Sex myths and menopause – Anyone watch Davina on Channel 4 recently – Sex, Myths and The Menopause?
Like many of these things, there are likely a myriad of factors that influence menopausal symptoms – genetics, health conditions, obesity, alcohol consumption, other lifestyle factors – but there is research to suggest that psychological and cultural factors influence symptom severity, the interpretation of symptoms, and the capacity to cope with symptoms.
- Sood et al, 2019, found that among midlife women, lower stress levels correlated with lower menopausal symptom scores.
- Sook-Haeng Joe et al, 2009 found that “the inner psychological status can be associated with the severity of menopause symptoms”
- Jalava-Broman et al, 2019 talk about psychological behaviour patterns needing consideration when planning treatment, as these reflect the ability to cope with menopausal symptoms.
Perhaps more interesting are the cultural beliefs surrounding the menopause. There is a lot of research that looks at the impact of whether your culture views menopause as a positive or negative phenomenon on the severity of symptoms:
- Dr Nighat Arif, who was on the TV programme last night talks about how, in her native Urdu, there is no direct translation for the word ‘menopause’ – it isn’t talked about.
- In Arab culture, negative words are used for menopause. High priority is placed on fertility, and the inability to be fertile as a result of the menopause is seen to be a “desperate age”.
- Turkish women complain more about the menopause and describe it as “the end of youth, feeling old, losing femininity, hormonal changes” which leads to a negative attitude towards it. (Jones et al, 2012).
- Western countries often place high value on youthfulness. Consequently, the menopause reflects age progression, loss of youth and loss of sexual attractiveness. (Melby et al, 2005).
Whereas…
- Chinese women consider menopause as “rebirth”- they believe they can save energy that was previously lost due to fertility and childbirth. China has one of the lowest uses of drugs for treating menopausal symptoms. (Lock, 1994).
- Japanese women report the fewest complaints of menopausal symptoms. Of course, there are other factors involved like genetics, however their belief that it is a positive phenomenon has an effect on how they experience it.
- In Mayan culture where ageing raises the status of a woman and menopause is considered as a sign of experience, it is natural for women to consider the menopause as a sign of freedom (Bahri & Latifnejad, 2015).
- The menopause is not considered as a medical problem in many developing countries. Research indicates that women have a better attitude towards the menopause and fewer hot flushes. (Hunter et al (2009).
So, lots of food for thought and very fitting with what we do here at The Thrive Programme. Teaching people to have power, control and agency over their lives, having scientific knowledge about how the world works, educating people how to think for themselves despite the social / cultural pressures we face.
What we can do is empower woman to choose how they want to experience the menopause – instead of society and culture being the determining factor.
It’s the difference between life happening ‘to’ you or you happening to life.
If you’d like to see what’s you can achieve with The Thrive Programme, watch of these videos. You can contact one of our expert team of coaches here.
This blog was written by Lucy Wood. Sex myths and menopause.
