I believe we, as a society, could do several things to improve the opinion of menopause, aging and older women. The first thing that would be helpful would be the inclusion of images of women at various ages in the social media. By making older women visible, there can be a growing acceptance of aging as a beautiful process, instead of something to be dreaded. Secondly, talking about the aging process as it pertains to women, along with conversations about menopause, will increase understanding among our society which would hopefully lead to a change in the ideas that our society have pertaining to this issue. Lastly, on the individual level, I believe we should connect with someone that is going through menopause and aging in general and learn what that person is experiencing as she ages; when the process is not so foreign to us then we can begin to remove the fear and stigma that surrounds it.
Tara,
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions. I also would like to add let us not forget about the younger women who have unfortunately found themselves going through "surgically menopause". Let's put a face to these women as well. Often times when people think of menopause they only see their mother's and grandmothers, but now sadly, we have a growing younger demographic of menopausal women. It would be informative to learn about their emotional, physical...etc dilemmas having to deal with menopause too. This would also play a role the societal acceptance as well.
Carla