors to this collection—influenced by factors of age, cultural background, societal context, and physical and psychological experience—vary significantly in their perspectives of this process. Research, analysis, narrative, poetry, and art intermingle to create a multi-textured montage that challenges stereotypes, probes relationships, and defies categorization. Musings on Perimenopause and Menopause: Identity, Experience, Transition provides insight into how women think about and experience the transition to menopause in contemporary times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772583243
Publisher:	Demeter Press
Publication date:	04/23/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	300
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Heather Dillaway is a professor of sociology, interim chair of public health, and associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Her research focuses on women's perimenopause and menopause experiences, and is published in a range of feminist journals including Gender & Society; Sex Roles; Journal of Women & Aging; Healthcare for Women International; Women and Health; Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal; and Feminist Formations. Dillaway's work on this reproductive transition, as well as her research into the reproductive health experiences of women with physical disabilities, seeks to highlight women's everyday voices and lived experiences. Laura Wershler is a women's health advocate, writer, and speaker with over thirty years of volunteer and work experience with sexual health and reproductive rights organizations in Canada. Her writing has appeared in various newspapers, journals, online media, and anthologies, including Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada (Athabasca University Press, 2016). She discovered a love for editing the words of other writers while earning a Certificate in Journalism (2011) from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. Heather Dillaway is a professor of sociology, interim chair of public health, and associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Her research focuses on women's perimenopause and menopause experiences, and is published in a range of feminist journals including Gender & Society; Sex Roles; Journal of Women & Aging; Healthcare for Women International; Women and Health; Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal; and Feminist Formations. Dillaway's work on this reproductive transition, as well as her research into the reproductive health experiences of women with physical disabilities, seeks to highlight women's everyday voices and lived experiences. Laura Wershler is a women's health advocate, writer, and speaker with over thirty years of volunteer and work experience with sexual health and reproductive rights organizations in Canada. Her writing has appeared in various newspapers, journals, online media, and anthologies, including Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada (Athabasca University Press, 2016). She discovered a love for editing the words of other writers while earning a Certificate in Journalism (2011) from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. Laura Wershler is a women's health advocate, writer, and speaker with over thirty years of volunteer and work experience with sexual health and reproductive rights organizations in Canada. Her writing has appeared in various newspapers, journals, online media, and anthologies, including Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada (Athabasca University Press, 2016). She discovered a love for editing the words of other writers while earning a Certificate in Journalism (2011) from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. Heather Dillaway is a professor of sociology, interim chair of public health, and associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Her research focuses on women's perimenopause and menopause experiences, and is published in a range of feminist journals including Gender & Society; Sex Roles; Journal of Women & Aging; Healthcare for Women International; Women and Health; Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal; and Feminist Formations. Dillaway's work on this reproductive transition, as well as her research into the reproductive health experiences of women with physical disabilities, seeks to highlight women's everyday voices and lived experiences.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 3

Introduction A Reading Guide to Musings Laura Wershler (with Heather Dillaway) 9

Section 1 Meno-Typical 21

1 The Anatomy of a Hot Flash Beth Osnes 23

2 Gone Girl: The Menopause in Popular Culture Mary Jane Lupton 27

3 Myths and Misconceptions: Migrant and Refugee Women's Constructions and Experiences of Menopause Jane Ussher Alexandra Hawkey Janette Perz 39

4 The SWAN Study; Gender, Race, Identity, and Menopause Mindy Fried 55

5 Slouching towards Menopause Joanne Gilbert 63

Section 2 Out of Step 65

6 Before Your Time: When Menopause Comes Too Soon Evelina W. Sterling Christine Eads Starr Vuchetich Catherine M. Gordon 67

7 Shadow Story Yolanda Kauffman 85

8 Just before Menopause Donna J. Gelagotis Lee 101

9 Patches Not Pads: An Intersex Experience with Postsurgical (Pseudo) Menopause Georgiann Davis Koyel Khan 107

Section 3 Blood Relations 121

10 Waiting for Seventeen Days Heather Dillaway 123

11 "Dear Magnolia… Nobody Really Understands…What Can I Do?": Reflections on a Perimenopausal Blog as Social Support Gillian Anderson 129

12 Finding Bedrock Marie Maccagno 157

13 Menopause Claimed Laura Wershler 169

Section 4 Unleashed 177

14 Harsh Blessings: On Finding Poetry at Fifty Magali Roy-Féquière 179

15 Uninhabitable Lives: Narrative Strategies of Menopause Experience in Notes on a Scandal and Carol Sylvie Teillay-Gambaudo 185

16 Perimenopause: The Body, Mind, and Spirit in Transition Victoria Team 207

17 From the Crowning to the Crone: Extrapolating Judy Chicago's Birth Project to Older Women Anne Barrett 225

18 All New Panties Cayo Gamber 243

Conclusion Advancing Our Perspectives on the Menopausal Experience Heather Dillaway (with Laura Wershler) 247

Contributor Notes 259

Editorial Reviews

This interdisciplinary and multi-genre collection about women's menopausal transitions is necessary and welcome. The contributors' collective honesty, curiosity, and conclusions about women's transitions to the next stages of their lives—whether through poetry, visual art, literature, or their own lived experience—will be valuable for any reader wanting to know more about this topic. I recommend it certainly for people of any age who will or have gone through these transitions, but also for medical personnel and others who should seek more understanding about women's lives. -Nicole L Willey, Professor of English Kent State University and editor of Feminist Fathering; Fathering Feminists With contributions from artists, academics, and actual people; this collection of musings on menopause is like attending a multidisciplinary conference without having to leave your armchair. - Lisa Leger, Justisse fertility educator Musings is an engaging exploration of the menopausal transition through the kaleidoscope lens of women who've lived it. With its diversity of voices and refreshing departure from the idea that menopause is a biological condition to be managed, this book offers the tantalizing possibility that perimenopause and menopause are instead transformative experiences that forge new perspectives and identities. - Lara Briden, ND, author of Hormone Repair Manual: Every Woman's Guide to Healthy Hormones After 40.

From the Publisher