Bewritings

One of the events within the Sussex Festival of Ideas programme was The New Menopause: a panel discussion surrounding perceptions of menopause. The panel included Margaretta Jolly, Ali Ramsey, Sharon Neal, Jill Kirby and Cloe Jewell. 

Those attending were able to watch a pilot short film by Ramsey. It included compelling interviews with women discussing their experiences with menopause, illustrating how it impacted their mental health and sexuality. A particularly interesting notion was the exploration of grief and mourning, with one participant highlighting ‘the death of her fertility.’ 

Ramsey opted to overlay the interview audio with movie footage predominantly from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. This juxtaposition between the audio and images allowed Ramsey to explore the ‘silences and taboos’ surrounding femininity and menopause. Although, as Ramsey noted, the pilot is a work in progress, it was an insightful piece that illustrated the limitations of our understanding of menopause. 

Sharon Neal weighed in on these shortcomings and how the university is tackling them. Neal discussed her involvement with the Menopause Cafe: which was organised as a safe space to discuss menopause in a casual setting. In addition, the university has developed a Menopause Teams Chat Group as another accessible way to reach out. She noted the importance of ‘putting in place as many mechanisms as we can.’ 

Cloe Jewell, a student at Sussex, noted how important it is to have conversations like this and is ‘grateful to be exposed to it.’ Jewell extended the conversation to discuss the tampon tax and the taboo surrounding menstruation. This situated the issues surrounding menopause into the wider struggle for equal healthcare. Jill Kirby expanded on this, noting the poor research into menopause. Within healthcare, as Kirby discussed, women are expected ‘to just put up with.’ However, Kirby noted ‘something that is changing is that women are not prepared to be stoic anymore.’ 

The panel discussed how these changing attitudes have somewhat altered the representation of menopause, particularly through social media. Movements such as Make Menopause Matter have allowed some of the stigma surrounding menopause to erode. However, Ramsey cleverly noted the downside of this online exposure and the capitalist nature of these movements. This ‘menopause goldrush’ allows businesses to profit from activism, muddying the useful information with advertisements.
Regardless of if menopause is unlikely to impact you in the near future, or at all, the event generated a positive space to discuss feminist issues in many areas: from media to healthcare to within institutions such as university. As someone who has not previously considered menopause in-depth, I am extremely grateful to have had to opportunity to attend The New Menopause and look forward to seeing continuing support from the university surrounding the issue!