Is Menopause a Modern Construct?

I saw a post on an IG page that speaks directly to midlife women arguing that menopause is not at all a “natural process” that women have always gone through – offering as evidence that since a woman’s life span 100 years ago was significantly shorter, they didn’t go through menopause “because they were dead.”  The conclusion being that menopause is some sort of modern construct designed to silence and oppress women, and the answer is to “take back our power” by speaking up about our reproductive organs and demand the HRT that we require.

I disagree completely, but will refute it on my own page rather than stooping to troll someone else’s.

That lifespan argument is a strawman – yes, it is true that the AVERAGE lifespan of women in 1900 was just under 50 years, but think about how different the population looked then – you can’t make an apples to apples comparison.  In the U.S., the population was less than a third of what it is now, just 76 million. Life expectancy at birth may have been 47 years, but that average was reduced by an infant mortality rate of at least 15%, coupled with the disease and infection that claimed many young lives. Those that made it into adulthood generally lived well into their 70s and 80s.   

Life was hard in 1900: most Americans lived in what we would consider abject poverty today – the per capita income was less than $5,000 in today’s dollars.   The average adult had the equivalent of an 8th grade education. People walked over a mile to work (only 1 in 5 households even had a horse); 3% had electricity; 15% had toilets; one third had running water.  Flu, whooping cough, gastritis, and pneumonia were the most common causes of death.  Still, most women lived well past middle age, and therefore went through the transition of menopause.  How do I know?

Because it is a universal, biological fact that every woman who lives long enough will eventually stop menstruating (that’s menopause). That’s just what happens when we outlive our body’s ability to reproduce. 

Do more women go through menopause now than 100 years ago?  Absolutely!  There are a whole lot more of us on the planet, and we are richer and healthier and older than ever before.

I don’t know anything about being “silenced” – I am not sure that’s really a thing.  I don’t think most people really want to hear about menopause, and that’s fine with me.  I don’t especially care about male pattern baldness, either. 

Here’s what I do know: estrogen was isolated as a hormone in the 1920s, and soon after it was being marketed as a cure for painful periods. In 1942, Premarin was approved for menopausal hot flashes, and the marketing machine kicked into high gear.  By the 1960s a seminal book was published suggesting that menopause was a preventable event – that by “replacing” lost hormones, women could remain “feminine” – without HRT, they would become less womanly.  This idea prevails today.

Do you really buy into this marketing campaign?  Do you truly believe that your biology in not normal, and that only pharmaceuticals will allow you to remain “feminine” when you stop menstruating?

Look, nobody is going to take away your hormones if that is the way you want to play it – but it is wholly inaccurate to say that menopause is not “normal” or to suggest that it is a uniquely modern disease that can only be cured through medical interventions. 

What’s being silenced is the suggestion that women can THRIVE through menopause and beyond, without any help at all from pharmaceuticals; that we don’t have to give up agency over our own health (and life) in order to be feminine and beautiful and healthy and even sexy. That is the real oppression.